The Turks and Caicos Islands quest for a berth in the Concacaf W Road to Gold Cup suffered another blow when they were hammered 0-6 by Belize at the Turks and Caicos Islands Football Association (TCIFA) Field on Thursday.
The Belize goals came from Mikhalia Bowden, who scored a double, Khalydi Valsasquez, Shamika Lambey, captain Sabrina Eiley and Ashley Rodriquez, who scored one goal each.
Belize had a brisk start, applying pressure to their Turks and Caicos Islands counterparts from the first whistle. They came close to scoring in the sixth minute when Rodriquez kicked wide of the target from close range.
A minute later, referee Danielle Chesky pointed to the spot from an infringement in the box, much to the bewilderment of the TCI coaching staff. The TCI goalkeeper – Eridania Medina, who had good game, initially parried the shot executed by Bowden, but the rebound went back into Belize player’s path, who made no mistake on the second occasion.
Belize pressed for the cushion goal, but the TCI ladies defended stoutly, and it was not until 10 minutes from the halftime interval that they went two-up, when Velasquez registered from a midfield build-up.
Belize was awarded a second penalty on the stroke of halftime, but this time Medina not only parried the spot-kick taken by Lamara Baptist, but she held on to the ball, to rapturous cheers from the partisan home crowd.
Lambey scored in the 49th minute from a cross made to her in the box from Roshanny Narvaez.
Belize widened the lead in the 53rd minute when Eiley scored from goal-mouth melee. In the 66the minute Belize scored their fifth goal when Bowden found herself at the end of a corner kick. They achieved the sixth goal in the 77th minute when Rodriquez, who after collecting a pass in the box, took the keeper wide before slotting home.
Wayne Casimiro, the Belize Head Coach was happy with the win.
“I am satisfied with today’s result. We had a meeting with the team today, and discussed the strategy of the game, which was to hold on to the ball and create the chances, which we did,” Casimiro said. “I believe we played well today, we executed well, and I think the team performed in all areas. We are now looking towards the next game on Monday.
The TCI will play Belize on Monday in the return fixture.
Though it was a disappointed result for the TCI Coach, Aaron Lawrence, he drew some positives from the encounter.
“That was not the score that we had expected. We knew that they are a stronger team than us because those ladies have been playing together for a long time. Our team is a young team, and most of the players are developing in the game.
“I think that the penalty that the referee gave was not really a penalty, but we continued to play as planned. We were hoping that we would not have so many goals scored against us. Now, we have to assess the areas that we fell down on and make improvements on them,” Lawrence said.
He added: “I think the defense unit held up. The midfield could have played a little bit better. We could have held onto the ball more and make better passes. There is more work we have to put in and try to get better results from these games.”
Jodee Harvey, Captain of the TCI team, took the loss in strides.
“For a young team as ours, I believed that we held them off very good, and in my opinion, very solid. We had to work on our midfield, because that is where we lost the ball a lot…but as a young team I think we did very good,” Harvey assessed.
She continued: “From here its only up, we are going to train hard, we are going to focus on our passing, and we are going to rebuild to be a greater team."
The result now leaves the TCI at the bottom of the four-team table with one point along with Bonaire, who have a superior goal difference, and played one game less. Belize have a perfect three from three record, which spirals them to 9 points. Aruba could join them at the top of the table if they get by Bonaire on Monday, October.