It rained goals in the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Challenge at the Ato Boldon Stadium in Couva last night with T&T’s Soca Princesses hammering Suriname 7-0 in the featured match of a doubleheader.
After a boring goalless draw between Guyana and Grenada in the first match, the home team, who are preparing for the FIFA World Qualifiers, lit up the stands with Mariah Shade and Shinelle Arjoon scoring a pair of goals each in the rout.
Coach Jamaal Shabazz’s call for his players to get behind the backs of their opponents proved to be a walk in the park, as Shade demonstrated this from as early as the first minute when she ran on to a Tasha St Louis feed inside the area, and with the goal at her mercy, she fired straight into the outstretched arms of Zuwena Dors in the Suriname goal.
Three minutes later, Arjoon gave the hosts the opening goal.
St Louis again playing provider found Arjoon unmarked on the left side and she rifled home a shot into the top of the net.
The visitors had little time to regroup when they were stung with a second item in the tenth minute from St Louis, the T&T captain.
Patrice Superville produced another of her searching runs down the right flank, this time delivered perfectly for the unmarked St Louis to head home.
There was little to no resistance from the Surinamese who struggled in both defence and attack. Shade and company squandered goals at will, but it failed to overshadow their dominance.
Shade opened her account in the 29th minute after being singled out by Arjoon in the box and she beat the custodian with a low shot.
Later, defender Karyn Forbes, from the right side, beat Dors with a fierce low drive in the 35th minute before Shade got her second goal on the night when she drilled a left-footer into the far post from an almost acute angle on the left, for her team’s fifth item.
Arjoon’s second came on the stroke of halftime, benefiting from a loose ball in the area before firing past Dors to open a 6-0 advantage at the break.
On the resumption, T&T went on the attack again, and Jonelle Cato joined the goal-spree with a 52nd-minute goal that added to the rampage. Otherwise, it was an anti-climax from a dominant first that should have ended in double figures.
