Pointless Vincy Heat meets unbeaten T&T Soca Warriors
St Vincent and the Grenadines menâs senior football team Vincy Heat will meet Trinidad and Tobagoâs Soca Warriors this Friday from 3:30 p.m. at the Arnos Vale Playing Field in fourth round action in Group C of the CONCACAF Zone of the World Cup qualifiers.{{more}}
The pointless host will be facing opponents who are unbeaten in the group.
In this phase of the qualifiers, St Vincent and the Grenadines was beaten 6-1 by the USA and suffered a 4-0 loss to Guatemala.
On the contrary, the Soca Warriors facing Guatemala in Guatemala won 2-1 and at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Trinidad, held the USA 0-0.
Before reaching this the fourth round of competition, Vincy Heat advanced to the third round on the away goal ruling over Guyana, as both matches in the tie ended in draws, 2-2 and 4-4.
And, in their engagements with Aruba, St Vincent and the Grenadines won their home encounter 2-0, but lost the away leg 1-2; however, they progressed again, on the away goal ruling.
The gulf between the two teams extends to their current world rankings, as Trinidad and Tobago occupies position number 49 on the table, while St Vincent and the Grenadines languishes at 141.
Most recently, the build-up to Fridayâs match also showed disparity in projections in the outcome.
Vincy Heatâs friendly international against Martinique at the Victoria Park March 13, ended in a 4-0 loss for the host.
On the other hand, Trinidad and Tobago gave most of their home-based players a run out against Grenada last Saturday night at the Grenada National Stadium, earning a 2-2 draw.
Meanwhile, while St Vincent and the Grenadines will be relying on almost all home-grown players, the opponentsâ roster shows 15 overseas based professionals in their squad.
The last occasion both outfits met in World Cup qualifiers was in 2004, with the Trinidadians winning the first leg here 2-0 and the second at home 2-1.
However, on both occasions, Trinidad and Tobagoâs winning goals came late, as they were carried the distance by the Vincentians.
But this time around, St Vincent and the Grenadines enter the match as ranked underdogs. Vincentian Tevin Slater remains as the leading scorer in the zone, on five goals.
Also, the team welcomes back Myron Samuel, who missed the Aruba matches, as well as the meetings with the USA and Guatemala.
Other matches carded for this Friday in the CONCACAF zone see Haiti at home to Panama, while Jamaica hosts Costa Rica, with El Salvador welcoming Honduras on their home ground; Guatemala against the USA in Guatemala and Canada at home to Mexico.
The teams will meet again in the reverse fixtures next Tuesday.(RT)
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