Trinidad and Tobago, Haiti and Guadeloupe advance to group stage of CONCACAF Gold Cup

After eight rounds of penalty kicks, Curtis Gonzales won the game for Trinidad and Tobago, knocking French Guiana out of contention in the second round of the CONCACAF Gold Cup preliminary games at DRV PNK Stadium on Tuesday.

“This was our goal coming here,” Trinidad coach Angus Eve said. “We want to be playing against the best teams in the region to prove ourselves.”

For the second game in a row, Kevin Molino of Trinidad opened up the scoring with a goal in the 27th minute. Molino also scored the first goal last Friday against Montserrat.

Arnold Abelinti got on the board for French Guiana in the 43rd minute, making it a 1-1 game.

Each team had a goal taken off the board due to offside penalties. Marcus Joseph for Trinidad in the 31st minute and Sloan Privat for French Guiana in the 62nd minute both had their goals not count.

After seven rounds of scoring during the penalty kicks, Kévin Rimane of French Guiana was not able to keep it up in the eighth round. With goalkeeper Nicklas Frenderup’s save, Trinidad had the chance to win the game with one more score and Gonzales capitalized on that opportunity.

Trinidad now moves on to the group stage of the Gold Cup, starting on Saturday, where it will first face Mexico.

“The job is not done,” Andre Fortune II, who scored during the penalty kicks said. “We have at least three games in the group stage that we are focused on. We will celebrate tonight and then tomorrow is right back to training.”

Haiti downs Bermuda

Frantzdy Pierrot recorded a hat trick with three goals to lead Haiti to a 4-1 victory over Bermuda in the second game of the CONCACAF Gold Cup preliminaries Tuesday night.

Pierrot’s goals all came within eleven minutes of each other, happening at the 23rd, 28th and 34th minute.

“He [Pierrot] makes it so easy,” Derrick Etienne Jr. said of his teammate. “When he is up there playing, we do our best to feed him.”

The next score did not come until the 80th minute when Nahki Wells got Bermuda’s one and only goal of the night.

Duckens Nazon sealed the deal for Haiti, scoring in the 87th minute and extending the lead to, 4-1.

Haiti will face the United States on Sunday as part of the group stage of the Gold Cup.

“Entering the group phase, our goal is to go as far as possible,” Haiti coach Jean Pierre said.

Guadeloupe knocks out Guatemala

For the second time Tuesday, extra time was needed as Guadeloupe defeated Guatemala in 12 rounds of penalty kicks.

Guadeloupe got on the board first when Matthias Phaeton scored in the sixth minute.

Luis Martínez answered for Guatemala in the 17th minute, making it a 1-1 game.

With no goals scored in the second half, the game moved on to penalty kicks. In the 12th round, Marvin Ceballos of Guatemala missed as Guadeloupe goalkeeper Yohann Thuram made the save. Dimitri Cavare was then able to win it for Guadeloupe with a goal.

“I knew the country was watching,” Cavare said after his game winner. “We had just missed an opportunity to win. I was confident and I knew it was going to go in.”

Guadeloupe moves on to the group stage of the Gold Cup where it will face Costa Rica next Tuesday.

“We move forward and upwards,” Guadeloupe coach Jocelyn Angloma said about moving on.