The 2014 Trinidad and Tobago Goal Shield was the fifth season of the Lucozade SportGoal Shield, which is a knockout tournament competition for Trinidad and Tobago teams competing in the TT Pro League. W Connection entered as the cup holders having defeated North East Stars 4–3 in a penalty shootout in the 2013 final.[1] Continuing from previous seasons, the competition not only allowed the winner and runner-up healthy purses at the end of the tournament, but more so give an added incentive for more goals to be scored throughout the tournament. In particular, the winner of the competition was awarded TT$30,000 plus an additional TT$3,000 for every goal scored in the final, TT$2,000 for every goal in the semifinals, and TT$1,000 for each goal scored in the quarterfinals. Whereas, the runner-up was awarded TT$10,000 plus TT$1,500 for every goal scored in the final, TT$1,000 for every goal in the semifinals, and TT$500 for each goal scored in the quarterfinals.[2]
Qualification
Since the league expanded to nine clubs for the 2013–14TT Pro League season, the competition re-introduced the qualifying round to narrow the number of teams prior to the quarterfinals. Seeding was determined from the league standings at the end of fixtures held on 29 March 2014.[3]W Connection entered the competition as the league leader and top seeded team in the competition. The remaining top seeds were Central FC, North East Stars, and Point Fortin Civic after placing second, third, and fourth, respectively, in the league table at the time of the draw.
All matches were played for 90 minutes duration, at the end of which if the match was still tied, penalty-kicks were used to determine the match winner.
In the quarterfinals, all four of the higher seeds progressed. In the early match in Couva on 4 April, Central FC easily defeated the Stallions of Morvant/Laventille with a 4–0 win, which included a first-half brace from Willis Plaza.[6] However, the Akini Adams stole the spotlight in the late match between Point Fortin Civic and Defence Force. Acting as a stand-in goalkeeper, Adams saved two kicks in the penalty shootout, after the match ended 1–1, to help Point Fortin advance to the semifinals.[7] After the match, Adams dedicated the win to his brother Akeem Adams, who died on 30 December 2013 from a heart attack suffered in September while playing for Ferencváros in Hungary.[8] The following day, W Connection won convincingly over San Juan Jabloteh after scoring three goals in the first half.[9]North East Stars used a brace from Keron Cummings to upend Police and advance to the semifinals.[10]
In the final on 25 April, Central FC scored two goals in succession from Rundell Winchester and Marvin Oliver to power the Couva Sharks to their first Goal Shield title.[12] For his performance in the final, Winchester was named the Most Valuable Player after providing his second goal of the tournament and setting up the winning goal from Oliver.[13]
