Under 17 coach Nigel Grosvenor would have hoped for a stronger finish from his team which, according to reports, were not outplayed by the Cubans but lost it at the end.
T&T still pressed forward but had to wait until substitute Kyle McIvor met a left side cross and hit home from 12 yards for the equalizer in the 64th minute. T&T then looked the more dominant team but then the match slipped away from them.
Adrian Hernandez collected a through ball and made no mistake with his shot past the advancing goalie and then two minutes into added on time Onai Martinez punished T&T again when he latched on to a loose ball and got it over the line for a 3-1 Cuban win. The return legs will be played on December 9.
The CFU Series 1 victor will progress to the Group A of the 2005 CONCACAF U-17 Final Round Qualification along with the USA, the host Costa Rica and the winner of the Central Zone Triangular 1 (El Salvador/Guatemala/Nicaragua).
Possible Line-Ups:
T&T:
Kevin Mussio; Khaleem Hyland (Jevon Morton 89th), Marvin James, Brendon Boucard, Nyron Orr; Stephen Delas, Shastri Spencer, Silas Spann, Javed Mohammed (capt); Matthew Batholomew, Lester Peltier (Kyle McIvor 62nd).
Cuba:
José M. Sellez; Felix Guerra, Armando Trejo, Osmany Torres (capt), Jesús Fontes; Miguel A Lopez, Yosmany Bernal (Leonardo Vila 74th), Denis Suarez, Alberto Gomez (Yuri Altaba 89th); Adrian Hernandez, Luis A Villegas (Onai Martínez 86th).
T&T Coach:
"We would have been satisfied with a tie, but we lost our concentration and they scored 2 late goals. Now we will have to score three goals in the return game in T&T, and we must do better, because all we had were two weeks of preparation."
Cuba Coach:
On the other hand, the Cuban coach expressed satisfaction by his team performance and added that they had studied a little of T&T, who had an excellent first stage. "We had to leave yet in house, and in the return game we will go with more precaution. When we were tying we reinforced the attack with offensive changes and obtained our objective ".
Finally, he emphasized that he trusted the good preparation although it was not until the end that his team shaped in and mark their superiority. "the intention had made me mark three goals, two here and one there, and at least already I fulfilled the first part", said the smiling Cuban coach after the 3-1 win.