Trinidad and Tobago Under-17's footballers were eliminated from their CONCACAF qualifying series after suffering a second successive 3-1 defeat to Cuba in the opening match of a double-header on Friday night at the Manny Ramjohn Stadium, Marabella.
Needing to win by three clear goals, the young "Soca Warriors" scored first through St Mary's College striker Kyle McIvor (sixth minute) before succumbing to three second half goals from the far more organised Cubans.
The local team was not helped by very poor refereeing from Grenada's Valman Bedeau, who allowed several hefty tackles on the local team to go unpunished. And after scoring the opening goal, hard-working McIvor eluded his Cuban marker and looked to have won a penalty when heavily brought down by a tackle from behind him. A second goal would have brought the tie level 3-3 on aggregate, but to the chagrin of those present, including a few T&T national coaches, Bedeau waved the play on.
Eventually, the well-drilled Cuban team settled down and Adrian Hernandez, their number 10, pulled his team level in the 61st minute when he shot across T&T keeper Kevin Mussio. He then put them into a
2-1 lead in the 77th minute, before substitute Onay Gonzales totally killed off the young Warriors when he hit a low shot past Mussio to score Cuba's third item in the 79th minute of the match. Gonzales had been on the field just a minute.