Trinidad and Tobago’s Under 17 footballers recorded their second consecutive victory in the International Tournament of the Americas when they pulled off a 2-0 victory over Topping Bucaramanga’s Under 17 team on Sunday in Cali, Colombia.
Under head coach Shawn Cooper and Anton Corneal, T&T dominated the possession play in the first half. After looking the better of the two teams, the visitors eventually took the lead on 38 minutes when Dwight Quintero turned his man on the edge of the penalty box and clinically directed his left footer into the far corner.
T&T continued to pile on the pressure but also held steady at the back. Neil Benjamin and Adan Noel were particularly strong on the flanks for T&T.
T&T struck the bar and created several chances before doubling their advantage in the 70th minute. This time it was Garvin Samaroo who ran at the heart of the Topping defence before slotting home for his second goal in as many matches.
“This was another solid performance by the Under 17 team. We came here expecting to face some very tough matches and so far we have stood up well to the challenges.
These teams have given us fairly good matches so far and the head coach has seen some encouraging performances by his players,” team manager Christo Gouveia told TTFF Media.
“There’s still some time to go in terms of the preparations for the Concacaf Final round but we are in it for the long haul and these kind of training camps can only boost the team’s readiness and with results like these the confidence level and the belief among the players is also on the rise.”
T&T will face FC Barca de Cali on Monday. The current team is preparing for next year's final Concacaf qualifying round in Jamaica towards the 2011 FIFA Under 17 World Cup in Mexico.