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Trinidad and Tobago’s National Under 17 Men’s team will have it all to do when they face off with Barbados tomorrow from 5pm after suffering a 2-0 defeat to St Lucia in their opening match of the Caribbean Under 17 Finals at the Sylvio Cator Stadium, Port-Au-Prince on Sunday evening.

 T&T conceded goals on either side of the half with Noah Nicholas putting St Lucia ahead in the 25th minute and furthering the lead in the 53rd. T&T missed a chance to level the scores when skipper Kareem Riley missed a penalty as his effort hit the upright before the break.

St Lucia’s second goal appeared doubtful when T&T goalkeeper Enrique Changiah was toppled over by a St Lucian but referee Dwight Royal allowed play to continue, presenting Nicholas with the opportunity to tap the ball into an unprotected net.

T&T head coach Shawn Cooper, said his team simply did not deliver on the evening.

“We had one too many players having a bad game and it shows that something wasn’t right for us this evening,” he told TTFA Media.

“Things went downhill after Kareem missed the penalty. St Lucia were not to be taken lightly. They were not the better team technically but they played the game with more passion and it worked in their favour.

“Our boys just did not have it in them tonight. Some of them cried after the match but we’ll pick it up from here for the two remaining group matches. I think we’ll bounce back against Barbados on Tuesday,” Cooper added.

Hosts Haiti defeated Barbados 2-0 in the second game of the double header.

 The other group being contested in Haiti includes Jamaica, Cuba, Guadeloupe and Martinique.

The top two teams from each group plus the best second place finisher will advance to the CONCACAF Finals in Honduras in February from which four teams will advance to the 2015 FIFA Under 17 World Cup in Chile.