Trinidad and Tobago’s Under 17 footballers went under to Barbados’ U-17s 2-1 in a friendly at the National Stadium in Bridgetown on Sunday evening as they continue their build up to the CONCACAF Final round of qualification in Jamaica later this month.
T&T, after defeating their Under 20 counterparts 3-1 on Friday at the Marvin Lee Stadium, went into the match without five of their regular starters which was a decision taken by head coach Shawn Cooper.
Cooper indicated that defensive lapses caused Barbados to go ahead on the half hour. T&T maintained the better of the possession for most of the match and when Shackeil Henry was introduced after half time in place of US-based player Isaiah Noreiga.
Kiel Pierre grabbed the equalizer for T&T with header on the far post in the 51st minute and T&T began to have a better go at their opponents but another lapse by the T&T defense allowed Barbados to grab a winner. T&T forward Garvin Samaroo lobbed his effort over bar from close to the six-yard box in the final minute.
“I’m not overly concerned about the result,” Cooper told TTFF Media. “We didn’t show too much but at the same time no team prefers to lose a win. I thought it also would bring the boys back down to ground after their win over the Under 20s on Friday. We’ll be back on the training pitch on Tuesday.
I wanted to have a look at a few of the players who haven’t been playing too much and I was able to get that out of this particular match. The spirit is still pretty good in the camp and it’s a matter of focusing entirely on our next assignment against Jamaica which is of more importance now than any other match itself,” Cooper added.
Meantime, T&T’s opponent in the first qualifying match on February 15, Jamaica, came away 3-2 winners over Haiti in a friendly in Portmore on Sunday.
Jamaica cruised to a 2-0 half-time lead through goals from Javia Roberts (19th) and Omar Holness (25th) while Junior Flemmings got an 84th minute winner.
T&T is scheduled to travel to Montego Bay on February 13 ahead of their opening game with the hosts two days later and Guatemala on February 17. Four teams will advance to the FIFA Under 17 World Cup in Mexico from June 8-July 10.