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T&T U-20 Soca Princesses suffered a tough 4-0 defeat to a men’s U-15 squad yesterday, at the Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva, in a practice match organized to aid both teams with preparations for their respective upcoming tournaments.

The U-20 women are currently preparing for the Concacaf Final Round Tournament from January 19-30 in Guatemala, where they will vie for a spot in the Fifa U-20 Women’s World Cup in August, while the U-15 men are in the process of selecting a final team for the Youth Olympics in Singapore, also in August of this year.

The U-15 men, coached by Shawn Cooper, had an obvious edge in terms of athleticism and speed but the Soca Princesses, who have adopted a more aggressive style of play, competed well, where attacking was concerned and were in no way intimidated by the strength of their opponents, with the result being a very physical encounter.

Shaquille Henry, who managed to thread his way through the U-20 defence with substantial ease throughout the match, scored two of the U-15s goals, with Jamal Williams netting one and Camille Borneo scoring an own goal after a failed attempt at clearance.

The U-20s were forced to play without their skipper Mariah Shade, who is nursing a hamstring injury, and Kayla Taylor, who has been ill for the past three days. The match was played in three parts of 30-minutes in order to allow all of the U-15s time on the pitch.

Speaking after the match, U-20 coach, Jamaal Shabazz explained that a victory for his team, was not necessarily the score at the end of the game, but seeing his team implement what it has been learning in practice.

“It was always going to be a tough exercise but we saw bits and pieces of what we have been doing in training, said Shabazz. “It’s always tough playing against boys but it’s just the kind of work out we need to assess the work we’ve done and we are satisfied that the team is playing a lot more compact, but we still have a lot of work to do in terms of transition, when we win the ball.”

As it relates to his first match against Mexico in the Concacaf Final just three weeks away, Shabazz said that while his team is a long way from being prepared, he believes that three weeks is enough time to get them there.

“Mexico has never been a team to demoralize us, although they are a couple steps up the ladder, it’s more of us getting fit and having the right attitude and putting together a game plan.” The team broke from camp yesterday and will regroup tomorrow until Wednesday, before leaving for Costa Rica at a date to be announced.