Men's U-20 Football Team Thread.

[Tallman]

Sports Ministry gives $.4M to U-20 campaign.
T&T Guardian Reports.

To date, T&T has won two of the Group A match­es at the tour­na­ment which be­gan on 1 No­vem­ber. T&T came from be­hind to beat St Vin­cent and the Grenadines 3-2 and romped to a 5-1 vic­to­ry against Puer­to Ri­co but lost to the USA 6-1 on Mon­day night. The next for T&T is Suri­name. The top two teams of each group would qual­i­fy for the 2019 FI­FA U20 World Cup.

This not sounding in line with what I hearing all along.

The newspaper report is incorrect.

The top team from each group advances to the qualification stage, where there will be two groups of three teams each. The top two teams from those groups would qual­i­fy for the 2019 FI­FA U20 World Cup.

[Tallman]

Super League it's your fault
By Andre Baptiste (T&T Guardian)

There is lit­tle doubt that, the T&T Un­der-20 team was al­ways go­ing to find it dif­fi­cult to qual­i­fy for the World Cup fi­nals next year, in par­tic­u­lar be­ing drawn in the same group as the Unit­ed States was al­so chal­leng­ing.

And while, we can right­ful­ly crit­i­cise the T&T Foot­ball As­so­ci­a­tion (TTFA) for lack of en­sur­ing prop­er prepa­ra­tion of the team, through the lack of prac­tice match­es, a camp, or just the over­all time spend to­geth­er on the train­ing field, I want to open­ly sug­gest to the peo­ple of T&T, that I lay the blame firm­ly at the feet of the Su­per League.

It was the very same – Su­per League – that pump their col­lec­tive over­sized chests, that re­fused the Un­der-20 team’s par­tic­i­pa­tion in the Su­per League be­cause they did not pay a cer­tain fee to reg­is­ter.

At the time, I re­call re­mark­ing how ridicu­lous it was and now I add again, how in­sen­si­tive, it was for the then hi­er­ar­chy of the Su­per League to adopt this to­tal­ly dis­ad­van­ta­geous de­ci­sion against a na­tion­al team (the Un­der the 20s). This is a na­tion­al team that need­ed the help from all quar­ters, not just the TTFA but its stake­hold­ers, and the Su­per League by re­fus­ing the team a place in its league, have in my opin­ion, not placed – The Coun­try first, but in­stead put ego first.

And that is the ma­jor prob­lem af­fect­ing Sports ad­min­is­tra­tion in T&T be­cause we have of­fi­cials that can­not see fur­ther than they can throw a stone. And in­stead of think­ing about the coun­try, there is too much self-cen­tred fo­cus.

Can you imag­ine what would be the case if our Un­der-20 play­ers had got­ten the op­por­tu­ni­ty to com­pete in the Su­per League? The sit­u­a­tion would have been the ex­pe­ri­ence gained would have great­ly en­hanced the over­all skill and men­tal lev­el of the team and en­sured that when they played against their peers at the in­ter­na­tion­al lev­el the team and by ex­ten­sion, each play­er would have been bet­ter pre­pared.

I know that of­fi­cials from the TTFA would have been up­set, even if they did not say so, I can imag­ine the pain in the minds of two men who have made ma­jor sac­ri­fices for T&T over the years - An­ton Corneal (Tech­ni­cal Di­rec­tor) and Rus­sell Lat­a­py (Un­der-20 coach) both of whom are owed monies by the TTFA for work done, but to their cred­it both in­di­vid­u­als have large­ly ig­nored that im­ped­i­ment, and gave their all to look af­ter foot­ball on the field. I can­not say the same about the Su­per League de­ci­sion mak­ers or mak­er, based on the ev­i­dence in front of us and the pain in the hearts of our youths.

There are many that be­lieve that mak­ing a lot of noise guar­an­tees at­ten­tion, and them gain­ing their way at the ex­pense of oth­ers, but lit­tle do they re­alise, that the lega­cy they leave be­hind them, will not ever go away and as they seek to pro­mote them­selves and de­stroy oth­ers, they on­ly help to con­firm the gen­er­al feel­ing, that they could care less about any­thing that does not pro­mote their name, game or agen­da. Sad­ly there are too many per­sons like what ex­ists in the Su­per League in sports in T&T, and foot­ball it would ap­pear has fall­en prey to this as well, based on the ne­glect that pre­vails.

So whether it is the Un­der-20 foot­ball team on this oc­ca­sion, or our Un­der-15 team in crick­et, or our youth teams in ten­nis and bas­ket­ball, there is so much dis­en­chant­ment, that it is easy to un­der­stand why par­ents will de­cide to shift the em­pha­sis to an­oth­er sport or just keep the fo­cus on their son or daugh­ter’s ed­u­ca­tion, in light of the treat­ment.

There­fore, it is with a very heavy heart, that I call on the Su­per League to of­fi­cial­ly apol­o­gise to the peo­ple of T&T for their faulty de­ci­sion to not al­low our na­tion­al youth team the prepa­ra­tion that was need­ed in an ef­fort to put T&T on the glob­al foot­ball map yet again.

As I watched the young­sters, fight as best they can and not give in or give up de­spite all the odds be­ing stacked against them, it gave me the pride to know that there are still young per­sons who are not in­ter­est­ed in crime and do­ing ill will to our so­ci­ety, but rather de­ter­mined to make them­selves, their fam­i­ly and friends and by ex­ten­sion T&T proud. T&T is very proud of each play er on the National Under-20 team.

[FF]

Wow hear this sycophant

[asylumseeker]

Super League blanks U-20s entry.
By Walter Alibey (Guardian).

The national Under-20 team is one of ten teams that were blanked from participating in this year’s T&T Super League (TTSL) competition.

The team which is coached by former national standout Russell Latapy failed to pay the registration fee of $45,000 as part of the entry requirement.

Keith Look Loy, the TTSL president said on Sunday that it was initially decided to have the team in the league as a guest team, but after its TTSL parent body, the T&T Football Association failed to pay the fee on two occasions, its members decided against having them in the league.

Look Loy said his members also found the team to be an unstable one after it was discovered that staff members had not been paid for six months.

Look Loy believes the league can be at risk of accepting such a team, fearing its members can decide to pull out if they continue to not be paid for their work.

The TTSL boss further explained that upon investigation, the TTSL also discovered that the team had not trained in a long time.

The under the 20 team is one of nine clubs that were refused the opportunity to play football in the TTSL this year, for either being non-compliant or failure to pay the required registration fee.

Guardian Media Sports also learnt that the country’s Under-17 team was also blanked entry into the FLOW Youth Pro League because of a late request.

Yesterday, General Secretary of the TTFA Justin Latapy-George said they came to an agreement with the TTSL for the U-20s to play, but we just could not make the payment.

“That is all I am going to say on that” Latapy-George said. One of the more popular teams that were also blanked is Defence Force, which was deemed compliant, but it did not pay the required $45, 000 for entry.

The others are Siparia Spurs, Central 500, Youth Stars, Marabella Family Crisis, Real Maracas United, Harlem Strikers, WASA and Palo Seco.

At a meeting of the TTSL on Sunday, officials of the Army Coast-Guard Combination team pleaded for a third deadline to pay. Due to the omission of the 10 clubs, this year’s TTSL season has been drawn down to 13 teams in a League One division only, compared to 24 teams in two divisions last year.

Look Loy said there is still a possibility that the composition of the tournament can be increased to 15 teams, after newcomers Erin FC paid half the fee Sunday and gave a promise that the SFA will pay the remaining amount, as part of their prize monies for last season.

The other team 1976 Phoenix assured it has already transferred monies to the account of the TTSL from its sponsors in the United States.

Look Loy said gave the Tobago team a deadline of yesterday to complete payment, while in the case of Erin FC, it will not accept the team into the league if all the funds are not received before the season starts.

According to Look Loy, they are changing the old culture of making deals and taking shortcuts, which has led to the death of the sport in the past. The TTSL’s stance was taken on the basis of a number of solid principles, one of which was the urgent demand for the fixtures by Caribbean Airline to secure travel for the teams on Sunday.

Look Loy, a former coach at FC Santa Rosa said: “We are treating our League as a commercial enterprise and those who don’t want to treat it as such will have to step aside. At some point in time, we have to get serious.”

Video - Super League set to be downsized

[asylumseeker]

Super League Look Loy it's your fault
By Andre Baptiste (T&T Guardian)

...

Fixed it for you, Andre. Because dahis what yuh REALLY mean. Other than that, just three (3) additional words:

WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT.


Edit: Nah, we need seven (7) more: WHISKEY DELTA MIKE CHARLIE! FOXTROT FOXTROT SIERRA!

[lefty]

Wow hear this sycophant

Yuh mean payed hachete man

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[injunchile]

Did this really happen/ Or is it a personality conflict rearing it's ugly head. Now if this opportunity was denied , then  Mr Baptiste ought to be congratulated for speaking Truth to Power .

[Sam]

Sports Ministry gives $.4M to U-20 campaign.
T&T Guardian Reports.

As T&T's Un­der-20 na­tion­al foot­ball team pre­pares to face Suri­name to­day and the US Vir­gin Is­lands on Fri­day to close off the group phase of the CON­CA­CAF Un­der-20 Men Cham­pi­onship World Cup qual­i­fi­er in the Unit­ed States, the Min­istry of Sport & Youth Af­fairs pre­sent­ed a cheque val­ued TT$452,855.00 to the T&T Foot­ball As­so­ci­a­tion (TTFA) to cov­er ex­pens­es for the tour­na­ment.

T&T played the USA in its third match on Mon­day night and was de­feat­ed 6-1.

The Ho­n­ourable Sham­fa Cud­joe, in her re­marks be­fore the pre­sen­ta­tion, ex­tend­ed best wish­es to the team and took the op­por­tu­ni­ty to re­it­er­ate that NG­Bs must be more cir­cum­spect in their fund­ing re­quests. Min­is­ter Cud­joe said, “The Min­istry and SporTT stand ready to pro­vide the nec­es­sary as­sis­tance when called up­on but NG­Bs al­so have the re­spon­si­bil­i­ty to prac­tice trans­paren­cy, ac­count­abil­i­ty and even democ­ra­cy in their own af­fairs. Plan­ning and prepa­ra­tion are fun­da­men­tal to the process of sports de­vel­op­ment and we look for­ward to im­prove­ment in these ar­eas go­ing for­ward.”

Both Di­rec­tor Hay­den Mitchell of the Sports Com­pa­ny of Trinidad and To­ba­go (SporTT) and the Min­istry’s Di­rec­tor of Sports Patrice Charles con­curred with the Min­is­ter’s con­cerns about the time­li­ness of for­mal re­quests for fund­ing, es­pe­cial­ly in to­day’s chal­leng­ing eco­nom­ic cli­mate.

To date, T&T has won two of the Group A match­es at the tour­na­ment which be­gan on 1 No­vem­ber. T&T came from be­hind to beat St Vin­cent and the Grenadines 3-2 and romped to a 5-1 vic­to­ry against Puer­to Ri­co but lost to the USA 6-1 on Mon­day night. The next for T&T is Suri­name. The top two teams of each group would qual­i­fy for the 2019 FI­FA U20 World Cup.

De Sport minister give money after de team get knock out..... 

T&T wrong side we.

[Sam]

Latapy eh know what de ass he doing.

John-Paul Rochford, we top scorer Isaiah Lee and Mark Ramdeen shoulda start.

Che Benny good enough to play in Europe and he riding bench....

Lard.

[asylumseeker]

Latapy eh know what de ass he doing.

John-Paul Rochford, we top scorer Isaiah Lee and Mark Ramdeen shoulda start.

Che Benny good enough to play in Europe and he riding bench....

Lard.

Somehow ah feel Benny might geh de start today.

[lefty]

Did this really happen/ Or is it a personality conflict rearing it's ugly head. Now if this opportunity was denied , then  Mr Baptiste ought to be congratulated for speaking Truth to Power .

D same super league dat Djw tried to frustrate...in this instance I can't argue with lookloy holding his ground on the fee.....Andre is a disingenuous snake

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[lefty]

Latapy eh know what de ass he doing.

John-Paul Rochford, we top scorer Isaiah Lee and Mark Ramdeen shoulda start.

Che Benny good enough to play in Europe and he riding bench....

Lard.

Somehow ah feel Benny might geh de start today.

On d game front what would you say about moving Singh from CB and stick him in DM role between d middle and defense in dat 4-1-4-1, his passing could actually help link d play better, sort of like a regista this way he can use his passing range to create opportunities between d lines..but I don't fancy him as ah CB in a 2

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[lefty]

possible link http://goatd.net/471455/watch-trinidad-and-tobago-u20-vs-suriname-u20 as usual use a browser with pop up blocker...if u can

[asylumseeker]

Latapy eh know what de ass he doing.

John-Paul Rochford, we top scorer Isaiah Lee and Mark Ramdeen shoulda start.

Che Benny good enough to play in Europe and he riding bench....

Lard.

Somehow ah feel Benny might geh de start today.

On d game front what would you say about moving Singh from CB and stick him in DM role between d middle and defense in dat 4-1-4-1, his passing could actually help link d play better, sort of like a regista this way he can use his passing range to create opportunities between d lines..but I don't fancy him as ah CB in a 2

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Well, there's no time to school the team on adapted tactics ... and that one modification signifies that there would have to be other modifications.

I doh know that he could be a regista in terms of overall quality per se, but I take your point that he has showed some DM qualities on both sides of the ball. (By the way, I believe he has experience playing MF).

Lawd lefty, yuh reminding meh of the Saintfiet experiment with Cyrus playing in MF.

And by the way, the lack of playing between the lines is a widespread problem in our domestic football. We may have players standing between the lines but not a whole lot of playing between the lines.

[lefty]

Well, there's no time to school the team on adapted tactics ... and that one modification signifies that there would have to be other modifications.

agreed to a point but in that position he could be encouraged to drop between d CBs to create ah sort of faux three on defense dat should in principle be simple enough...in principle anyways

I doh know that he could be a regista in terms of overall quality per se, but I take your point that he has showed some DM qualities on both sides of the ball. (By the way, I believe he has experience playing MF).

something to build on in the future perhaps but he is the only one in dat defensive 5 to show any kind of industry with d ball

Lawd lefty, yuh reminding meh of the Saintfiet experiment with Cyrus playing in MF.

lolol

And by the way, the lack of playing between the lines is a widespread problem in our domestic football. We may have players standing between the lines but not a whole lot of playing between the lines.

too damn true dat steups

[Tallman]

GOAL (29'): Shaquille Cairo gives Suriname U-20 a 1-0 lead over Trinidad and Tobago.

[Tallman]

HALF-TIME: Trinidad and Tobago U-20 0-1 Suriname U-20 (Shaquille Cairo 29').

[lefty]

St. Vincent draWing 0-0 with USA imagine dat

[lefty]

can't believe benny can't get ah run in this team

[Tallman]

T&T's Under-20s beaten again.
T&T Guardian Reports.

A goal on each side of the half by Suri­name's Shaquille Cairo in the 29th minute and Bri­an Elshot in the 70th, re­duced T&T Un­der-20 foot­ballers to their sec­ond de­feat 2-0 on Wednes­day in the CON­CA­CAF Un­der-20 Cham­pi­onships World Cup qual­i­fi­er at the IMG Acad­e­my, Braden­ton USA.

The re­sult fol­lows Mon­day's heart-wrench­ing 6-1 loss to host and de­fend­ing cham­pi­ons Unit­ed States, which es­sen­tial­ly killed all chances T&T may have had of tak­ing the top spot in the group. Af­ter­wards T&T cap­tain John Paul Rochford said his team failed to demon­strate the qual­i­ties need­ed to bounce back from the loss to the US.

“The game tonight we didn’t get the re­sult we want­ed. We want­ed the vic­to­ry to show peo­ple that we had the strength and abil­i­ty to bounce back from the de­feat we suf­fered on Mon­day. That was not the case. Some of the play­ers in the camp didn’t have it, the vibes were not the same as it usu­al­ly would be be­fore a game, and as a team on a whole, we weren’t our­selves," Rochford said.

He added, "I be­lieve that was a key part to play in the de­feat to­day. Let’s not for­get that we didn’t have the nec­es­sary prepa­ra­tions that we need­ed. Know­ing the play­ers on the team, for some of them, this is the first time play­ing an in­ter­na­tion­al tour­na­ment so the ex­pe­ri­ence is a fresh one. They don’t know what the feel­ing is like to suf­fer a loss, then play two days af­ter to try and come back and fight again."

Ac­cord­ing to the T&T skip­per, "It is a first time ex­pe­ri­ence for them where­as for some of us we un­der­stand that it takes a lot to bounce back from a 6-1 de­feat. As one of the key play­ers in the team, I will try my best to fix it as best as I can, talk to play­ers, bring pos­i­tiv­i­ty and get us on a high go­ing in­to the fi­nal game on Fri­day.”

Coach Rus­sell Lat­apy did not have the ser­vices of mid­field­er Ju­dah Gar­cia due to a dou­ble yel­low card sus­pen­sion, and he didn’t see the oth­er play­ers rise to the call.

“It was a dif­fi­cult game to pick our­selves up af­ter the USA game. There were a lot of dis­ap­point­ed young men in that dress­ing room af­ter the 6-1 loss. Just at the start tonight we warned them about be­ing flat. We knew that we need­ed high en­er­gy lev­els and we need­ed to have bet­ter or­gan­i­sa­tion. Cred­it to Suri­name as I thought they played well but I thought it was be­cause of the mis­takes we made that re­al­ly cost us the game."

FULL-TIME: Trinidad and Tobago 0 vs Suriname 2 (Shaquille Cairo 29', Brian Elshot 70').

Teams

Trinidad and Tobago: 1.Denzil Smith; 4.Jerrin Jackie, 16.Luke Singh, 2.Mikel Mieres, 3.Derron John; 8.Jabarry Francis (9.Jaydon Prowell 71), 14.Ethan Bonaparte (19.Shaqkeem Joseph 46); 7.Mark Ramdeen (13.Nickel Orr 55), 15.John-Paul Rochford (capt), 12.Kishon Hackshaw; 6.Isaiah Lee.

Unused substitutes: 20.Jabari Brice (GK), 5.Justin Homer, 10.Judah Garcia, 11.Che Benny, 17.Matthew Beal, 18.Kerdell Sween.

Coach: Russell Latapy.

Suriname: 1.Rivaldo Soesman, 2.Mgwenze Vola, 3.Michiel Revales, 4.Isiah Helstone, 5.Doniel Wijdenbosch , 6.Abraham Graves, 14.Brian Elshot (17.Jamilhio Rigters 82), 8.Roscello Vlijter, 11.Ferando Hoepel, 9.Alvaro Verwey (capt), 19.Shaquille Cairo (18.Ayad Godlieb 68).

Coach: Eugene Verwey.

Highlights: Trinidad 0 - 2 Suriname

[Tallman]

WATCH: Highlights of Trinidad and Tobago U-20's 2-0 loss to Suriname.

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/QJiPJkPe99o" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/QJiPJkPe99o</a>

[asylumseeker]

can't believe benny can't get ah run in this team

On a cost-benefit analysis, was it worth it to fly him from Portugal? That question has to be asked. Not exclusively because he was used sparingly, but also because he wasn't even in the same time zone when the whistle blew to kick off the opening match, due to another moment of administrative genius. Of course, mere selection is no guarantee of playing time, but the narrative that preceded the tournament suggests that ~ 24 minutes of football for Benny, over the course of the tournament, falls squarely in the category of the unlikely (although I am mindful of his belated introduction many months ago in the tournament on home soil). It's the sort of question that would command the inquiry of the football media in football nations. One would imagine that he isn't injured as that is typically stated transparently. Was he a square peg in the coach's vision of round holes? Were there disciplinary or motivational concerns? Or, has he been held in reserve to dazzle the highly regarded USVI?

[asylumseeker]

D same super league dat Djw tried to frustrate...in this instance I can't argue with lookloy holding his ground on the fee.....Andre is a disingenuous snake

I believe Andre's point is that the TTSL should have accommodated the U20 NT through national interest, but as you observe, the TTFA and its functionaries do not function in a vacuum or live in a world without consequences.

There are also parallel and similar critiques regarding other T&T national teams that Andre excludes. Did he do so selectively?

I thought the idea of the U-20s participating in the TTSL was a fairly reasonable idea and was disappointed
by their exclusion, but let us accept that idea for what it was - expedient and desperate in the lack of viable alternatives. It also strikes me that the proposal would have needed ratification by the Technical Committee rather than by fiat of the president or technical director.

The buck doesn't stop with the TTSL, it begins with the TTFA. And, in light of how things panned out for the U-20s, it seems that the TTSL averted a domestic version of the internationally publicized begging that occurred with the WNT in Texas and Virgina.

[lefty]

D same super league dat Djw tried to frustrate...in this instance I can't argue with lookloy holding his ground on the fee.....Andre is a disingenuous snake

I believe Andre's point is that the TTSL should have accommodated the U20 NT through national interest, but as you observe, the TTFA and its functionaries do not function in a vacuum or live in a world without consequences.

There are also parallel and similar critiques regarding other T&T national teams that Andre excludes. Did he do so selectively?

I thought the idea of the U-20s participating in the TTSL was a fairly reasonable idea and was disappointed
by their exclusion, but let us accept that idea for what it was - expedient and desperate in the lack of viable alternatives. It also strikes me that the proposal would have needed ratification by the Technical Committee rather than by fiat of the president or technical director.

The buck doesn't stop with the TTSL, it begins with the TTFA. And, in light of how things panned out for the U-20s, it seems that the TTSL averted a domestic version of the internationally publicized begging that occurred with the WNT in Texas and Virgina.

I thought it was a good idea too.... it was done with eve's u20s.... correct if I am wrong, back in day, but on principle, given the struggles to get the ttsl ratified, ttfa role in those struggles and the league's desire to maintain its rules and regulations, I can understand why hardball was played regarding the fee.

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[ZANDOLIE]

D same super league dat Djw tried to frustrate...in this instance I can't argue with lookloy holding his ground on the fee.....Andre is a disingenuous snake

I believe Andre's point is that the TTSL should have accommodated the U20 NT through national interest, but as you observe, the TTFA and its functionaries do not function in a vacuum or live in a world without consequences.

There are also parallel and similar critiques regarding other T&T national teams that Andre excludes. Did he do so selectively?

I thought the idea of the U-20s participating in the TTSL was a fairly reasonable idea and was disappointed
by their exclusion, but let us accept that idea for what it was - expedient and desperate in the lack of viable alternatives. It also strikes me that the proposal would have needed ratification by the Technical Committee rather than by fiat of the president or technical director.

The buck doesn't stop with the TTSL, it begins with the TTFA. And, in light of how things panned out for the U-20s, it seems that the TTSL averted a domestic version of the internationally publicized begging that occurred with the WNT in Texas and Virgina.

I thought it was a good idea too.... it was done with eve's u20s.... correct if I am wrong, back in day, but on principle, given the struggles to get the ttsl ratified, ttfa role in those struggles and the league's desire to maintain its rules and regulations, I can understand why hardball was played regarding the fee.

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2009 u-20 team played in the 2009-2009 super League under Zoran Vranes leadership. They went on to make the 2009 world cup. This time around it would have helped immensely. But to say the super league/look loy are to blame for the loss is disingenuous at best. Its not a good look for DJW. Good leaders don't need bottom-licking attack dogs. 

[soccerman]

Though their participation in the Super League would've been beneficial, is that the only league they could've participated in? What about the Eastern Football Asscociation or North Football Association? They're good teams of amateur status competing in those leagues and the entry requirements would've been more suitable given TTFA's situation.

[asylumseeker]

Though their participation in the Super League would've been beneficial, is that the only league they could've participated in? What about the Eastern Football Asscociation or North Football Association? They're good teams of amateur status competing in those leagues and the entry requirements would've been more suitable given TTFA's situation.

Or the Pro League? NE Stars stated from jump that they would be fielding a young roster ... Would the U20s have been viable in that setting? Might have been less than hypothetical if a functioning reserve league existed.

[Tallman]

Trinidad and Tobago  U-20 Men aim to end campaign on a high
TTFA Media

Trinidad and Tobago’s Under 20 Men will be aiming to finish their 2018 CONCACAF Men’s U-20 Championship campaign on a positive note when they come up against cellar placed US Virgin Islands in their closing group encounter from 4pm TT Time at the IMG Academy, Bradenton on Friday.

The encounter follows a disappointing 2-0 loss to Suriname on Wednesday, two days after a 6-1 loss to defending champions United States.

Shaquille Cairo (29’) and Brian Elshot (70’) did the damage against T&T while United States completed it’s fourth straight win, 6-0 over St Vincent/Grenadines to sit atop the group.T&T have six points from four games.

Puerto Rico continued its resurgence by picking up an 8-0 victory over the U.S. Virgin Islands. A hat trick from Jaden Servania (52’, 72’, 88’), braces by Kevin Hernandez (26’, 56’) and Alejandro Rabell (46’, 85’) and a goal from Kevin Montanez (88’) earned the Boricuas the three points.

After the match, T&T captain John Paul Rochford said his team failed to demonstrate the qualities needed to bounce back from the loss to the US.

“The game tonight we didn’t get the result we wanted. We wanted the victory to show people that we had the strength and ability to bounce back from the defeat we suffered on Monday. That was not the case. Some of the players in the camp didn’t have it, the vibes was not the same as it usually would be before a game. The team on a whole, we weren’t ourselves. I believe that had a key part to play in the defeat that we suffered today,” Rochford told TTFA Media.

“Let’s not forget that we didn’t have the necessary preparations that we needed. Knowing the players on the team, for some of them, this is the first time playing an international tournament so the experience is a fresh one. They don’t know what the feeling is like to suffer a loss, then play two days after to try and come back and fight again. It is a first time experience for them whereas for some of us we understand that it takes a lot to bounce back from a 6-1 defeat. As one of the key players in the team, I will try my best to fix it(negative vibes) as best as I can, talk to the players, bring positivity and get us on a high going into the final game on Friday,” he added.

Head Coach Latapy did not have the services of midfielder Judah Garcia due to a double yellow card suspension. He didn’t see his other players rise to the call.

“It was a difficult game to pick ourselves up after the US game. There were a lot of disappointed young men in that dressing room after the 6-1 loss. Just at the start tonight we warned them about being flat. We knew that we needed high energy levels and we needed to have better organisation. Credit to Suriname as I thought they played well but I thought it was because of the mistakes we made that really cost us the game.

“We played against a team that was dropping off and letting us have the ball and playing from behind the ball and when it’s like that we ask them to get the ball into wide areas and play from wide areas. We were tying to play little intricate passes through the middle of the field and things were breaking down quite a lot and we were being countered. I am disappointed that we didn’t create enough chances. We were asking the wingers to play high and wide and it was difficult today because they were dropping back to get the ball and in situations like that you just need to be a bit more disciplined and let the ball come to you and I don’t think we were good at that tonight,” Latapy added.

“When we play organised teams and Suriname were organised enough in the middle of the field, you need to let the ball do the work a bit faster. We were taking two and three touches and playing the same ball instead of doing it just a bit quicker, to get more movement so our forward players could create more room in the pockets for themselves. Again these are things that would come in preparation.

“We are trying to fix things during the game and the level and experience these players are calling on is really Schools football and not international level and it is very different. With the quality of players we have here in relation to the level they play at at home, even when they make mistakes in schools football they can get away with it but at international football it is a totally different story,” Latapy said.

Trinidad and Tobago 1.Denzil Smith (GK); 4.Jerrin Jackie,  2.Mikel Mieres, 3.Derron John; 8.Jabarry Francis (9.Jaydon Prowell 71′), 16.Luke Singh,14.Ethan Bonaparte (19.Shaqkeem Joseph 46′); 7.Mark Ramdeen (13.Nickel Orr 55′), 15.John-Paul Rochford, 12.Kishon Hackshaw; 6.Isaiah Lee.

Subs not used – 20.Jabari Brice (GK), 5.Justin Homer,11.Che Benny, 17.Matthew Beal, 18.Kerdell Sween.

Head Coach: Russell Latapy

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[soccerman]

Though their participation in the Super League would've been beneficial, is that the only league they could've participated in? What about the Eastern Football Asscociation or North Football Association? They're good teams of amateur status competing in those leagues and the entry requirements would've been more suitable given TTFA's situation.

Or the Pro League? NE Stars stated from jump that they would be fielding a young roster ... Would the U20s have been viable in that setting? Might have been less than hypothetical if a functioning reserve league existed.

Well the TTFA could've put them in the Pro League for sure. Though I think the Pro League might've been difficult for the U20's to compete in, it could've been an option. It's not like they did not have options for the team.

[vb]

can't believe benny can't get ah run in this team

On a cost-benefit analysis, was it worth it to fly him from Portugal? That question has to be asked. Not exclusively because he was used sparingly, but also because he wasn't even in the same time zone when the whistle blew to kick off the opening match, due to another moment of administrative genius. Of course, mere selection is no guarantee of playing time, but the narrative that preceded the tournament suggests that ~ 24 minutes of football for Benny, over the course of the tournament, falls squarely in the category of the unlikely (although I am mindful of his belated introduction many months ago in the tournament on home soil). It's the sort of question that would command the inquiry of the football media in football nations. One would imagine that he isn't injured as that is typically stated transparently. Was he a square peg in the coach's vision of round holes? Were there disciplinary or motivational concerns? Or, has he been held in reserve to dazzle the highly regarded USVI?

I am confused by Benny's absence as well.

In my opinion Benny and Garcia are the two best players on the team. Amazingly Benny saw no action against our toughest opponent the US and neither was played vs Suriname. In Garcia's case I understand he may have been rested due to a lot of action but what was the excuse for Benny.

Having your two best players on the bench and losing  2-0 makes no sense.

VB