Trinidad and Tobago’s Under 17 footballers left their fans at the Marvin Lee Stadium in a state of celebration as they came from a goal don to defeat Jamaica 3-1 in Friday’s CFU Youth Cup semi-final clash, booking a spot in Sunday’s final against Cuba and in the process qualifying for the CONCACAF Final round towards Nigeria 2009.
But T&T fought on and after squandering a few chances, finally grabbed the equalizer through Shaquille Stewart in the 52nd minute. Then skipper Jerrel Britto put T&T ahead 2-1 in the 100th minute and Ross Russell made sure of the win with a further item two minutes later.
T&T will face Cuba in Sunday’s final from 6:30pm. The Cubans beat Haiti 5-4 on penalty kicks after a 1-1 regulation time scoreline. T&T coach Anton Corneal later paid tribute to his players.
“We knew coming into the game that this would have probably been our toughest match of the series and credit must go out to the players for coming away with the win. We were faced with a situation where we were behind for the first time and they stood up to the test to come back and score three goals. I thought we kept ourselves in the game even though the equalizer came in the second half and I admired that about the boys tonight. The fans were good as well and I think we will enjoy this moment and then look to complete the tournament hopefully with another good performance and another god win on Sunday,” Corneal said.
Teams
T&T: - John Thomas, Omar Charles, Zavion Navarro, Shadon Winchester, Kylon Gay (Vernell Ramirez 58th), Jerrel Britto (capt), Cordel Cato, Reshad Wint, Luke Hernadez (Ross Russell 98th), Shaquille Stewart.
Jamaica: - Shawn Lawes, Omar Lawrence, Javes Morrison (Kemar Lawrence 27th) (Sergio Campbell 93rd), Carl Reid, Ashani Fairclough (capt), Ashani Walker (Jauvane Benjamin 62nd), Mavin Morgan, Kavarse Bloomfield, Jhamie Hyde, Neco Brett, Prince Samuels.
Results / Boys U-17
T&T 3 (Shaquille Stewart 52, Jerrel Britto 100+, Ross Russell 112+) v Jamaica 1 (Kayarese Bloomfield 24), Marvin Lee Stadium
Cuba 1 (Humberto Puig 64) v Haiti 1 (Alte Jacques 27), Marvin Lee Stadium
After Penalties
Cuba 5 v Haiti 4
Results / Girls U-15
T&T 4 (Jo-Marie Lewis 18, 32, 75, Kadidra Debisette 73) v Haiti 1 (Sindy Jeune 4), Marvin Lee Stadium
Jamaica 6 (Shenika Williams 23, 50, 67, Trudi Carter 28, 56, Shuntae Browne 75) v Bahamas 0, Marvin Lee Stadium
Final Fixtures / Girls U-15
4:00pm, T&T v Jamaica, 10-Aug-08, Marvin Lee Stadium
Final Fixtures / Boys U-17
6:00pm, T&T v Cuba, 10-Aug-08, Marvin Lee Stadium
Both finalists will compete at the CONCACAF Men's U-17 Qualifiers next year.