Trinidad and Tobago's Under-17 team suffered a 5-0 defeat to Germany's Under-20s in a friendly international in Stuttgart yesterday.
Force to play against a German team comprising several professional players of a higher age group and vast experience, T&T skipper Roderick Anthony and his team-mates fought hard but were no match for their opponents.
The T&T team had turned up at the venue expecting to meet their German under-17 counterparts only to learn that that team had been replaced by the Under-20s.
T&T conceded goals in the 8th, 12th, 40th, 50th and 75th minutes.
However, while expressing disappointment at having to play an older team, T&T manager Russell Tesheira, felt the team managed to give a good enough showing.
The team, he said, will count the experience as a learning one and hope to use it to their advantage in the future.
"We played against a German national team of under-20 players who all play professionally and this took quite a toll on our players," Tesheira said.
"It was really difficult for our boys to do much even though we did manage to give a good account of ourselves at times during the match."
He said assistant T&T coach, Julio Leal, also used the game to experiment with a few players in different positions. "The team was a bit different from the one we played with against Japan and while we are not making any excuses, it did have some kind of effect on our overall performance," he said.
"But while the boys are disappointed with the result, the focus is still there and now we will have to pick ourselves up again."
T&T is now hoping to the German Under-17s tomorrow before departing for France Friday.
T&T - Jan Michael Williams (goalkeeper), Lee Haynes, Kenwyne Jones, Devon Bristol, Kahlil Mathura, Julius James, Jerol Forbes, Roderick Anthony, Devon Leacock, Nkosi Blackman and Kerron Phillips.