T&T Under-20 Soca Warriors conceded three goals in the space of 23 minutes in the second-half to go under to host Venezuela, 4-2 in their penultimate match of the six-team Bolivar Invitational Cup at the Estadio Cachamay Stadium, Puerto Ordaz on Tuesday night.
The South Americans, winners of their three previous matches to lead the tournament with a maximum nine points, took the lead in the 24th minute via Jesus Lugo but the young Soca Warriors, coming off of two straight draws (Cameroon (2-2), and Ecuador (1-1) tied up the match in the 37th minute thanks to defender Reshard Wint before Brandon Simpson netted a minute before the interval for the Zoran Vranes-coached team to lead 2-1 at the interval.
However, in the second-half, the Venezuelans took advantage of the absence of two of T&T’s key defenders in captain Sheldon Bateau (suspension) and Akeem Adams (injury) to net in the 65th through Carlos Rivero to leave the match at 2-2 before Lugo got a second in the 75th minute to regain the lead for the hosts while substitute Jose Reyes sealed the win with a 93rd minute item.
With striker, Jerrel Britto also out due to an injury, the young Soca Warriors found the margin too wide to claw their way back from and in the end fell to their second loss in four matches as they continue preparations for the home-and-away Caribbean Football Union Under-20 qualifying series against St Vincent and The Grenadines on November 16 and 23.
Speaking after the match national Under-20 coach Zoran Vranes said he was concerned by the team giving up three second half goals. “We started by conceding first but we came back very strong before half time to lead 2-1.
But they stayed on top of us after the second time they scored and then they got two more goals... Still I am not totally disappointed because Venezuela has been the best team maybe in the tournament and have the results to prove that,” Vranes said.
The winner of the T&T/SVG series will meet the winner of the Aruba/Suriname tie for a Concacaf Final Round spot where it will join already qualifiers Jamaica, Canada, USA, Mexico and host country Guatemala for the Concacaf tournament from April 3 to 17 next year.
Concacaf will qualify four teams to next year’s Under-20 World Cup in Colombia July 29-August 20. In Tuesday’s other matches, Cameroon and Panama battled to a 0-0 draw while Ecuador whipped Nicaragua 4-0.
T&T line-up: - Jamaal Francois; Akil Clarke, Reshard Wint, Dwight Ceballo, Kenaz Williams, Dinelle López (Ross Russell Jr. 69th), Jerron Morris (Kevin Raymond 60th), Jerron Quashie (Vernel Ramírez 65th), Marcus Joseph, Brandon Simpson (Stephon Kerr 89th), Johan Peltier.
Current Standings
Teams P W D L F A Pts
Venezuela 4 4 0 0 15 4 12
Panama 4 2 1 1 8 3 7
Ecuador 4 2 1 1 8 5 7
Cameroon 4 1 2 1 4 5 5
T&T 4 0 2 2 6 9 2
Nicaragua 4 0 0 4 1 16 0
Today’s matches
T&T vs Nicaragua, 4.30 pm
Ecuador vs Panama, 6.30 pm
Venezuela vs Cameroon, 8.30 pm