T&T's Under-20 footballers will defend a narrow one goal lead on December 20 after coming from behind to edge host Suriname 2-1 in the first-leg of their Group D Caribbean Football Union qualifier to the Concacaf Championship. This was at the Andr�-Kamperveen-Stadium, Paramaribo, last night. The Under-20 Warriors who went into the match following a 12-1 aggregate win over St Vincent and The Grenadines after 8-0 and 4-1 wins fell behind in the 11th minute after a defensive lapse on a surface made difficult by showers for most of the day.
However, on the stroke of half-time, Marcus Joseph blasted home the equaliser for T&T from about 25-yards out and 14th minutes into the second-half, team captain, Sheldon Bateau headed home the winner. T&T ended the match with ten-men after Ryan Frederick who replaced Kenaz Williams in the 64th minute was red-carded eight minutes from full-time. T&T will host the second-leg at the Marvin Lee Stadium, Macoya on December 20 with the winner qualifying for the Concacaf Final Round 12-team tournament to be hosted by Guatemala, and will qualify four teams to next year's Fifa Under-20 World Cup in Colombia.
The teams already through to the Concacaf series are hosts Guatemala, Jamaica, USA, Canada, Mexico, Guadeloupe, Cuba, Panama and Honduras. The loser of the T&T/Suriname tie will meet the other second placed CFU teams, Netherlands Antilles (Group A), Bermuda (Group B) and Guyana (Group C) in a round-robin series to determine the fifth qualifier. The second placed Central American playoff between El Salvador and Costa Rica later this month will determine the final qualifier.
