Zoran Vranes, coach of the T&T Under-20 football team said he was pleased with his team's effort in 2-1 first-leg win over Suriname on Friday night, in their Group D Caribbean Football Union qualifier for the Concacaf Championship. The local Under-20's fell behind to the host in the 11th minute at the Andr�-Kamperveen-Stadium, Paramaribo following a defensive lapse. However, on the stroke of half-time, Marcus Joseph blasted home the equaliser for T&T from about 25-yards out and 14 minutes into the second-half, team captain, Sheldon Bateau headed home the winner. T&T will host the second-leg at the Marvin Lee Stadium, Macoya on Monday December 20 from 3 pm, 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.
Speaking after the match, Vranes who led T&T to the last Under-20 Fifa World Cup Finals in Egypt in 2009 said, "I said before the match that I didn't expect this game to be easy and Suriname proved me right. We had to work very hard for the victory, Suriname was very different to St Vincent and The Grenadines and I'm pleased with the way we played to the end because this kind of match is important for my players if we are to go to the next stage in Concacaf. "The competition there will be much tougher and tonight I saw my players hold on nicely for a victory." Reflecting on the match, Vranes said, "We made it hard for ourselves in the closing minutes because of being a man short but this is how football is sometimes. "You must be ready to play under any circumstance and I saw us finish well enough to get the victory and that was most important for us here in Suriname. "Now we have to prepare for the next match in Trinidad and hopefully we will have a full squad available to prepare for it because I think it's going to be another hard contest for us," Vranes ended.