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Trinidad and Tobago’s Under 17 footballers held the United States’ Under 17s to a 2-2 draw in their final warm up at the IMG Academy in Tampa last week ahead of the CONCACAF Final Round of qualification for the FIFA Under 17 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates later this year.

T&T faces Canada in its opening game in Panama City on Saturday and will leave these shores on Thursday following a final training session a day before at the Ato Boldon Stadium in Couva.

Through the support of the Ministry of Sports, the T&T team was able to travel to Tampa for two games against the US following a request for the games from the US Soccer Federation last month.

The US won the opening match 4-0 before T&T came into their own in the second encounter, forcing the Americans, with a few changes to its starting team, having to grab an equalizer three minutes into added on time. Akeem Garcia notched a double for T&T, scoring on either side of the half.

“Overall it was a good exercise for the team and the last game which we drew 2-2 was the ideal situation for the team before heading into our first match against Canada on Saturday,” TTFF Technical Director Anton Corneal told TTFF Media. Corneal accompanied the team which has Shawn Cooper as head coach.

“The first game was difficult for us. The US controlled most of it and were stronger than us for most parts.  In the second game though we settled in well and we controlled the midfield for long periods and we were very compact in defence.

We were able to create chances and converted two of them which was a good sign for us. They got a late equalizer but I thought our performance was very encouraging heading into the final round in Panama,” Corneal added.

Cooper too was pleased with the team’s showing.

“We got into our stride much quicker in the second game and I was pleased with the way we were able to get over the opening loss and bounce back with a much more disciplined performance in the second game,” Cooper said.

“These last few days will be spent working on fine tuning some aspects of our game and ensuring that the players are mentally ready for the challenge ahead. We will be putting everything in to ensure our chances of an opening win against Canada is possible,” Cooper stated.