Sidebar

18
Mon, Mar

Typography

Trinidad and Tobago’s Men Under 20 team will be looking to secure their first victory of the CONCACAF Under 20 Men’s Qualifiers when they face a difficult task against hosts Costa Rica at the National Stadium in San Jose at 9pm TT time (7pm in Costa Rica).

T&T are ahead of Costa Rica on the table with a point after Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Bermuda but the hosts are wounded after their 1-0 defeat to El Salvador and the contest is expected to be a gripping one as both teams need at least a win to maintain a strong chance of advancing to the next phase.

“Our draw against Bermuda has obviously made things difficult and our plan now is simple. We have to win the game against Costa Rica in order to really be in with a good chance of going through. After El Salvador defeated Costa Rica, the group has become a bit opened as all four teams still have a good chance but anything but a win for us will make things even harder for us,” Williams told TTFA Media.

“But I am optimistic that we can get it right. Our players know the task before them and I think once we stay focused and avoid too many errors and also take our chances on goal then we could pull it off,” Williams added.

T&T’s only victory over Costa Rica at any level of Men’s World Cup qualifying was a 2-0 win over the Central Americans at the CONCACAF Under 17 qualifiers in Panama in 2013.

“We know it will be a difficult contest because Costa Rica needs to win also and they are at home but getting a result is not impossible for us.”

So far the USA have also lost, going down 1-0 to Panama on Saturday. Mexico have won their two games, 3-0 over Antigua/Barbuda and 5-0 over Canada. Haiti also has a win after beating St Kitts/Nevis 5-1.

The top two teams from each group in the classification stage qualify for the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup, with the group winners also advancing to the final to decide the champions of the CONCACAF U-20 Championship.

The top two teams from each group in the group stage advance to the classification stage.

Tiebreakers for group play (including ties among third place teams):

Greater number of points in matches between the tied teams
Greater goal difference in matches between the tied teams
Greater number of goals scored in matches between the tied teams
Greater goal difference in all group matches
Greater number of goals scored in all group matches
Drawing of lots

The competition will determine the four CONCACAF representatives at the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup in South Korea.

The tournament will also be used to determine which two Caribbean nations participate in the 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games.

22 February 2017

16:30, El Salvador v Bermuda, Estadio Nacional, San José
19:00, Costa Rica v Trinidad and Tobago, Estadio Nacional, San José

Standings (Group-C).

P  W  D  L  F  A  pts
El Salvador  1  1  0  0  1  0  3
Bermuda  1  0  1  0  1  1  1
Trinidad and Tobago  1  0  1  0  1  1  1
Costa Rica  1  0  0  1  0  1  0