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T&T come up short, Haiti win

Trinidad and Tobago will have to play for third place against Jamaica in the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Youth Cup on Sunday from 2pm, after succumbing 1-0 to Haiti in a group A decider at the Hasely Crawford Stadium last evening.

The Young Soca Warriors were undone by a 12th-minute Jules Sandy strike which proved the game decider. A second place finish guaranteed T&T's sport in the next round of CONCACAF qualifiers for next year's World Under-17 Youth Championships. Only Barbados could have blocked T&T's passage but they were beaten 3-0 by Suriname in the first game of the doubleheader at the venue used at the last minute because of unsuitable conditions at the Larry Gomes Stadium in Malabar.

Haiti will take on group B winners, Mexico in the grand final from 4pm.

Two first half Mexican goals settled the group B issue at ther Dwight Yorke Stdium in Bacolet, Tobago to give the Cenbtral Americans a 2-1 win over the Jamaicans.

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Haiti edge TT 1-0 in CFU Youth

HAITI booked a spot in tomorrow?s final of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Youth Cup with a 1-0 win over hosts Trinidad and Tobago in the final Group ?A? second round match at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo yesterday.

By virtue of winning the group, the Haitians will meet Mexico for the title at the Mucurapo venue at 4 pm, while TT will meet Jamaica for the third-placed prize.

Yesterday?s double-header was originally carded for the Larry Gomes Stadium, Arima but was switched to the Mucurapo venue yesterday morning, with patrons allowed to watch the matches free of charge.

Haiti, who have been in impressive form throughout the competition, silenced the estimated 4,000 crowd with a tenth minute goal from Alcine Samuel.

Haitian captain Joseph Peterson twisted and turned past his marker Brenton Balbosa (reinstated as a defensive midfielder as coach Anton Corneal played with three defenders) and found Normil Valdo on the right, with the winger?s crossing to Samuel who weaved past Robert Primus before slamming his right footer past goalkeeper Jesse Fullerton.

Trinidad and Tobago missed two chances at tying the scores, both from freekicks ? in the 20th, Ryan O?Neil?s 30-metre blast went wide off the mark while, five minutes later, Jean-Luc Rochford?s effort on the right found Stephen Knox, via Daniel Joseph, but Knox?s right footer went straight to goalie Dorhans Shelson.

Haiti?s ball control and speed befuddled the TT team, who constantly relied on long balls to the strike duo of Knox and Joseph, but the duo were well marshalled by the Haitian defenders Jean Baptiste Shiroc and Jean Jacques Bitielo.

Chad De Freitas, who replaced Rochford at the half, tested Shelson with a low-right footed effort in the 49th, after he was sent free from playmaker Kevin Molino, while a deep freekick from Sheldon Bateau in the 53rd was missed completely by O?Neil, with an unmarked Akeem Adams skying his left-footer high from close range.

Four minutes later, Fullerton and, particularly Primus, were in no-man?s land when Valdo?s right footer cannoned against the crossbar, as the midfielder was picked out inside the box by St Victor Ulterguens while the lanky O?Neil headed overbar from a Primus freekick in the 61st.

The Haitians went into overdrive, and had the TT defenders retreating and on the ground (literally-speaking) with a series of fakes, dribbles and fantastic interchanging of play, as they were allowed acres of space on both flanks. In the 76th, a throw-in on the left by Valdo found Ulterguens, who skipped past Primus and unleashed a left-footer which was tipped overbar by Fullerton.

The result was never in doubt, and the Haitians merely kept possession of the ball, within the TT half, until the final whistle.

Earlier on in the day, Suriname completed their tournament with a comfortable 3-0 win over Barbados, with goals from Teghan Pools (30th), Ivanildo Chobin (62nd) and Giovanni Drenthe (83rd).

Meanwhile, Mexico won Group ?B? after edging Jamaica 2-1 at the Dwight Yorke Stadium, Bacolet, while Panama and Canada battled to a 1-1 draw in the other fixture.

Teams: TRINIDAD and TOBAGO ? Jesse Fullerton (capt); Robert Primus, Ryan O?Neil, Sheldon Bateau; Brenton Balbosa, Chike Sullivan, Jean Luc Rochford (Chad De Freitas 46th), Akeem Adams (Marcus Joseph 84th), Kevin Molino (Sean De Silva 82nd); Stephen Knox, Daniel Joseph.

HAITI - Dorhans Shelson; Pierre Elusma, Jean Baptiste Shiroc, Jean Jacques Bitielo (Romulus Peter 80th); Saint Cyr Widner, Saintilien Geferee, Alcine Samuel (Joachim Dieunel 71st), Normil Valdo, Joseph Peterson (capt); St Victor Ulterguens, Jules Sandy (Saint Louis Wiselet 77th).

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Young Warriors bid for third

Haiti vs Mexico for CFU Youth title

Jean Luc Rochford, left, of Trinidad and Tobago, zips past Haiti's Joseph Peterson, at the Hasely Crawford Stadium on Friday.

Trinidad and Tobago's national under-16 footballers can finish a place higher than they did in 2005 at the CFU Caribbean Youth Cup, when they take on Jamaica for the second consecutive year in the third-place playoff.

The teams meet in a 2 p.m. match at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, which will be followed by the 4 p.m. grand final between CONCACAF powerhouses Mexico and a very skilled Haitian X1.

A year ago, the Young Warriors finished fourth when they were bullied by bigger, stronger Jamaicans, before going down by a 3-0 margin. This year many of the Trinidad and Tobago players have put on some size, and after raising their intensity against Haiti , could be a good match for today's opponents .

Oswald "Danny" David, the assistant manager of the Trinidad and Tobago team, said yesterday that after some disappointment following Friday';s close 1-0 defeat to Haiti, the Young Warriors were eager to come away with a win over Jamaica.

"We are very confident. There was some disappointment after the loss, but we have gotten over that now," Davis said, while also confirming that injured play-maker Leston Paul will not be risked today, but instead will be given time to recover for the upcoming CONCACAF under-17 qualifying tournament.

Meanwhile T&T';s 1-0 loss to the impressive Haitians should be seen as no disgrace, according to Haitian coach Jean-Yves Labaze who has revealed that the young Haitians have been working together in the Haitian Football Academy since they were 10-year-olds. The Haitians are confidently looking forward to winning the final against the Mexicans.

"We have benefitted from being together for a long time at the national academy. From the time we started to work together we had our ambitions on doing well at this level. We worked for a long while before political events caused us to break up for a month in 2004, but we came back together and we kept on working," Labaze said.

He spoke of the hardships experienced by the players, many of them coming from broken homes and with little other than football to look forward to. At least four of their under-17 players from last season have gone on to play professionally in Argentina, Uruguay and United States.