Trinidad and Tobago Under-17s eliminated in Jewels tournament

THE Trinidad and Tobago Under-17 footballers fell to their Jamaica counterparts 2-1 when the DecembHER Football – Jewels of the Caribbean tournament continued at the Sangre Grande Recreational Ground on December 17.

The defeat means TT will not advance to the final after suffering back-to-back losses to start the tournament. Only the top two teams in the four-team group will progress to the final.

The match had a bit of everything as a red card forced TT to play the second half with ten players and a power outage led to a stoppage in the second half.

In the 22nd minute, Ricquanna Richards gave Jamaica the lead after converting a rebound following a shot from a tight angle, which was saved by TT goalkeeper Zofia Richards.

It took just ten minutes for TT to find the equaliser through Nikita Gosine. After getting fouled, Gosine picked herself up and blasted a penalty into the roof of the net to level the contest.

In stoppage time of the first half, TT’s Gyasi Lewis was given a red card for a foul. The referee took her time to make the decision, but eventually it was a colour that the TT players did not want to see.

Despite being down a player for the entire second half, TT did not roll over and die. However, they could not prevent Beth Miller from giving Jamaica the lead in the 56th minute. Miller controlled a long ball over the top of the TT defence brilliantly. Her first attempt was charged down by Richards, but Miller was in a perfect position to bury the rebound and give Jamaica a 2-1 advantage. In the 63rd minute, there was a delay in the contest as there was an electricity outage at the ground.

When play resumed after the short break, Jamaica held on for the 2-1 win.

TT Under-17s fell to a 4-0 defeat at the hands of US-based club Indy Premier SC in their opener.

In the Under-20 division, Indy and Jamaica played to a 2-2 draw at the Hasely Crawford Stadium on December 18 as both teams moved to four points.

After press time on December 18 at Hasely Crawford Stadium, TT Under-20s were playing a TT Women’s League Football team.