T&T's National Under 17 men's team secured the top spot in their Caribbean Football Union preliminary group with a 3-2 victory over St Lucia at the Beausejour Stadium on Sunday night.
T&T, guided by head coach Shawn Cooper, topped the group with nine points and have advanced to the CFU Final Round in Haiti next month. T&T will vie for one of five spots from the Caribbean for the Concacaf Final round in Honduras next year towards the 2015 Fifa Under 17 Men's World Cup in Chile. Four teams from Concacaf will qualify for the U-17 World Cup.
T&T got their goals from Dareem Daniel, Anthony Herbert and a second half winner from Herbert as St Lucia pressed for an equaliser in the closing ten minutes of the match. Cooper appeared pleased with the team's progress which was witnessed by National Senior Men's team head coach Stephen Hart who was in St Lucia for the tournament.
T&T had previously defeated Grenada (2-0) and Curacao (2-0).
The other qualified team for the CFU Final round in Haiti so far include Cuba, Martinique and Barbados and the hosts.
The 2015 Concacaf Under-17 Championship will include a field of twelve teams: Five from the Caribbean Football Union (CFU), four from the Central American Football Union (UNCAF), and three from North America. Qualifying in the Caribbean is currently underway, while qualifying in Central America will take place in coming months.
This year, the twelve qualifying teams will be divided into two groups of six, to play a round-robin format on the first five match days.
The resulting top team from each group will earn a direct berth to the FIFA Under-17 World Cup, and a place in the championship match on the final day.