Following another disappointing result in Ft Lauderdale, USA in which T&T's National Under-23 Olympic Men's team succumbed to a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Canada on Friday, the team will be looking to end its stay in Florida on a high when they take on Barry University from 6 pm today. After a string of unconvincing results, T&T took on Canada's Under-23 in its second to last fixture in at the Holiday Inn Sports Complex, on Friday, and were behind just before half an hour when attacker Evan James skipped past several of T&T's defenders to shoot past Andre Marchan in goal. T&T's starting line-up, despite having some of its regular starters left out for the encounter, including skipper Sheldon Bateau, had moments of promise, but failed to cause real trouble in Canada's penalty area. Shahon Wincheser paired with Cordell Cato for the first time since the tour began, and it was the former who came closest to scoring. On 23 minutes in, Winchester was handed the best opportunity of the match when he connected with a lobbed delivery from Cato, but he only managed to head wide of the target. He was given another opportunity to score ten minutes later, but was again off target, this off a Marcus Joseph cross. Canada showed a more organised unit, which at times frustrated T&T with its ability to hold up possession.
The frustration began to show largely when Trevin Caesar, who came in as a second half substitute was shown a red card for an untimely tackle which caused a mild fracas between the two teams. The red card, however, did not prevent T&T from pushing forward, but T&T's most promising moments failed to test Michael Misiewicz in goal for Canada. The stopper did pull off one strong save to deny T&T a goal from a well taken freekick with one minute remaining in the fixture. Despite the result, coach Angus Eve remain optimistic in the way T&T created chances. He however, did rue the misses, which may have seen his team reverse the result. "We are creating a lot of chances and we're not taking the chances on one end and giving away goals on the other," said Eve following the team's loss. I thought we played well and we're just finished that final component in the team. We are giving away very soft goals which we are not really accustomed to." Eve also explained why several changes were made to the starting team. "This game was not only about winning but to see some of these players who just came in like Shahdon Winchester and Cordell Cato who just came in and young Kevan George who has been fantastic for us in midfield." "We changed up the entire back four as well and it's about giving these boys the opportunity before we select the final squad for California this weekend," Eve concluded.