Isaiah Hudson scored a 62nd volley equaliser as T&T Under-20 Soca Warriors earned a 1-1 draw with St Lucia to top their Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Group Two qualifier at the Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva on Sunday.
Following wins over Guadeloupe (1-0) and Turks & Caicos (11-0) at the same venue, the Brian Williams-coached squad went into the contest against the St Lucians, needing only a draw to top the group.
On the other hand, the visitors, who had wins over Turks & Caicos (2-0) and Guadeloupe (1-0) needed nothing less than a win, with both teams already assured of qualification to the eight-team final to be held in Curacao in October.
From the first whistle, T&T looked in control but lacked that bit extra to pull away from their stubborn opponents, who had the first real chance on goal in the 20th minute when Cassius Joseph set up Noah Nicholas whose effort was not enough to beat goalkeeper Jabari Brice, starting for the injured Jadel Poon-Lewis.
T&T's best efforts came near the half hour mark when goalkeeper Noah Didier kept out shots by Noah Powder and Hudson. But six minutes from the break, St Lucia stunned the host for a 1-0 half-time lead.The lively Nicholas did the hard work on the left before finding a wide open Joseph inside the 18-yard box and he fired past Brice on the second attempt.
Within three minutes of the restart, Kathon St Hillaire's effort from the top of the box went over bar and three minutes later Nicholas almost punished the home team with an attempt that was deflected away for a corner.
T&T eventually grabbed the equaliser in the 62nd minute when substitute Jarred Dass, who came on for Morgan Bruce two minutes earlier, picked out an onrushing Hudson at the far post, and the 15-year-old DirecTV W Connection midfielder finished beautifully with a right footed volley into the net, his third goal of the three-match series.
Dass later had a shot on goal which Didier saved and the custodian came up big again in the 76th minute to tip over a shot by Mitchell while another substitute, Rushawn Murphy, who replaced St Hillaire in the 70th, fired into the side netting with a late chance as well.
Speaking afterwards, coach Brian Williams said he was pleased with how things have gone so far as the main goal was to qualify for the CFU Finals.
"I was pretty pleased as we achieved our objective of topping the group. I must say St Lucia played a pretty good game and they gave us a good challenge. Now we have some time to do some more work because we spent about three weeks screening players before we got down to the preparations for this tournament. And we will be looking to improve before the next set of matches.
"Offensively we wanted to maintain the same kind of strategy that we used against Turks and Caicos. We could have done better defensively because I know that area of the team, especially in the central defensive area, no disrespect to our two stoppers, we know that's one of the weak areas in the team and we have to do some work there," Williams added.
"Now we will give the players two weeks off and resume preparations on July 6. We will be looking to strengthen our weak areas and also possibly look at other players who we think could bring some quality to the side."
Williams will be looking closely at the training arrangements during that period as it relates to players involved in playing for their colleges and clubs.
Jerren Nixon jnr is expected to be involved again after suffering an injury during a try out a few weeks ago and Dutch-based winger Levi Garcia has indicated an interest in joining the team. Keston Julien is also expected to return following an overseas trial in Holland.
Joining T&T in the CFU Final Round as automatic qualifiers were Antigua and Barbuda, and St Kitts/Nevis as surprise winners of Group One and Group Four respectively.
Antigua & Barbuda topped Group One with seven points ahead of Puerto Rico (four), Cuba (three) and pointless host St Maarten while St Kitts/Nevis, Dominican Republic and Jamaica all ended with six points each in Group Four.
However, St Kitts/Nevis and Dominican Republic both ended with goal-differences of plus-three to Jamaica's zero and occupy first and second place.
And with the three best second placed teams set to qualify for the CFU Finals as well, the Jamaicans will miss out while St Lucia (Group Two), Puerto Rico (Group One), and Dominican Republic (Group Four) are all still in the mix, with Group Three involving Anguilla, Bermuda, Cayman Islands and host Haiti still to be played.
From the CFU Final Round, the top five teams will advance to the 12-team Concacaf Finals in Costa Rica in October from which four teams will qualify for the 2017 FIFA Under 20 World Cup in South Korea.
Costa Rica has qualified to the Concacaf U-20 Championship as host while three qualifiers will come from Central America, along with USA, Canada and Mexico.
Standings:
Group One
Teams P W D L F A Pts
Antigua
& Barbuda 3 2 1 0 9 2 7
Cuba 3 2 0 1 8 3 6
Puerto Rico 3 1 1 1 11 3 4
St Maarten 3 0 0 3 0 20 0
Group Two
T&T 3 2 1 0 13 1 7
St Lucia 3 2 1 0 4 1 7
Guadeloupe 3 1 0 2 5 2 3
Turks & Caicos 3 0 0 3 0 13 0
Group Four
St Kitts/Nevis 3 2 0 1 7 4 6
Dom Rep 3 2 0 1 6 3 6
Jamaica 3 2 0 1 4 4 6
Dominica 3 0 0 3 3 9 0
Other results:
Group One
Venue: Raoull Illidge Sports Complex, Philipsburg, St Maarten
Antigua & Barbuda 1 (Javon Stevens 2nd) vs Puerto Rico 1 (Jeimax Osorio 21st)
Cuba 5 bt St Maarten 0
Group Four:
Venue: Pan American Stadium, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
St Kitts/Nevis 4 (Gvanne Amory 14th, Steve Archibald 43rd, Tahir Hanley 72nd, Javier Sutton 77th) vs Dominica 2 (Fitz Jolly 68th, Dillon Augustine 70th)
Dominican Republic 1 (Victor Polanco 86th) Jamaica 2 (Shammar Nicholson 19th, Nathaniel Adamolekun 70th)
Sunday's results
Venue: Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva:
Group Two:
Guadeloupe 5 (Yvan Macon 17th, 30th, 48th, Giovanni Dupalon 51st, Dimitri Bolivar 53rd) vs Turks & Caicos 0
St Lucia 1 (Casius Joseph 39th) vs T&T 1 (Isaiah Hudson 63rd)
T&T squad: 20. Jabari Brice (GK); 3. Kori Cupid, 4. Kierron Mason, 5. Taryk Sampson, 6. Noah Powder; 7. Isaiah Hudson, 10. Jabari Mitchell (capt), 11. Kareem Riley; 19. Morgan Bruce (8. Jarred Dass, 61'), 9. Nicholas Dillon, 15. Kathon St Hillaire (17. Rushawn Murphy, 70'); Unused subs: 1. Jadel Poon-Lewis (GK), 2. Andrew Rullow, 12. Shane Sandy, 13. Isaiah Garcia, 14. Yohannes Richardson, 16. Micah Lansiquot, 18. Jacob Sookal. Coach: Brian Williams
St Lucia squad: (20. Noah Didier (GK); 2. McCathur Louis, 6. Melvin Doxilly, 18. Cherdam Seraphin, 3. Keeroy Lionel; 19. Alvinus Myers, 15. Ryi Maryat (capt), 4. Zachernus Simon, 11. Antoine Wilfred (12. Kerry Joseph 41' [14. Jamie Prosper 73']); 10. Cassius Joseph; 7. Noah Nicholas. Unused subs: 1. Viannie George (GK), 16. Vino Barcelette (GK), 5. Dante Hippolyte, 9. Tev Lawrence, 13. Albertini Phillip, 17. Selwyn Boyce. Coach: Albert St Croix Referee: Kerry Skeeple (Antigua).