Judah Garcia produced the winner for T&T in it's opening match at the CONCACAF Under-20 Men’s Championship and World Cup qualifiers at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, USA, yesterday.
Despite the odds stacked against the Russell Latapy-coached national youth team, it completed a 3-2 win against St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) after trailing 2-1 at halftime.
Early on, Gidson Francis, who scored a double, put SVG ahead netting the opening item in the 15th minute, returned four minutes later to send his team up 2-0, thanks to his header four minutes later.
The John-Paul Rochford-captained T&T outfit did not go away and had a number of chances at goal but they were off target until a determined Jaydon Prowell found the back of the net in the 39th minute.
The T&T youngsters pressed on but the equaliser never came and the team closed the first half a goal adrift (2-1).
On the resumption, T&T was the aggressor attacking from either sides of the field but no goals came. SVG spent most of the half defending its lead and looked set to claim a win in the opener but substitute Mark Ramdeen spoiled the Caribbean neighbour party with an equaliser in added on time (90+2).
T&T footballers did not celebrate for long as they were on the attack again. Ramdeen positioned on the left side received a throw-in from Rochford and attempting to cross when he was brought down just outside the box on the left side. Committing the foul was SVG's Lesron Craigg, who swiftly received a yellow card for his infringement.
Ramdeen took the free kick and found Garcia inside the six-yard box and he completed the winner (90+5), seconds before the referee blew the final whistle.
On Saturday, T&T will be back on the field in its second match against Puerto Rico, which was beaten by the USA 7-1 in its opening match.
In other early results, Suriname had no mercy on the US Virgin Islands crushing its opponent, 13-2, Antigua and Barbuda whipped St Maarten, 6-1; Cuba topped Belize, also by a 6-1 margin while Haiti edged St Lucia, 1-0.