Trinidad and Tobago Under-17 head coach Randolph Boyce believes the country must overhaul and extend its youth development structure if it is to consistently compete with the region’s elite.
Boyce made the call following T&T’s narrow 2-1 defeat to Mexico in their final Group A match of the Concacaf Under-17 World Cup Qualifiers at the Hasely Crawford Stadium on Thursday night.
The loss confirmed Mexico as group winners and qualifiers for the FIFA Under-17 World Cup, while T&T finished third in the group.
“For a large part of the game, the team was disciplined and executed the game plan,” Boyce said. “Unfortunately, a little bit of fatigue started to slow us down in the end. But we are thankful for the players and their development. They have a very bright future ahead of them.”
Mexico topped Group A with a perfect 12 points, underlining the structural advantage they possess.
“When you look at Mexico, there’s a population of 132 million people. That tells you the mass when it comes to football in that country,” Boyce said. “In terms of facilities and development, they are a little ahead.”
Boyce stressed that without longer, structured programmes, Trinidad and Tobago will continue to struggle to bridge that gap.
He pointed to ongoing efforts by the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) to extend youth development cycles from a short three-month after-school window to a six-month programme running from January or February through June.
“If we don’t have these lengthy programmes in terms of development for the kids, then we will always be falling short,” he said.
He also highlighted strength and conditioning as a key area requiring urgent improvement.
“You can see how fit Mexico is at this level. That’s something we need to improve.”
T&T entered the decisive fixture needing to defeat Mexico by five clear goals to overtake them, a tall order against one of the region’s traditional powerhouses.
Boyce said preparation was not the issue.
“The players were quite comfortable throughout the training sessions. I sent motivational videos. This team is a solid bunch mentally, so preparing them was not difficult.”
The tactical approach was to compress space and frustrate Mexico’s technical quality.
“We wanted to make the field smaller when it came to our goal, stay compact and disciplined, and let them stay in front of us as much as possible. They manage the pitch very well. It was working until that point.”
For long stretches, it did. However, substitute Jesús Oduro broke the deadlock in the 82nd minute before Alan Sánchez added a second five minutes later. Adasa Richardson converted from the penalty spot late on, but T&T fell 2-1.
Trinidad and Tobago opened their campaign with a 1-0 defeat to Barbados, followed by a 1-0 victory against Saint Martin. An 8-0 commanding win for Sint Maarten, where in their final matchup, they would fall 2-1 to Mexico.
T&T ended third in Group A with six points from four matches.
The final standings saw Mexico on 12 points, Barbados on nine, Trinidad and Tobago on six, Saint Martin on three, and Sint Maarten without a point.
Mexico was among several teams from the Concacaf region to secure qualification. Jamaica booked its place after defeating Canada 3-1 on Wednesday, while Cuba and Haiti also advanced to the FIFA Under-17 World Cup final in November in Qatar, highlighting the steady rise of Caribbean football on the international stage.
For Boyce, the takeaway is clear. The talent is present, the mentality is strong, but sustained development and longer youth programmes are critical if Trinidad and Tobago are to return to the global stage at this level.
Final Group A standing
MP* W*D*L*GF*GA*GD*PTS
1. MEX*4*4*0*0*20*2*18*12
2. BRB*4*4*0*1*15*5*10*9
3. TRI*4*2*0*2*10*3*7*6
4. SMN*4*1*0*3*3*11*-8*3
5. SMA*4*0*0*4*1*28*-27*0
