TT U-20 footballers open CONCACAF campaign today

The team, under coach Brian Williams, will be looking to guarantee TT’s third ever place at the FIFA Under-20 World Cup, following appearances in 1991 (in Portugal) and 2009 (in Egypt).

“I think right now we are fired up and ready to take on our opponents from the opening whistle,” said TT captain Jabari Mitchell. “We have a strong desire to represent the country to our best ability and the players understand what it means doing well in a tournament like this and going on to qualify for a World Cup.

“The main thing is for us to apply ourselves well and go out there and get the job done,” added the W Connection midfielder.

Williams is optimistic of a good start but also mindful of the opponents as TT lost 2-1 to the Bermudans at the CFU (Caribbean Football Union) qualifiers last year.

“We have a good understanding of the Bermudan team. We know what happened the last time these two countries met at the CFU level and I think the players will remember that going into the game. We are focused on the task at hand and we know a good performance and winning start will be a huge boost to our chances of advancing to the World Cup,” Williams said.

The Championship opened on Friday with Honduras defeating Canada 1-0 and Mexico overcoming Antigua/Barbuda 3-0.

TT face hosts Costa Rica in their second game at the National Stadium on Wednesday and El Salvador at the same venue on Saturday.

The National Stadium and Estadio Ricardo Saprissa will both be used for the tournament, to be played in a new format consisting of a group stage, a classification phase, and the grand final.

Under the new format, designed to increase the number of meaningful, competitive matches, the top two teams from Groups A, B, and C will advance to the Classification Stage, where the Confederation’s four tickets to the World Cup at this level will be determined in round-robin play among two groups of three teams each.

The top two teams of each of the two Classification Stage groups will qualify as CONCACAF representatives to the 2017 FIFA Under-20 World Cup in 2017.