BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – AFTER three days of competition, Trinidad and Tobago and Cuba have advanced from the CFU Finals of the U-23 Olympic Qualifiers to the CONCACAF Finals.
The teams competed against Suriname and host country St. Kitts-Nevis at Warner Park, Basseterre on November 24, 26 and 28.
Two matches were played each night with the first commencing at 6:00 and the other at 8:00.
The tournament’s first match saw Trinidad and Tobago coming up against Cuba in a game which resulted in a 1-1 draw, while Suriname defeated St. Kitts-Nevis 1-nil in the second game.
Matches played on November 26 were between Cuba and Suriname and between St. Kitts-Nevis and Trinidad and Tobago. The first resulted in a 4-2 win for Cuba while the latter resulted in a 5-2 advantage for St. Kitts-Nevis.
Suriname tackled Trinidad and Tobago on the final match night and the Soca Warriors delivered a 9-1 drubbing, while St. Kitts-Nevis’ game against Cuba resulted in a 1-all draw.
Each time a team won a match it received three points and one point for a drawn game.
Winning one and drawing two games, Cuba was allotted five points and Suriname, having won one game, received three points.
St. Kitts-Nevis and Trinidad and Tobago each won one game and drew one and were awarded four points.
Having tallied the most points, Cuba automatically advanced to the CONCACAF Finals, while T&T edged out St. Kitts-Nevis for second position to also advance by scoring the most goals in the tournament.
General Secretary of the SKNFA Stanley Jacob declared the tournament a success and expressed that though the venture was an expensive one, the benefits far outweigh the costs.
“I think the tournament was a tremendous success in term of the support we got from the public and members of the corporate community. We at the SKNFA felt that it was extremely important for us to host the tournament here. Also, the cost was quite substantive…but nonetheless, we believe that the opportunities that a tournament like this afforded our young players were very important.
“It also provided an opportunity to raise the profile of St. Kitts and Nevis in the international community. So the cost is expensive but the benefits are far reaching, and we believe that we were able to achieve a lot of those objectives.”
He expressed that although disappointed that St. Kitts-Nevis were not one of the advancing teams “we felt that the team did us proud; they played and showed that they have the talent to play with the top teams in the Caribbean. We are encouraged by what we saw on the field of play and we believe that we have a foundation to build on for the futur”.
To Cuba and Trinidad and Tobago, Jacobs offered congratulations on their achievement.
Both countries would be competing against El Salvador, Canada, Honduras, Panama, Mexico and USA in March 2012. The two top teams from that round of the competition will advance to the London 2012 Olympic Games.
