Trinidad and Tobago’s Under 20 men’s team suffered their first defeat, going down disappointingly 2-0 to Guatemala on Wednesday but are still very much in the race to secure one of two World Cup playoff spots at the CONCACAF Championship in Jamaica.

The loss on Wednesday left T&T in fourth place with four points and a plus-two goal difference, level  on  points with United States who are ahead on a plus-seven goal difference after their 8-0 win over Aruba.
Panama are atop the group with nine points and Guatemala are second on seven. Jamaica are fifth with one point, while Aruba remain in the cellar position.
T&T have it in their own hands as victories in their next encounter against Panama on Sunday and against the USA next Wednesday in Montego Bay, are likely to push them into the playoffs from which the top two teams will advance to the FIFA Under-20 World Cup in New Zealand.
Head Coach Derek King expressed his disappointment with the manner in which T&T conceded and gave away Wednesday’s match to the Central Americans.
T&T outshot their opponents 11 to one but Martieon Watson’s unfortunate 25th minute own goal and a disastrous error by goalkeeper Johan Welch in the 88th proved to be the difference.
“I’m very disappointed because we were outstanding in the first 20 minutes. They scored against the run of play, the own goal off Watson. They didn’t create any chances until late in the game. In our final third we were still rushing that final pass which wasn’t always on but we still created a number of chances,” King told TTFA Media.
“Guatemala only dropped off and kept their shape and it worked for them, It’s a tough loss to accept because we were better on the day but the result went in their favour. Goals win matches and now we have to fix that for our next two games.”
King emphasised the importance of T&T bouncing back in their remaining two matches.
“Panama and USA will be very tough but we have it in our hands. We have a few days before those two games in Montego Bay and we’ll have to regroup and try to come back strong to keep the dream alive,” he added.