SAN JOSE, Costa Rica, CMC – Trinidad and Tobago ended an otherwise disappointing CONCACAF Under-20 Championship on a high note when they beat El Salvador in their final game here Saturday.
Already eliminated from contention for a playoff spot, the Trinidadians conjured up a valiant effort through second half goals from Jabari Mitchell and Kathon St. Hillaire, to secure a 2-1 victory at the Estadio Nacional.
The victory was the first for Trinidad and Tobago and it left them third in Group C behind El Salvador and Costa Rica who both advanced to the next round.
Bermuda, who lost 2-1 to Costa Rica in the other game, finished bottom of the group with a single point.
The opening half proved goalless but the game came alive in the second half when Mitchell found the nets in the 47th minute, eluding his markers to finish low to the right from inside the area.
However, El Salvador were back level three minutes later thanks to Jose Enrique Contreras who beat goalkeeper Montel Joseph from just inside the 18-yard box.
Contreras had been denied by the woodwork in the first half, pounding a long-range freekick onto the crossbar in the early minutes of the encounter.
T&T seemed resigned to another disappointing result before St Hillaire came off the bench to grab the points for the Caribbean side.
Replacing Josh Toussaint in the 71st minute, St Hillaire was on the scoresheet a minute later when he picked up Micah Lansiquot’s through ball and lashed past goalkeeper Alan Carrillo from close range.
None of the five Caribbean Football Union sides involved in the tournament – Antigua and Barbuda, Bermuda, St Kitts and Nevis, Haiti and Trinidad and Tobago – managed to reach the quarter-finals.
