SVG suffers 1-0 defeat

St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) Under-20 footballers will have to re-group and improve, if they want to advance from Group IV in the Caribbean Football Union’s (CFU) qualifiers.{{more}}

The team went under 0-1 to Suriname at Victoria Park, Wednesday night.

The Vincentians were put on the ropes for most of the first half of play, with the Surinamese camping out in their portion of the field.

The Surinamese captain Nibte Mervill was the three-striped general, as he pulled the strings in the midfield, leaving the Vincentians to chase shadows.

However, the SVG goalkeeper kept his team in the match with some timely interventions and a confident command of the penalty area.

But almost at the half-time whistle, Apai Yekini eluded Vincentian defender Nazron Hoyte to slot the ball through the legs of an advancing Lynch.

The second stanza saw the home side coming into its own and looked more purposeful in attack.

Some of the forays resulted in near misses as the Vincentian strikers got close to converting but were thwarted by a combination of anxiety on their part and stout defending by the Surinamese.

Despite the team’s loss, manager and assistant coach of the SVG outfit, Wayde Jackson, told SEARCHLIGHT he still fancied his team’s chances in tonight’s match against Guyana.

“I am looking forward to a more attacking game against Guyana, because we need the win and we must win in order to keep our chances alive and please the fans,” Jackson said.

In assessing the team’s performance on the night, Jackson thought his charges were too cautious from the start.

“During the first half, we were a bit timid, so they came out playing very defensive, but after we went to the dressing room at half time and (we) made a few changes in the dimension of the team, then went out and took the attack to Suriname,” Jackson said.

Jackson said he believed that the Vincentians gave a good account of themselves despite the limited time there was to put the team together, and the relative inexperience of the players.

In the first match of the double-header, Trinidad and Tobago squeezed out a spirited Guyana, 2-1.

Before SVG rumble with Guyana from 7:30 this evening, the two victorious teams from the opening round, Trinidad and Tobago and Suriname face off from 5:30 p.m.

The group will be completed on Sunday when Guyana and Suriname battle from 5:30 p.m., then SVG opposes Trinidad and Tobago from 7:30 p.m. in the night capper.

The group winner will automatically advance to the CFU final round in Jamaica in November while the three best second placed teams from the four preliminary groups will also advance to the Caribbean finals.

The CONCACAF final round takes place in Puebla, Mexico in February 2013, ahead of the U-20 World Cup in Turkey also next year. (RT)