TT U20s draw 1-1 vs Grenada U20s in final Invitational Series tie

2026-01-25 - 21:09

AFTER two confidence-boosting victories over St Vincent and the Grenadines and AC Port of Spain last week, TT’s men’s Under-20 footballers were held to 1-1 result against Grenada’s U20 team in an international friendly at Ato Boldon Stadium in Couva on January 23. The TT U20 outfit are using these matches as preparation ahead of the Concacaf U20 Qualifiers, set to begin in February. TT’s Giovanni Hospedales got TT off the mark in the 11th minute after capitalising on a goalkeeping blunder by Grenada’s Peter Alexander. Skipper Josiah Ochoa crossed into the penalty area from down the right, but the ball deflected off Grenadian defender Ashonde Murray and diverted towards Alexander. What should have been a textbook save turned out to be the opposite as Alexander played the ball down into Hosepdales’ path, who made no mistake to stab home the ball with an easy right-footed effort. TT maintained their slim advantage at the half-time break. Head coach Marvin Gordon made four substitutions at the resumption, which saw Hosepdales replaced by Kaieem Lewis, Sheridan McNish out for Jimally Renne, Lyshaun Morris making way for Talan McMillan and Josiah Ochoa out for Seth Hadeed. The changes did not positively affect the result as Grenada’s Raheem Raeburn equalised for the visitors in the 62nd. A long-distance free kick from the Spice Isle’s skipper Narshon Sylvester outwitted the TT defence and somehow fell at the feet of Raeburn. Forced to act quickly, Raeburn took one touch to reposition himself and fired his low, right-footed attempt into the bottom left corner of Jason Pollard’s goal. This match was the final tie of the TT Football Association’s invitational series curated for the U20s ahead of the Concacaf Men’s U20 Qualifiers in Costa Rica next month.