When St. Lucia’s Sebastin Ribot netted a 51st minute penalty kick against Barbados he not only sealed an historic first win for his island but effectively kicked the Bajan Tridents out of the CONCACAF U-20 competition Monday night.
Barbados’ 1-2 loss to St. Lucia at the IMG Soccer Complex in Bradenton, Florida, was the second defeat in as many matches leaving the Bajans on zero points and with the possibility of gaining a total of six points if they win their two remaining matches, but Costa Rica already has nine points and only the top team from the group goes into the next round.
Having lost to Costa Rica 0-2 the Barbadian youngsters are set to face Haiti Wednesday evening in a match-up that the French-speaking powerhouses must win if they are to keep themselves in contention.
Haiti is on six points and need a victory over the Bajans to draw level on points with Costa Rica to be in with a chance of qualifying for the second round, so the Tridents can expect a tough examination.
Barbados’ final game in the competition is set for Friday against lowly-rated Bermuda, and this encounter should give the Bajans some consolation points.
This sixth edition of the CONCACAF U-20 competition will determine the four teams to represent the North American, Central American, and the Caribbean territories at the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Poland.
It will also be the decider of the CONCACAF teams playing at the 2019 Pan-American Games men’s football tournament in Lima, Peru.
According to CONCACAF a total of 34 teams out of 41-member countries have entered the tournament.
Twenty-four of the Caribbean Football Union’s 31 members are involved.
The winners from each of the six groups in the group stage advance to the qualification stage where they are sorted into two clusters for another round of matches out of which the two winners will advance to the final to decide the champions of the CONCACAF U-20 2018 Championship.
