Despite losing their opening match 4-0 to Uruguay at the ongoing Pan American Games on Monday at the CIBC Pan Am Hamilton Soccer Stadium, T&T men's Under-23 football coach Zoran Vranes is backing his team to come back strongly in their remaining matches against Paraguay and Mexico.
T&T found it difficult to match their South American opponents with Fabricia Duarte opening the scoring in the fifth minute after goalkeeper Javon Sample failed to collect a corner kick.
Uruguay doubled its lead in the 20th when Federico Ricca headed home from a corner before Nicolas Albarracin blasted past Sample to put Uruguay 3-0 ahead on the half hour mark.
T&T was then reduced to ten men in the 59th minute when Alvin Jones was issued a straight red card before Brian Lozano completed the rout with a free-kick strike in the 68th.
T&T got more into the match after the break and started to see a bit more of the ball but there was not much offering to trouble Uruguay on the day.
Speaking after the match, the Yugoslavian-born Vranes conceded that his opponents were too much over the 90 minutes.
"We faced very strong opponents and they very inspired," Vranes said.
"Their team has a lot of experience and with players from the recent Fifa Under-20 World Cup and we were missing some key players like Kadeem Corbin and Rundell Winchester, who are with the senior team at the Concacaf Gold Cup.
But it was a good exercise because these are the level of matches that will be good for the players at this age.
"We are getting a good period together here with the training and of course these matches will come in very good for us. Hopefully the team can grow and the players will benefit from it. I expect we will give a better showing in the next two matches," Vranes added.
Paraguay and Mexico drew 1-1 in the other Group B game on Monday while Brazil defeated Canada 4-1 and Panama beat Peru 2-1 a day earlier in Group A action.
T&T faces Paraguay on Friday from 8.35 pm followed by its final round-robin group match against Mexico on Tuesday at 5.35 pm.
Teams
T&T: 18.Jovan Sample (GK); 2.Shannon Gomez (Yellow 88), 16.Alvin Jones (capt) [Red Card 59], 3.Maurice Ford (5.Dario Holmes 54th), 4.Jesus Perez, 8.Tristan Hodge; 15.Neil Benjamin Jr. (17.Aikim Andrews 37th), 10.Duane Muckette (12.Xavier Rajpaul 73rd), 9.Nathaniel Garcia (Yellow 69), 6.Neveal Hackshaw; 13.Ricardo John.
Unused substitutes: 1.Montell Joseph (GK), 7.Jomal Williams, 11.Shackiel Henry, 14.Jelani Felix.
Coach: Zoran Vranes.
Uruguay: - 1.Guillermo De Amores (GK); 2.Sebastian Gorga (Yellow 62) (4.Paolo Lemos 73rd), 3.Federico Ricca, 5.Edgardo Schetino (11.Juan Gonzalez 73rd), 6.Fabricio Formiliano (capt), 9.Junior Arias, 10.Michael Santos, 15.Fernando Gorriaran, 16.Nicolas Albarracin (7.Facundo Castro 79th), 17.Mathias Suarez, 18.Brian Lozano.
Coach: - Fabián Machado.
Referee: - Oscar Reyna (Guatemala).