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All teams want to start their tournament with a win, but Trinidad and Tobago and Bermuda have perhaps a little unfinished business that could add some pep to this one. In the final round of Caribbean qualifying, all four teams were assured a place in this Championship, but regional bragging rights are no small thing. T&T tripped up in the semifinals against Antigua and Barbuda, losing on penalties; next, the junior Soca Warriors lost the third-place playoff to Bermuda's 88th-minute winner. There's a score to settle here if T&T care to settle it; Bermuda should be keen to demonstrate the third-place finish in Caribbean qualifying was no fluke.
Bermuda forward Osagi Bascombe just signed a contract with Bristol City. His team warmed up for Costa Rica with a 0-0 draw against Miami Fusion - a match in which Bermuda's 'keepers played for both sides. The T&T squad is missing a number of players it would have been expected to bring to this tournament under different circumstances, but AZ's Levi Garcia and left back Keston Julien are unavailable. Attacker Isaiah Hudson has reportedly fallen out with team management.
But T&T's squad also includes Noah Powder. The New York Red Bulls Academy prospect played regularly for NYRB II during team's USL Championship-winning 2016 season. He played last year as an amateur, but is expected to turn pro this year. Whether he turns pro with RBNY (or more likely, initially, NYRB II) is a different question. It is known that Powder has been to Europe for trials, but he has been listed as attached to RBNY by the TTFA. The Red Bulls were the last club Powder played for (the reserve team is still the same organization), so there may be no more to it than that - still, he's more RBNY than anything else for now, and he may yet be a contracted player for the club.