Bulls Abroad: Costa Rica beats Trinidad and Tobago, 1-0, in CONCACAF U-20 Championship

The Trinidad and Tobago Men's U-20 National Team looks set for an early exit from the 2017 CONCACAF U-20 Championship. The 1-0 loss to Costa Rica leaves the Soca Warriors needing an unlikely combination of results to get through to the next round: in the final games in Group C, T&T must beat El Salvador (already qualified for the Classification Stage and now favorite to win the group) and hope winless Bermuda is able to beat Costa Rica. And those results must combine to give T&T a goal-difference edge over the Bermudians. It's a tall order and one so improbable it seems fair to assume the Soca Warriors are heading home after their next and last group stage game.

As they had done against Bermuda in their opening match, T&T played well enough but were pegged back by one pivotal moment from the opposition. In this case, Randall Leal's 54th minute free kick.

A frustrating tournament for T&T.

New York Red Bulls Academy product Noah Powder played an attacking role for the Soca Warriors for the second game running. Generally deployed as a full back when he played for NYRB II last season, it is clear his national team coach sees Powder as more useful in the final third of the field.

While an early exit from the tournament is not a positive for Powder or his teammates, RBNY fans might selfishly appreciate the fact that it means Powder's future is likely to be cleared up more quickly than if T&T was lingering at the U-20 Championship.

The player is not currently known to be attached to any club (he played as an amateur for NYRB II last season), but if he is going to sign for the Red Bulls (most likely, the II team) for 2017 - expect that to happen once T&T has sent its players home from the CONCACAF tournament.