The Young Sugar Boyz started their Concacaf U-20 Qualifying campaign on Friday night against Puerto Rico, losing 5-0 at the SKNFA Technical Center. Despite the loss, Coach Alexis Morris sees some positives in the performance of his team. “Some of the positives I would say is our goalkeeping. I think Kai (Trotman) even though he would have let us down several times in his distribution…but goalkeeping was a wonderful part of our game tonight. Number 9 (Dequan Hamilton), first time playing for a national team he had a brilliant game in my estimation and that is something we can use to our advantage,” Morris said. He also commended Gabriel Vanterpool who he said showed much potential.
In giving a candid assessment of the match, Coach Morris pointed out that the team started the match sloppily, which set a bad precedent for the rest of the match. “At least for the first 15 minutes if we had contained the Puerto Rico team, we could have set ourselves for a better showing but unfortunately, that was not how it was,” he said. “Our local boys still have a lot to learn and we still have some ways to go.” The Young Sugar Boyz play Haiti on Sunday and the Cayman Islands on Tuesday at the SKNFA Technical Center, both matches beginning at 7 pm. Admission is $15.