The United States and Trinidad and Tobago will meet in the first leg of their League A quarterfinal series at Q2 Stadium in Austin, Texas.
Trinidad and Tobago reached this phase of the competition by finishing as the second-place team out of Group A during the group stage.
The Soca Warriors were excellent in earning three wins in their first three matches before a 5-3 defeat to Curacao on the final matchday. Still, the Trinidad and Tobago attack was firing on all cylinders and scored 10 goals across their four matches.
Among the stars were youngster Nathaniel James, whose two goals each served as game-winning scores, in the 87th minute in the 1-0 home win versus Curacao and in the 89th minute in the 3-2 comeback victory against Guatemala. Reon Moore is another player who stood out for the Caribbean side with two goals.
Trinidad and Tobago will now take on a U.S. team that is the two-time defending champion of the CNL and will be hungry to defend their title.
While the likes of 2022-23 CNL Finals stars Christian Pulisic and Timothy Weah are unavailable due to injury, the U.S. still has plenty of talent to choose from, such as attacking midfielder Gio Reyna and Folarin Balogun.
Reyna had both assists in the 2-0 U.S. victory versus Canada in the 2022-23 CNL Final, with Balogun on the end of one of the goals.
These two teams last met in the 2023 Concacaf Gold Cup, with the U.S. winning 6-0. The last 10 encounters have seen the U.S. own a 7W-1D-2L advantage, while all-time the U.S. have 21 wins, Trinidad and Tobago have four wins and there have been four draws.
Source : Concacaf
