St. Lucia’s campaign in the second stage of the inaugural FIFA Boys Under 15 Festival was something of a roller coaster performance.
In their first encounter, the St. Lucia team welcomed a goal from Jese Noel but that was not enough to earn the spoils as they went down 2-1 the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Coming up against Suriname in their next encounter their efforts were more rewarding yet still not enough to earn all three point. The St. Lucian youngsters went down 3-2 with valuable goals coming from Ajani Walker and Stewart Emmanuel.
It seemed a valuable lesson was taken into the third match as the local boys handed American Samoa a heavy defeat to state their intentions. A 6 – 0 win was achieved through braces from Leon Vidal and Jayden Emmanuel, with the other contributions coming from Jesse Noel and Leon Griffith.
In the final game played St. Lucia handed Bhutan a similar beating. Another 6 – 0 win saw contributing goals from Mikel Florent, who recorded a brace, and the others from Anaij Polius, Ajani Walker, Leon Vidal and Randall Monroe.
According to a member of the technical staff. this was one of St. Lucia’s better performances at the Festival.
More than 3,000 players, coaches, and officials descended on Baku, Azerbaijan, for the event.
The first FIFA U-15 World Cup & Festival 2026 matches which kicked off on 24 October saw its conclusion with the finals on 30 October.
The team is currently making their way back to St. Lucia and should be on St. Lucian soil next week.