Hunt reflects during the Jamaica-U.S.A. Under-17 match at the National Stadium on Friday night. - Ian Allen/Staff Photographer

Kwesi Mugisa, Staff Reporter

Former national Under-17 coach, David Hunt, believes that his team was just unfortunate not to qualify for the FIFA Under-17 Youth World Cup in South Korea this August, following a 0-1 defeat to Trinidad and Tobago at the National Stadium on Sunday night.

The loss, combined with others against Canada (0-3) and Costa Rica (0-1), subjected Jamaica to a hugely disappointing finish at the bottom of a five-nation CONCACAF Final Round World Cup play-off with three points, which effectively denied the country one of three available spots on offer for the World Cup.

I know the team is disappointed, I'm disappointed and the Jamaican public is disappointed. I think the players gave it their all today and it was just unfortunate that we did not get it done, Hunt said at the post-game press conference on Sunday night.

Commenting further on the game, Hunt added: I thought the team played very well today, we got a number ofopportunities but unfortunately, we haven't been scoring goals in this tournament.

In truth, missing goalscoring opportunities had been a calling card for the young Reggae Boyz who scored three goals for the four-game round-robin champion-ship it hosted.

All three goals were scored against the United States.

Lion's share of possession

In their opening encounter against Canada, Jamaica had the lion's share of possession in the game and the same could be said for the 0-1 loss to Costa Rica and against Trinidad and Tobago, which saw the Jamaicans create several clear chances they just could not put away.

However, Hunt could put forward no explanation for his team's poor finishing in front of goal.

I don't know why we weren't scoring, we got the opportunities, we just weren't able to put the ball into the back of the net and will just have to live with that, he said.

Hunt, who coached schoolboy football team Calabar to both the Manning Cup and the Olivier Shield titles in 2006, took over as coach of the Under-17 team in February of last year.

Monumental successes

He enjoyed some monumental successes with the team, among them a 2-0 victory over Mexico's youth team in a friendly series here at the Harbour View Mini-Stadium in February, followed by the 3-2 victory over the United States in this qualifying tournament last week.

The win over the United States was the first success for any Jamaica national football team over the Americans.

However, failing to qualify for the Youth World Cup this summer has seen Hunt throw in the towel.

The team did not qualify for the World Cup, that was our major objective. Beating the teams that we did was all well and good, but the ultimate objective was to qualify for the World Cup. Unfortunately, I was not able to do that, he lamented.