Bermuda's young soccer players were reduced to tears after failing by a whisker to advance to the next stage of the World Youth Cup last night.

The Under-17s had much the better of the game against Barbados in Trinidad without managing to secure the victory they needed and came off distraught.

Trinidad's 2-0 victory over the Netherlands Antilles was enough for the hosts to win the four-nation qualifying tournament, despite having opened with a 3-0 defeat to Bermuda.

After Barbados had taken the lead inside five minutes, Bermuda fought back to claim a 2-1 lead.

Jabari Furbert scored his third goal of the tournament to level the scores in the 22nd minute, with a first-time volley after a corner by Tarik Jennings.

A brilliant individual effort by Jared Peniston, who beat three defenders and fired in off the far post, put Bermuda ahead on the hour.

Barbados responded with a spell of intense pressure, which bore fruit with a chipped equaliser 15 minutes from the end. From that point onwards, it was all-out attack from Bermuda.

First Nasir Wade failed to make the most of a Tarik Jennings cross and then a perfectly-weighted free kick by Brendon Minors deceived the Barbadian defence, but got no finishing touch from a Bermudian.

Five minutes from time, Minors' cross gave Nasir Wade another opportunity, but his header was saved by the goalkeeper.

If Bermuda had managed a winner, it would have left Trinidad needing to beat the Netherlands Antilles by five clear goals to win the tournament.

Bermuda's coaching supremo Clyde Best was disappointed his young players had been knocked out, but said he had been impressed with their attitude.

"I don't like to see boys crying, but that tells me there's passion there and people who are proud to be playing for their country,'' said Best.

"They gave 110 percent, but you have to remember they are boys of 14 or 15 who are not used to playing back-to-back matches.'' And he felt the 1-0 defeat to the Netherlands Antilles had been the key to his side's exit.

"After beating the host nation we tried not to be complacent, but we were unable to raise our game against the Antilles.'' Best felt there were lessons to be learned for the future on how to give Bermudian teams a better chance of progressing further on the world stage.

"Of course we are disappointed, but you've got to look at reality. We are still going into tournaments without having had matches against other countries.

"We have to try and make that happen and find a way to finance it if we want to improve our chances.''