TT U-23s off to Mexico

TRINIDAD and Tobago Under-23 footballers, under captain Silvio Spann and coach Stuart Charles-Fevrier, will leave for Miami, Florida, today, en route to Guadalajara, Mexico, for the CONCACAF Olympic final qualification round from Monday until February 12. Seventeen of the 20-member squad will fly out aboard an American Airlines flight at 8 am and will be joined by American-based Anthony Noreiga and Scott Sealey and Scottish-based Collin Samuel during their stop-off in Miami. The team had three days of intense training at the Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva earlier in the week, including a 4-0 win over Couva Players United in a warm-up match on Wednesday. Charles-Fevrier bemoaned the lack of time he had to fine-tune preparations with the 17 locally-based players but was pleased with the response of his team.

“I would’ve liked to have more time with the team for a tournament of such importance,” said Charles-Feverier, who was relinquished of his duties as senior team coach a fortnight ago. Stating that he is still under contract with the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF) and has built a close relationship with the players, he noted: “I have to work with the time I had and we’ve tried to prioritise our training sessions in terms of what we felt we needed to address. “We (the training staff) tried to build confidence with the players,” Charles-Fevrier continued, “we’re going into the competition in a positive frame of mind.

We feel that we stand an equal chance of qualifying as any team in spite of the difficulties we’ve had in terms of preparation.” Charles-Fevrier admitted that his troops are still working on their penetration in attack and the tactical awareness of the defenders but, due to their experience at the T&T Pro League, they will be able to cope with the challenge in Mexico. Spann is one of seven members with senior team experience — goalkeeper Jan-Michael Williams, defenders Kenwyne Jones and Nigel Daniel, midfielder Kerry Baptiste as well as strikers Samuel and Devon Mitchell. In Group A action, Trinidad and Tobago will oppose Mexico on Monday at the Estadio Jalisco in Guadalajara and then clash with Costa Rica on Wednesday and Jamaica on February 6. The top two teams advance to the semi-finals to meet the other two teams from the Group B comprising of United States, Honduras, Panama and Canada, with the two finalists advancing to the Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.

TT Team — Jan-Michael Williams, Daurance Williams (goalkeepers); Anthony Noreiga, Nigel Daniel, Lyndon Diaz, Kenwyne Jones, Errol Charles, Ronald Primus (defenders); Silvio Spann (capt), Kerry Baptiste, Josh Johnson, Devon Caseman, Kern Thomas, Michael Celestine, Clyde Leon (midfielders); Collin Samuel, Scott Sealey, Devon Mitchell, Kendall Davis, Jason Marcano (strikers); Stuart Charles-Fevrier (head coach), Brian Williams, Ross Russell (assistant coaches), Wayne Lawson (physio), Ikin Williams (equipment manager), George Joseph (manager).