New football coach names 18-man squad

JASON SCOTLAND and Brent Sancho are included in an 18-man national senior football team named by newly-appointed head coach Stuart Charles-Fevrier for their warm-up fixture against W Connection at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo, tomorrow. Kick-off is 3.30 pm and the match forms part of the gala opening ceremony of the 2003 Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF) Regional Association’s season. The match is also the national team’s lone practice encounter before departing for a four-match  tour of Kenya, Botswana and South Africa next week.

The 18-man team was announced following a practice session at the stadium yesterday with Charles-Fevrier high in praise of the team’s chemistry and motivation. “The enthusiasm showed by the players in the session (yesterday) was very encouraging. For (tomorrow’s) match you can expect an approach from an offensive standpoint. I just want the players to enjoy playing the match,” noted the St Lucian-born coach. “There are some basic things I want to work on in these early stages and I will use this match as a way to introduce my basic football philosophy,” he continued.

In-form striker Scotland, who returned home on Thursday from a two-week trial at Scottish club Dundee United, took part in yesterday’s session while dreadlocked defender Sancho also joined the team from his stint at Portland Timbers in the A-League, USA. A captain will not be announced until this afternoon, but Sancho, W Connection’s sweeper Reynold Carrington, Defence Force’s defender Anton Pierre and San Juan Jabloteh midfielder Travis Mulraine are tipped to get the nod.

The players will be eager to make an impression before the final team is selected for the African tour, which will include four British-based pros —- left-back Avery John, Wrexham winger Carlos Edwards and striker Hector Sam and Crewe Alexandra goalkeeper Clayton Ince. Livingston’s defender and regular TT skipper Marvin “Dog” Andrews is yet to recover from a thigh injury sustained during the failed CONCACAF Gold Cup campaign while Portsmouth goalie Shaka Hislop and Birmingham striker Stern John are unavailable.

TT team — Peter Ramon-Fortune, Michael Jan-Williams; Reynold Carrington, Anton Pierre, Keyeno Thomas, Nigel Daniel, Derek King, Brent Sancho; Dale Saunders, Silvio Spann, Travis Mulraine, Josh Johnson, Kerwyn Jemmott, Kerry Baptiste; Jason Scotland, Nigel Pierre, Andre Toussaint, Kendall Davis.