Football coach St Clair eyes 17 overseas professionals

TRINIDAD and Tobago senior football team coach Bertille St Clair has identified 17 overseas-based professional players who have made themselves available for selection for the national team as they prepare for the 2006 CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers. But only 10 names were revealed, according to a release by the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF) —- Stern John (Birmingham City), Shaka Hislop (Portsmouth), Marvin Andrews (Livingston), Brent Sancho (Dundee), Collin Samuel and Jason Scotland (Dundee United), Brent Rahim (Falkirk) and the Wrexham trio of Dennis Lawrence, Carlos Edwards and Hector Sam. TT are scheduled to play a number of international friendlies within the next four months, including Egypt in Cairo on March 30, Iraq in London on May 23, Northern Ireland in London on June 6, Thailand in Bangkok on July 10 and South Korea in Seoul four days later.

Coach St Clair stated that he had the opportunity to take a look at several locally-based players and now intends to incorporate the overseas-based pros as he seeks to formulate the squad ahead of the World Cup qualifiers in June. With regards to the team’s 1-0 win over Guyana at the Marvin Lee Stadium, Tunapuna on Tuesday he said: “It was a tough match but you have to give the young players a chance.As I said before, we are looking at players right now and opening up the doors of the national team. Now is the time to do it because soon we will have to narrow things down.”

“This is a small country with just over a million people so we cannot let anyone slip through the cracks. So far we have used 23 players in the last two matches and there are more players to look at,” he said. “Then we have guys in China and the US to look at. We are taking it step by step, brick by brick but I am confident that when the bell rings we will have a strong and disciplined team,” St Clair said. In related news, defender Corey Rivers, who suffered a broken left ankle after a minute’s play on Tuesday, was due to undergo surgery at the St Augustine Private Hospital last evening. “I want to express my sympathy to young Corey. He is a talented youngster and I expect he will bounce back from this setback,” St Clair said.