Young Gorean hits the target

STERN JOHN, Marvin Andrews, Shaka Hislop, Jason Scotland, Carlos Edwards and Clayton Ince are the names that dominate Trinidad and Tobago football on the international scene. But, very soon, the name Gorean Highley seems certain to be added to the list of players destined for great things on the national, regional and eventually, global stage. Standing slightly over five feet tall, the left-footed striker has already made his mark at the youth level during the last 12 months.

He was voted the Most Valuable Player of the 2003 Secondary Schools Football League (SSFL) after amassing a remarkable 33 goals for East Zonal champions Arima Senior Comprehensive. And he earned the distinction of being the top goalscorer at the Under-17 Division of the 2003 TT Pro League, netting 16 goals to lead W Connection to both the league and knockout titles. An individual of few words, he described his experience at the Pro League level as “good” and also added that he enjoyed his season with the Savonetta-based club. With an insatiable thirst for getting his name on the scoresheet, he was indeed pleased with his performance at the SSFL, “feeling good, scoring goals, like how I normally do it.” Highley’s strengths are his deadly left-foot, his speed on and off the ball, as well as his spot-kicking ability (freekicks and corners)  and his stamina, which belies his pint-sized physique.

But his aggression on the field of play has not pleased many a coach, as he was initially dropped from the national Under-17 team by coach Dion La Foucade ahead of the 2002 Caribbean Football Union (CFU) World U-17 qualifiers in Bermuda. As fate would have it, La Foucade was replaced by Ron La Forest as U-17 head coach and Highley was recalled to the team. While he scored seven goals in both the qualifiers and warm-up matches, Trinidad and Tobago failed to advance from the Bermuda phase. The 17-year-old Arima resident also comes from a footballing history, as his father Trevor “Mickey Rat” Highley played for the national team in the 1980s as well as Memphis in the National League.

But the younger Highley stressed that he had to work hard in order to achieve a measure of success. “I started off small, training in the (Arima) savannah,” he revealed. “I got accustomed (to being a striker) and I was able to handle (the pressure) from there.” “I had to work, everything is working,” he affirmed. While he sees himself earning a contract with an overseas club in the distant future, he is currently focussing his attention on the National Under-20 team, as he is one of 30 players called to training by recently appointed coach Anton Corneal.