Soca Warriors to train at ARG

Plans are being made for the Trinidad and Tobago football team to train at the Antigua Recreation  Ground (ARG) because of the similar surface to the Queen’s Park Oval, Port-of-Spain, venue for the February 19 World Cup qualifier against the United States. The team will have use of the Oval for training but that may be limited due to the cricket season. So the opportunity to use the ARG was looked at.  TT’s third round Digicel Cup match, once they get past British Virgin Islands, will be against either St Vincent and the Grenadines or Grenada and will be played at the Queen’s Park Oval on January 9 from 3.30pm.

Following that a proposed training camp will take place at the ARG  from January 10-15 to be followed by the second leg match. Football federation Special Advisor Jack Warner has appealed for use of the ARG after initially the request seemed unlikely to fulfilled because of the venue being closed before the week intended for use by the footballers. But further enquiries by Warner led to a meeting between Antiguan Prime Minister, Baldwin Spencer and Antiguan Football Association General Secretary Gordon Derrick. This resulted in a decision to leave the ARG opened to accommodate the Soca Warriors until January 15. “Prime Minister Spencer was fully accommodating and expressed that where ever possible, the Government of Antigua and Barbuda would try to assist our Caribbean brothers in reaching Germany 2006. Success for Trinidad and Tobago would translate into success for the Caribbean,” Derrick said.

Meantime, Bolton Wanderers striker Ricky Shakes has gotten the okay from team manager Sam Allardyce to join the TT team this weekend and he will arrive here tomorrow. The 19-year-old England-born player will be looked at by senior team coach Bertille St Clair as well as Under-20 coach Anton Corneal. Shakes is also eligible to play for the Under-20 team which go into CONCACAF final round World qualifying action on January 12 against the United States in California. Meanwhile striker Scott Sealy rejoined the team in training yesterday at the Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva fresh from receiving the news that he was named on the NSCAA/Adidas Men’s NCAA Division All American Team on Tuesday. Sealy starred for Wake Forest University this season while also breaking his way into the TT senior team during the ongoing 2006 World Cup qualifying tournament.

He was among three players from his team to gain selection on one of the most diverse groups in the award’s history. The other two were Justin Moose and Michael Parkhurst who joined Sealy on the second team. There was also some encouraging news for Kenwyne Jones who netted his first goal for Southampton in a Reserve match with Fulham which ended 2-2 on Tuesday. “It was a good finish last night. He has got terrific spring and heads the ball well which is an asset and one thing he hasn’t shown us yet which he has got in his armoury is a real powerful shot,” said team manager Steward Henderson. Newly appointed Southampton boss Harry Redknapp also saw Jones’ goal from the sidelines.