Football officials off to London

Heading the team is special adviser and FIFA vice-president Jack Austin Warner, along with TTFF secretary Richard Groden and team manager Bruce Aanensen.

The trio flew out late yesterday on the advice of Warner, who said he felt it necessary to hold discussions with the UK-based players to come to a settlement on compensation.

They are expected to meet with a five-man group in London tomorrow, along with other footballers who participated in qualification matches. Warner is also to meet with "Soca Warriors coach Leo Beenhakker and assistant Whim Rijsbergen later today at the Sheraton Hotel, Heathrow, to discuss plans for training camps and warm up internationals.

"The fact remains that the team and its preparation for what it does in Germany is the most important thing and we must ensure that these guys are well taken care of," Warner said.

Beenhakker and Rijsbergen have been in England for the past few days looking at possible sites for setting up a training camp leading to the World Cup action which begins in June.

The coach and assistant visited Colliers Park, home of Wrexham, the team for which goalscoring hero Dennis Lawrence plays, along with agent Mike Berry yesterday,. Lawrence said the coach spoke with him briefly and expressed satisfaction with facilities.

Beenhakker and Rijsbergen is scheduled to come to Trinidad next week to finalise arrangements for the Soca Warriors build up to the World Cup, along with Rijsbergen and local assistant coach Anton Corneal.

Meanwhile, Corneal conducted a training session for US-based college players at the Marvin Lee Stadium, Dr Joao Havelange Centre of Excellence on Thursday, to sort out players capable of representing the national under-23 and Soca Warriors teams.

Corneal admitted to having spotted some future prospects among the group in training.