Regulars book tickets to Germany

But there are still spots up for grabs before the June 9-July 9 tournament he said on Wednesday.

The coach made mention of this at a media briefing at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo. "About 15-16 (regulars) have already (booked) their tickets for Germany barring any injury or loss of form," he said about the squad that will travel to the World Cup in Germany,

"That means that the door is still open for several players to step into the team," Beenhakker added. "But it’s too early now to tell you if they’ll be changes, what players will make the step to the team and so on."

"We don’t have to forget that there are several local players also who were part of the team or who have the possibility to make the step to the team," he said concerning the argument for the locally-based players.

Beenhakker was also high in praise of assistant coach Anton Corneal, who worked with some of the US collegiate players recently. He said it was very important to have a good balance in the squad which would be going to Germany.

He acknowledged that there is a dearth of quality left-sided players with Avery John as the only genuine left-footed player on the squad.

Beenhakker also pointed out that he was concerned with the fact that the majority of the players are over the age of 30 and the need for some younger members of the squad. "We also have to realise that some of the players have some tough months to go with their foreign clubs," he noted. "You always have the possibility of injuries."

Regarding the appointment of Corneal on the technical staff, as a replacement for Theo De Jong, Beenhakker said when he was appointed last April, he relied on the assistance of Rijsbergen and De Jong, both of whom he worked with in the past.

But after TT’s qualification for Germany, the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF) requested that a local coach joined the staff.

"I agreed totally because I think not only is it an historic moment to participate in a World Cup but it has to be the beginning of something new, something better," Beenhakker said.

He said after a meeting with Corneal in December, he gave him an offer to join the staff, due to his knowledge of both the local and American-based players. "He deserved my confidence," said Beenhakker. The technical team are also looking at having two-day camps between now and the Iceland encounter. Also on Wednesday a number of local and foreign-based players met with manager Bruce Aanensen at the Hasely Crawford Stadium to discuss allocation of the US$1.7 million bonus payment for qualification.

After Aanensen, TTFF special adviser Jack Austin Warner and secretary Richard Groden spoke with the British-based players on January 7 and 8 in London, England the team manager met with 20 players to finalise the disbursement of the moneys.

Those players were Daurance Williams, Kerry Baptiste, Michael Celestine, Jerren Nixon, David Atiba Charles, Jan-Michael Williams, Anton Pierre, Gary Glasgow, Kerwyn Jemmott, Arnold Dwarika, Anthony Rougier, Nigel Pierre, Glenton and Anthony Wolfe (local-based); Scott Sealy, Nigel Henry, Errol McFarlane, Brent Rahim, Cornell Glen and Avery John (foreign-based).