Newcomers on Warriors squad

KEVON NEAVES and Ricky Shakes are among four newcomers included in the national football team for the friendly international versus Iceland on February 28 (Carnival Tuesday), at Loftus Road Ground, London, England. The other debutants in the 20-member squad are Anthony Warner who, like Shakes, was born in England, and Anthony Noreiga. The match is the first international fixture for the national team since qualifying for the FIFA World Cup in Germany last November. Neaves, the 2004 Secondary Schools Player of the Year from St Anthony’s College, is a 20-year-old left-winger currently enrolled at the University of South Florida while another player in the US collegiate circuit is Noreiga, a 24-year-old central defender with George Mason University, Virginia (formerly with Princes Town Senior).

Neaves, Noreiga and left-back, 29-year-old Nigel Henry (unattached) last played for Trinidad and Tobago in their 5-1 drubbing by Guatemala in March 2005. They earned their selections based on the impressions made on coach Leo Beenhakker during last week’s camp in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Shakes and Warner were spotted by the Dutch-born tactician during his scouting missions in Europe last December. Warner, the son of a Trinidadian father, is a 31-year-old goalkeeper from Fulham while Shakes, whose mother was born here in Trinidad, is a 21-year-old utility player from Swindon Town.

Overall, Neaves, Noreiga and Shakes are the youthful selections in the 20-member squad, who possess nine players in their 30s and whose average age is 28. The San Juan Jabloteh pair of right-back Cyd Gray and midfielder Aurtis Whitley, as well as playmaker Silvio Spann (also unattached), who recently returned from trials in England, were also part of the training camp in Florida. Henry was a member of Charleston Battery in the United States A-League last year while Spann’s contract with Yokohama, Japan ended in December.

Notable omissions from the team that featured heavily in the CONCACAF World Cup Final Round campaign are goalkeeper Kelvin Jack - recovering from an injury, defenders Brent Sancho and Ian Cox, midfielder Densil Theobald and strikers Cornell Glen, Anthony Wolfe, Scott Sealy and Jason Scotland. But 24-year-old Collin Samuel, the muscular-built Dundee United striker, earns a recall to the team for the first time since the CONCACAF Gold Cup in the US last July. The national contingent would assemble in London on February 26 (Carnival Sunday) and are expected to stage two training sessions before the encounter.

Team—
Shaka Hislop, Clayton Ince, Anthony Warner (goalkeepers); Marvin Andrews, Dennis Lawrence, Avery John, Nigel Henry, Cyd Gray, Anthony Noreiga (defenders); Dwight Yorke (capt), Russell Latapy, Silvio Spann, Chris Birchall, Aurtis Whitley, Carlos Edwards, Kevon Neaves, Ricky Shakes (midfielders); Stern John, Kenwyne Jones, Collin Samuel (strikers).