Rijsbergen looks at Under-16s

Instead the Dutchman has his eyes on younger talent as a group of Under-16 players took part in the final screening session towards the selection of a national team.

Rijsbergen joined Anton Corneal, who has been given the responsibility of overseeing the preparation of the Under-16s for next month’s Caribbean Football Union tournament.

Following weeks of screening, some 65 players were present at the UWI Ground, St Augustine as Rijsbergen and Corneal assessed the players.

At the end of the exercise, ten players were picked and they will join others on the Under-16 squad from today at the same venue for training after which a final squad is expected to be named early next week.

Then final preparations will be made going into TT’s first match against Aruba on August 14 at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo.

Corneal said the exercises held over the past few weeks ending with yesterday’s session was “worthwhile” and allowed him and the other coaches to see how much development took place. And it gave Rijsbergen a better indication of the level of some of the players at the younger level.

Rijsbergen and his compatriot and assistant Jan Van Deinsen also intend to offer their expertise towards the development in that area.

The national coach’s next assignment will be preparing a senior team which leaves on Friday for a friendly international against Japan on August 9.

“The exercise itself went well. We looked at 65 kids today and then we also had the existing team in training. Overall it has served its purpose so far,” Corneal said yesterday after the session.

“It’s quite clear also that when you don’t see a player for maybe five or six months, it is possible for him to develop an we may have situations where this player would have been overlooked but can now make the step up and give the contribution we are looking to get.

“It was important for us to also note with the players who were part of the national Under-15 team last year that they have come back with renewed enthusiasm.

“They have matured and they have the experience of playing in the tournament last year which again goes to show how important it is for us to have the players involved in such outings at the various levels.

“They are more eager now as well because they again want to be involved.

“And it’s healthy when you can make things competitive among the players in the preparation towards a tournament and we will seek to take this right through with us,” said Corneal.

Twenty-eight teams including four guest nations— Canada, Panama, Guatemala, Mexico and El Salvador will contest the ten-day tournament from August 14-26.

One winner will progress to the CONCACAF Final round to be held in two groups of four in Honduras and Jamaica.

From that final phase, five teams will advance to the FIFA Under-17 Finals next year in South Korea.