TT U-17 captain eyes Haiti scalp

The 22-man squad enters a livein training camp today at the Cara Suites Hotel in Claxton Bay ahead of their opening Group A match against Haiti on Friday from 7:30pm at the Ato Boldon Stadium in Couva. Bermuda tackle Jamaica in the opening match of the double header from 5pm.

Rochford has been with the team for just over a year and has been preparing himself for the qualifiers for some time now and despite the team not playing an international match in the build-up to the tournament, the little midfielder is confident in their ability.

“We have worked really hard and I think we are ready for the tournament,” Rochford told TT FA Media.

“The preparations have gone well. We have had limited time but we are making the time worth it.

When a coach comes in one month before a tournament they tend to think they don’t have enough time but coach Latapy is experienced so he knows what to do and when to do it so that we will be totally prepared for the matches,” Rochford added.

“The key will be starting quickly.

Haiti are a quick team so we have to match them and we we will be looking to knock in a few goals early. We must be able to take control of the match and then settle down and move on to the rest of the tournament doing what is necessary to qualify for the CONCACAF stage,” he added.

Rochford also commented on the session last Monday during which Dwight Yorke showed up to take part in.

“Having coach Russell as the head coach and then Dwight Yorke involved was a double dose for us. It was a great experience for us. Coach Russell let coach Dwight take charge of the session. He gave us the same drills but from a different point of view. We learned a lot from that sessions as well as the others. The players believe in experience and role models and if we have to pick role models from our country those two would be in the top three and we acknowledge that they have been two of the greatest players that ever played for Trinidad and Tobago and we are grateful for the opportunity to work with them,” Rochford said.

The top two teams in each group will advance to the CFU semi-finals as well as the CONCACAF Final round in Panama next April while the best third placed team from the group phase will also advance as the fifth Caribbean representative at the CONCACAF final phase. From there, four nations will advance to the FIFA Under 17 Men’s World Cup in India.