Under-16s train on the beach

Along with the technical staff, Corneal is focused on the upcoming Caribbean Football Union Youth Cup which gets going here from August 16. Corneal has been conducting screening sessions in search of new talent in the regional associations since his return from Germany where he was assistant coach of the Soca Warriors.

Tomorrow at UWI Ground, St Augustine, 50 players will come together for a final session from which new blood will be added to the existing Under-16 team.

The majority of players represented TT at the Under-15 regional tournament last year.

According to Corneal, this squad has been in training over the past few months and he is excited over the prospects of the players who he thinks would have matured over the year. Corneal was also in charge of the Under-15 team last year.

“We continued screening sessions because you can never end the search for players but we have in fact had a squad in training over recent times and this consists of the players who were in our Under-15 team last year,” Corneal said.

“We know it’s going to be tough going in any competition and we are prepared for that. The opportunity to have Mexico, Canada and the other guest teams like Panama, Guatemala and El Salvador will present us with a perfect opportunity to match ourselves with the outside team if we do in fact go through to the final CONCACAF stage,” he said. Some of the players of the Under-15 squad presently with the Under-16s are goalkeeper Jessie Fullerton, Franz Husbands, Sheldon Bateau, Leston Paul, Sean de Silva and Stephen Knox.

The squad underwent physical training at Mayaro Beach on Wednesday morning and training will continue leading up to the naming of the final squad.

Corneal will remain in charge of the Under-16 team and has been excused from travelling with the Soca Warriors team for the August 9 friendly against Japan in Tokyo.