Corneal shortlists 28 Under-16s

Corneal has overseen the scouting of local players throughout the country and has combined them with experienced members of the previous Under-15 squad.

TT open the competition on August 14 against Aruba at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo.

Over the past few days, Corneal together with national coach Wim Rijsbergen supervised the players’ training.

And following his arrival in Trinidad and Tobago on Monday, Dutchman Jim Van Deinsen, recently appointed assistant coach was also part of Tuesday’s training session with the Under-16s at the UWI Grounds, St Augustine.

Among the players involved in training is former national Under-15 goalkeeper and captain Jesse Fullerton who was named the TTFF’s 2005 “Youth Player-of-the-Year.”

And among others who impressed during last year’s CFU Under-15 Cup currently in the mix are the Superstar Rangers duo Chad De Freitas and Sean De Silva. Also picked are CL Financial San Juan Jabloteh players Sheldon Bateau, Stephan Chang and Franz Husbands.

And the Defence Force’s midfield pair of Brenton Balbosa and Leston Paul are also back in the fray again.

Corneal also has US-born goalkeeper Stefan Berkeley as well as Joe Public duo Jean Luc Rochford and Kyle Campbell in the squad vying for final spots.

The squad will be cut to 22 players on Saturday who will then go into a live-in training camp at Petrotrin compound, Point-a-Pierre next week.

“We expect that the training will increase the competition for places now because the boys have been going hard at it and that’s always a plus,” Corneal said.

TT will also come up against Grenada and Dominican Republic with the group winners advancing to the next round of the tournament. The tournament winners will represent the CFU along with Jamaica in the final CONCACAF round of eight teams. Five teams will then advance to the FIFA Under-17 World Championship in South Korea next year.

Under 16 Squad —

Goalkeepers: Jesse Fullerton (QRC), Glenroy Samuel (San Juan Jabloteh), Christopher Coker, Kern Caesar (Defence Force), Wesley Douglas (Star World Strikers), Stephan Berkeley (Unattached)

Defenders: Akeen Adams (W Connection), Aubrey David, Matk Rivers (Star World Strikers), Ryan O’Neil (Defence Force), Sheldon Bateau, Stephan Chang, Robert Primus (San Juan Jabloteh)

Midfielders: Ethan George, Brenton Balbosa, Leston Paul (Defence Force), Chad De Freitas, Sean De Silva (Superstar Rangers), Kevin Molino, Chike Sullivan, Franz Husbands (San Juan Jabloteh), Nkosi Simon (United Petrotrin), Jean Luc Rochford (Joe Public)

Forwards: Daniel Joseph, Stephen Knox (San Juan Jabloteh), Daniel Cyrus (Stokely Vale), Marcus Joseph (United Petrotrin), Kaejay Ramdoo (Harvard)