European-based midfield duo Khaleem Hyland and Lester Peltier are among six players named in the Soca Warriors squad for next week’s 18th Caribbean Football Union Cup Finals in Jamaica, who will link up with the team in Montego.
Contacted yesterday, William Wallace manager of the team said Hyland of Belgium’s Racing Genk, Peltier of Slovakian champions Slovan Bratislava along with the quartet of Andre Boucaud (Dagenham & Redbridge/England), Kevan George (Columbus Crew/USA), Radanfah Abu Bakr (Kruoja Pakruojis/Lithuania) and Justin Hoyte (Millwall/England) will all journey from their respective clubs on Sunday to link up with the team ahead of their Group matches against Curacao (Tuesday 11), French Guiana (Thursday 13) and defending champions Cuba, two days later. At the end of which the pool winner will advance to the final on November 18, all at the Montego Bay Sports Complex.
Hyland is expected to line up for fifth placed Racing Genk against sixth placed Standard Liege in a Pro League match on Sunday while Peltier’s Bratislava, fifth on the Super Liga standings tackles third placed Senica, and George’s and his Columbus Crew team-mates will try and overturn a 2-4 first-leg aggregate US Major League Soccer Conference semifinal first-leg score against New England Revolution.
Abu Bakr and his second placed Kruoja faces Suduva in the Lithuanian League and Hoyte is expected to feature for Millwall versus Brentford in the English Championship Division while Boucaud has the weekend off and will just meet the team there.
On Wednesday, US-based midfielder Kevin Molino, T&T’s star player in the semifinal wins over Dominican Republic (6-1), St Lucia (2-0) and Antigua & Barbuda (1-0) which put the team atop the CFU rankings, joined the other players in the 23-man squad called up by coach Stephen Hart as they continued preparations at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo.
They included Cardiff City striker and team captain Kenwyne Jones, Daneil Cyrus, Marvin Phillip, Adrian Foncette, Jonathan Glenn, Leston Paul, Jan-Michael Williams, Aubrey David, Joevin Jones, Carlyle Mitchell, Shahdon Winchester, Hughtun Hector, Jamal Gay and Ataullah Guerra. Hart is expected to conduct another session today from 5.30 pm before the team departs for Jamaica, in the morning in search of a record-ninth CFU Cup triumph, and first since 2001.
Pool B comprises three former winners in Haiti (2007), Jamaica (1991, 1998, 2005, 2008, 2010) and Martinique (1993) alongside former top ranked CFU team, Antigua & Barbuda. At the end of each round-robin group in Jamaica, the top teams will contest the final, while the second placed teams will meet for third spot.
All four teams competing on the final day will also qualify for next year’s Concacaf Gold Cup while there is also the added incentive that the CFU champions will compete at the 2016 Copa America, against the best of South America.
The best third place team from CFU (according to group stage results) will also have a chance to qualify for the Concacaf Gold Cup via a qualification play-off, against Honduras, the 2014 Copa Centroamericana fifth-placed team.