A first half goal by midfielder Leston Paul earned Trinidad and Tobago’s Under 17 footballers a 1-1 draw with Joe Public in a training affair at the Ato Boldon Stadium on Friday morning.
Paul’s item was a fitting reward for the Anton Corneal coached team as they got a good workout from their opponents which included several young players in their line up. The Under 17s were playing for the final time before Corneal and his technical colleagues before naming the final 20-man squad on the weekend for the final round of CONCACAF qualifiers in Jamaica.
T&T kick off its final round against Costa Rica on April 28 and will also come up against United States, Canada and Jamaica for one of three places up for grabs in the FIFA Under 17 World Championship in Korea this August.
Corneal used Friday’s encounter to view a couple players in different roles,also welcoming back the likes of Stephen Chang and Robert Primus from injuries as Dutch coaches Wim Rijsbergen and Jan Van Deinsen also looked on.
“It was a final session to have a look at them before the final cut is made. We looked at a couple players in one or two different positions and we also had two back from injury,” Corneal told TTFF Media.
“The exercise was a good one and we will use the remaining time to study our opponents and go into or final mode of preparation for the tournament in two weeks time,” he added. Team doctor Mario John mentioned that the entire squad was free of injury problems with only striker Daniel Joseph having a hamstring bother which is close to being fully healed
The team will have an in-house session at the Dr Joao Havelange Centre of Excellence on Saturday and will return to outdoor physical training the following day. It will then enter a full one week camp next week before departing for Kingston, Jamaica on April 25.