The Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation will host screening sessions in the coming weeks for players that will represent this country at the qualifying phase for the 2015 FIFA Under 17 Men’s World Cup.
This was one of the initiatives to begin shortly according to technical director Anton Corneal as he explained that players at the Under 14 level will be selected from the screening sessions to start training as a National Under 14 team which will see them in place to contest the qualifiers for the Under 17 tournament by the time 2015 comes around.
And according to Corneal, talks have already been held with former National Team player Leroy De Leon to have him on the panel of coaches that will work with the Under 14 players. Among the other names mentioned to work with the Under 14 team includes Dion La Foucade and Kevin Jeffrey, These are among others will be interim positions in the first instance.
The TTFF has already started screening for Under 16 players to join an existing pool of players that will contest the upcoming Caribbean Football Union qualifiers towards the FIFA Under 17 Men’s World Cup in 2013. Over 110 players showed up for screening at the Ato Boldon Stadium last weekend.
These players were selected from their respective regional associations and a group will be selected to join the existing pool of 35 players which will be overlooked by an interim staff comprising of past Under 17 head coach Sean Cooper, ex-national forward Leonson Lewis and Terrence Marcelle.
Caribbean qualifying for the Under 17s will be played from July 3-10th with Trinidad hosting one of the groups which will see them come up against Suriname, British Virgin Islands and Guyana. The group winner of the five groups and the best second placed team will advance to the final CFU round in August.
Similar screening will take place for Under 20 players at the Ato Boldon Stadium on Tuesday 10th and Thursday 12th April 2012 at 8:30 am ahead of the 9am start.
Only players born in 1993 will be allowed to be part of the screening. Corneal mentioned that ex-National Under 20 World Cup team coach Bertille St Clair will be invited to work with the team in a mentor capacity.
T&T will enter the Caribbean leg of qualification from July 23-31 in a group hosted by St Vincent/Grenadines along with Suriname and Guyana. The winner of the four preliminary groups and the best second placed team will advance to the final CFU round in Jamaica from November 3-11, 2012.
The T&T Senior team will also resume preparations shortly ahead of the preliminary stage of the 2012 Caribbean Cup. Efforts are being made for the Senior Team to play against an African Nation in Port of Spain as part of the 50th Independence Anniversary and talks are also being held with the likes of Panama for upcoming friendly internationals.
T&T will face Anguilla, St Martin and hosts St Kitts/Nevis in the opening group phase from September 24th-28th.
The six group winners and runner ups will join Cuba, Grenada (host) and Guadeloupe (host) in the second round from October 20th-24th. The 2012 Caribbean Cups Finals will be played in Antigua and Barbuda with the hosts and defending champions Jamaica already through to that tournament from December 1-16th.
“It’s a lot of football coming up and already we are putting measures in place especially for the youth teams as we prepare for these competitions,” Corneal told TTFF Media.
“Talks are ongoing with some of our very distinguished past players who we believe can serve as mentors and bring their wealth of experience to the development of our players particularly at the youth level. We are particularly keen to begin work with the Under 14 age group which will be the team that will take us into qualification for the 2015 Under 17 World Cup. This is being done even prior to the next Under 17 World Cup in 2013,” Corneal added.
“Of course some of our positions will be on an interim basis in the first instance with the aim towards longer terms of appointments.”
The T&T Women’s programs are also ongoing with the Under 17 Women’s Team scheduled for training camps in Costa Rica and Fort Lauderdale ahead of the CONCACAF qualifiers in Guatemala City in May.
The T&T Senior and Under 20 Women’s Team will also play matches against the visiting College of Charleston Women’s Team during a ten-day visit in May.