National Under 15 boys head coach Stuart Charles Fevrier believes the upcoming TTFA U-15 Boys Invitational 4-nation tournament in July will prove to be a much anticipated and worthy exercise for the team ahead of the 2019 CONCACAF Boys U-15 championship.
Fevrier has been overseeing the team for just over three years and currently away with the senior men’s team at the Concacaf Gold Cup, his backroom staff has been continuing the preparations of the team at the TTFA Home of Football in Couva.
“It is a tournament I really welcome. These boys have been working for some time and I believe now they need more exposure playing more Central american and North American teams because we’ve only played against Caribbean teams in the last competition in Curacao,” Fevrier told TTFA Media.
CONCACAF giants Mexico and Panama along with Venezuela of the CONMEBOL, have all agreed to participate in the round-robin tournament which the TTFA will host. And the FA is in discussion with two Caribbean countries to add another dimension to the celebration by hosting the Under 17 Girls in the tournament, in keeping with the commitment to develop the Women’s game.
The tournament is scheduled to run from July 17- 21 with three (3) match-days, to be played on July 17 at the Ato Boldon Stadium, July 19 at the Hasely Crawford Stadium and July 21 back at the Ato Boldon Stadium.
“I am very happy for the opportunity they will be getting to play against Mexico which is a top footballing nation, Panama and also Venezuela which has improved tremendously in world football,” he continued.
“We are still at a developmental phase. The Concacaf championship in August is a developmental one and I understand that one of the rules says that every player must play at least 60 minutes. Our programme has always been twofold – one to win football games and secondly to develop the players for the future of Trinidad and Tobago football.
“I’m always excited whenever the boys play whether at home or abroad. This will be the first time they will be playing at home where the public will get the chance to have a look at them and I know the players will be looking forward to it as well,” Fevrier added.
T&T have been grouped with Panama, Mexico and Curacao for the group stage of the Concacaf championship at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida from August 4-12.
“Panama and Mexico are in our group and playing them in the competition at home will give all the teams a good opportunity to have a look at each other. By the time the Concacaf championship comes around we would have played against four very good opponents in the preparations,” Fevrier said.