Trinidad and Tobago’s National Under 17 team will face the United States Under 17 team in two-warm up matches in Bradenton, Florida later this month as both countries continue their preparations for the CONCACAF Under 17 round of qualifiers for the 2013 FIFA Under 17 World Cup.
The matches will be played on March 24th and 27th at the IMG Academies in Bradenton. The invitation was offered by US Soccer and accepted by the TTFF. T&T’s trip is being made possible through support from the Ministry of Sports.
Photo shows the T&TU17s in training at Ato Boldon training pitch on Thursday.
The T&T Under 17 team has been in training at the Ato Boldon Stadium training pitch. They open the Concacaf final round against Canada on April 6th before taking on Costa Rica two days later. The top two teams from the group will advance to the quarter-finals.
Coach Shawn Cooper welcomed the opportunity to play the US later this month.
“It’s definitely two games that have come at a great time for us because we are in the process of completing our program and I think these two games fit in perfectly ahead of our opening qualifier against Canada,” Cooper told TTFF Media on Thursday.
“Preparations are going quite well and we are about to embark on a journey which is a chance of a lifetime in trying to qualify for a World Cup. The boys have been working very hard and trying to ensure they are ready. I think we should learn a few things well in these two games against the US.”
Looking ahead to the Canada opener, Cooper said he feels a bit more ready this time than in 2011 when T&T suffered a 2-0 loss to Canada.
“After looking back at the game I thought we gave away the ball a lot and our technique was not up to scratch. I think this current team is technically better than the squad in 2011. We’ve tried to correct some of our mistakes and hopefully we can get it right in Panama,” Cooper added.