National Under 17 Football Team Head Coach Anton Corneal is maintaining a positive mindset following this country’s eight-day training camp in Colombia which saw the locals lose four matches and win one as they prepared for the CONCACAF Final Round of qualification for the 2009 FIFA Under 17 World Championship.
T&T were based in Llano Grande City and trained and played their five matches 2200 meters above sea level. They came up on the wrong end in defeats to the Under 23 teams of Pro team Envigado (3-2), Independiente Medellin FC (6-0) and Atletico Nacional (4-0). T&T also faced Francisco Maturana’s coaching school “Esceuela de Futbol Francisco Maturana”, losing 3-2 but were 6-1 winners over Colegio de San Ignacio, their only warm up encounter against a similar age group team.
“Overall it was not just an eye opener for our players but a valuable learning exercise because we have faced good teams like Brazil’s National under 17 team which meant that it’s not the first team our players were exposed to a high level of competition,” Corneal told TTFF Media after the team’s return home on Thursday night.
“We realize that we are in a tough group and we felt that we needed to ensure that our preparation was by no means going to be easy. In all our matches except for the 6-1 win, we had to fight hard to stay up at a pace and match our opponents and despite the scorelines looking unimpressive, we felt that it served its purpose. Every match saw us make eight and nine changes in the second half which meant that all of our players were exposed to the high level that we were coming up against.
“I think at the end of the trip we can say that we are now more match ready than before and we will go all out to maintain this level going into the competition. We will continue our sessions at home working on set plays and different variations of play along with some more agility work,” Corneal concluded.
Shadon Winchester joined the team in Colombia after a trial in Portugal and favourable mention was made of Canadian-born midfielder Ryan McCloud and Ryan Fredericks. Striker Jerrel Britto captained the team in Colombia.
Corneal was also thankful to Francisco Maturana and Senior Team trainer Jorge Ruiz for their efforts in assisting the team during the tour. Ruiz accompanied the team during its stay in his home country.
Meanwhile, Trinidad and Tobago's National U-20 footballers drew 1-1 with El Salvador in Saturday's warm up at Plymouth, Tobago. Lester Blanco (pen) for the visitors and Sean De Silva equalized in the 27th minute.
Summarized Scores
Friday 20th, 9.30 am- Llanogrande
Atletico Nacional U-20's (4) vs. T&T U-17's (1) (Anselm Jackson)
Saturday 21st, 3.30 pm- Practice Field, Medellin Stadium
Envigado F.C. U-23's (6) vs. T&T U-17's (0)
Monday 23rd, 10.00 am- Llanogrande
Independiente Medellin U-20's (3) vs. T&T U-17's (2) (Shahdon Winchester (2))
Wednesday 25th, 1.00 pm- Practice Field, Medellin Stadium
Escuela 'Pacho' Maturana U-23's (3) vs. T&T U-17's (2) (Ross Russell Jr., Shahdon Winchester)
Wednesday 25th, 4.45 pm- Colegio de San Ignacio
Colegio de San Ignacio U-17's (1) vs. T&T U-17's (6) (Jerrel Britto (2), Kylon Gay (2), Johan Peltier, Malcolm Manswell)
Corneal stays positive after U17s warm-up tour of Colombia.
T&T Guardian Reports.
Just back from an eight-day tour of Colombia, Anton Corneal, coach of the T&T Under-17 football team, is confident that his team will qualify for the Fifa Under-17 World Youth Championships in Nigeria from October 24 to November 15.
This country is due to participate in the Concacaf eight-team final qualification round in Mexico from April 21 to May 2 from which four teams will qualify. In Mexico, T&T will tackle host Mexico, Costa Rica and Guatemala in “B” while USA, Cuba, Honduras and Canada are in “A”.
Contacted yesterday for comment on the South American tour, Corneal first pointed out that his team played majority of its matches against older age-group teams (Under-21’s, Under-20’s and Under-23’s) and was victorious only once.
“We played against older teams so the guts could test their physical strength, while we also played one match against a team in our age-group and won 6-1.” “Honestly, It made no sense to play teams within our age on the tour because the results would not have told us anything about ourselves.”
During the tour, Corneal also got a chance to look at two North American-based players in Malcolm Manswell (USA) and Ryan Mc Leod (Canada) and was pleased with both players effort. Looking ahead to the eight-team tournament, Corneal sounded a warning to his opponents and stated, “Our opponents need to take us very seriously now.
When we get to Mexico we are going there with the intention of getting to our second straight Under-17 Fifa finals and not just to make up numbers”. However, Corneal who led T&T to a second Fifa Under-17 finals in Korea/Japan two years ago after qualifying in Jamaica, was quick to note that the task will not be an easy one. “The draw on paper is a tough one.
Mexico and Costa Rica are teams that usually qualify for Fifa competitions and Guatemala will be no pushovers as well. “In addition, the Mexicans will be playing on home soil and no doubt the locals will be supporting the Central American teams.”
The T&T coach said he is also hoping the squad gets to play some matches against the teams that will be in T&T for the Concacaf Under-20 qualifiers as well as our own Under-20 squad and some of the T&T Pro League clubs.
The team is then expected to head to Mexico no later that a week before tournament time to get acclimatise to the conditions.” T&T, which enjoyed a one-week tour to the US last November, will meet Mexico in its first match on April 22 before facing Costa Rica two days later and Guatemala on April 26.