A Trinidad and Tobago Select Men’s Team will return from a two-match training camp in Fort Lauderdale on Wednesday.
The T&T team played two matches against Canada’s National Under 20 team, losing the first 2-0 on Sunday night at Lockhart Stadium and the second 2-1 on Tuesday morning at the Sunrise Holiday Inn Training Complex.
Initially, the T&T Men’s Under 20 team was supposed to travel but the two game series had been called off due to a lack of funding. But National Lotteries Control Board (NLCB) stepped in to meet the costs for the T&T team on Saturday evening.
The T&T side, including a mixture of senior, under 20 and under 17 players left on Sunday morning for FL.
The coaching staff included Hutson Charles, Ross Russell, Sean Cooper and Technical Director Anton Corneal.
T&T Under 20 captain Duane Muckette was in the T&T side along with senior team players Devorn Jorsling, Aklie Edwards, Akeem Adams. Some of the others included Under 20 midfielder Xavier Rajpaul and Under 17 captain Brendon Creed, Martieon Watson and US-based player Bradley Welch and David Williams.
Several Under 20 players were unable to travel as they are currently without US visas.
“It turned out to be two games which gave us a really opportunity to see a lot deeper into some of these players,” Corneal told TTFF Media.
“It was a very difficult situation at first because we had put the trip out of our minds due to a lack of finances and then at the very last moment, we were hearing that a corporate partner was willing to fit the bill.
Several of our under 20 players were without travel visas and we did not pursue it last week when we heard the trip was off so it meant we were forced to find players at the last minute to travel.
“But what we saw was a lot of effort from the boys and we also had a chance to see a couple players well who were playing before our coaches for the first time. It was a difficult first game after coming off the plane a few hours before but we were a lot better in the second game,” Corneal added.
Whitecaps forward Caleb Clarke scored a double in the first game while Jorsling got T&T’s lone goal from a free kick in the second encounter.
The Canada side included several European and MLS-based players including Toronto FC duo Quillan Roberts and Oscar Cordon, Queen’s Park Rangers duo Michael Petrasso and Dylan Carreiro, Portuguese-based midfielder Mauro Eustáquio and German-based midfielder Jorgo Nika.