U-20s fine tune in Miami.U-20s fine tune in Miami. This country’s Under-20 men’s national football team has settled in with its full compliment of 20 players at the training camp at Miami Lakes, USA as it fine tunes for Friday’s Concacaf Under-20 Championship opener against host Jamaica in Kingston.
The last batch of ten players arrived from Port-of-Spain on Friday, allowing coach Derek King to move full speed ahead with his training sessions with skipper Shannon Gomez and his teammates ahead of the 12-team tournament which serves as a qualifier for this year’s Fifa Under-20 World Cup in New Zealand.
T&T engaged in their first bit of match practice with a 70-minute scrimmage against a USA Soccer Academy outfit behind closed doors which ended 2-0 in favour of the home-team at the Sunrise Holiday Inn Ground.
“We got a chance to mix it up and take a look at all the players and I am pleased with the level of play at this crucial stage heading into the tournament,” King said.
King indicated that the opponents were fast and technically correct and this gave him and his staff a perfect opportunity to analyse their charges as they are in the process of finalizing the squad for the opening encounter of the championship.
“I am particularly impressed with the level of organisation we showed in attack with Woo Ling (Matthew), Hacksaw (Naveal) and Mitchell (Jabari) handling their roles well. Archer (Leland) also marshaled the defence well and Goalkeeper Johan Welch displayed impressive distribution of the football, so all in all we are rounding into form,” King added.
Taking a guest spot on the staff bench for the scrimmage was former national team defender Richard Chinapoo who was also pleased with the level of organisation shown in attack as well as the chemistry surrounding the entire unit.
Chinapoo who had a stellar career in the United States which included a stint with the famed New York Cosmos recently relocated to Miami from Pennsylvania and accepted an invitation from Goalkeeper Coach Michael Maurice to view the match. “There are things to be tweaked but if I was the coach I would be pleased. All we need is a few more games to fine tune things for next week,” Chinapoo added.
Those games are already in the works according to manager Captain Douglas Archer, with the first being at 7 pm tonight (Monday) versus the Weston United Alumni at Vizcaya Park in Marimar.
In addition to host Jamaica, T&T, the reigning Caribbean Football Union Under-20 champions after blanking Haiti 3-0 on a Kadeen Corbin hat-trick at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, in early September, will also meet Aruba (January 11), Guatemala (January 14) and Panama (January 18) before ending round-robin play against USA three days later.
The National Stadium in Kingston and the Montego Bay Sports Complex will each play host to Group A matches, while the latter venue hosts all the action in Group B, and the final phase on January 24.
Group B comprises Mexico, the two-time defending Concacaf Under-20 champions; Cuba, Canada, El Salvador, Honduras and Haiti.
At the end of the group play, the top team from each group advances to the World Cup, and the second and third place nations from each group advance to the final day knockout phase, with the chance to dispute one of a pair of play-in matches which will determine Concacaf’s other two World Cup spots at the Fifa Under-20 World Cup New Zealand 2015.
The young Soca Warriors are also carded to meet Canada U-20s during the Miami camp ahead of their departure for Kingston on January 7.