National Under 20 Team head coach Brian Willams will announce a 25-man roster for the upcoming Caribbean Football Union Under 20 qualifying tournament Group 2 on Monday following a live-in training camp which begins tomorrow (Friday).
Williams currently has thirty players in training and will welcome New York Red Bulls player Noah Powder and English-based midfielder Morgan Bruce around the end of next week ahead of the competition that runs from June 15th-19th at the Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva
T&T will face Guadeloupe from 7:30pm in the second match of a double header to kick off the tournament on June 15th. Turks and Caicos will meet St Lucia from 5pm.
The remaining fixtures for the hosts will see them meeting Turks and Caicos from 7:30pm on June 17th and St Lucia from 6:30pm on June 19th.
In their continuing build up, the T&T team will face Queen’s Park’s Super League outfit in a training fixture at the Manny Ramjohn Stadium on Friday evening from 6pm.
“We are quite pleased about the opportunity to enter a live-in camp this weekend as it will be our first one since the preparations started and it’s important for team chemistry and bonding before we enter the games,” Williams told TTFA Media on Thursday.
The Under 20s lost 6-0 to the T&T Senior Team in a training fixture at the Manny Ramjohn Stadium just prior to the team’s departure for Peru last month and Williams believes the exercised served its purpose for his team.
“The game was a good measuring stick for us in terms of we were allowed to see how the boys would respond against much tougher opponents. It showed us where some of the areas needed to be worked on and I think the players were able to see for themselves. We were solid for the first 25 minutes and then we started to fall of a bit but overall it was a pretty good exercise,” Williams told TTFA Media on Thursday.
“I will name the 25-man squad on Monday and this will include the two overseas players coming in, Morgan Bruce and Noah Powder who have a lot of experience and also played for us at the CONCACAF Under 17 Finals.
“Currently the squad is gelling and the players are beginning to understand their roles and functions better. We are quite pleased with the way preparations have gone and the way the football association has gone about in trying to put things in place for this team. Now it’s a matter of finalizing things in the week heading into the competition and giving it our all on the field of play,” Williams added.
The under 20s drew 0-0 with Petrotrin Palo Seco’s Super League team and defeated University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT) 4-1 last week.
T&T will face off with Guadeloupe, St Lucia and Turks and Caicos from June 15-19th for the right to advance to the next stage of CFU qualifiers towards the CONCACAF Final round in Costa Rica and then the 2017 FIFA Under 20 World Cup in South Korea.
CFU Under 20 Fixtures
All Games at Ato Boldon Stadium
Wednesday June 15th, 2016
St Lucia vs Turks and Caicos, 5pm
Trinidad and Tobago vs Guadeloupe, 7:30pm
Friday June 17th, 2016
St Lucia vs Guadeloupe, 5pm
T&T vs Turks and Caicos, 7:30pm
Sunday June 19th 2016
Guadeloupe vs Turks and Caicos 4pm
T&T vs St Lucia, 6:30pm