National Under 20 coach Anton Corneal will continue preparing this country’s Under 20 team for their return leg with Cuba next Friday with an afternoon session at the Ato Boldon Stadium on Saturday.
If T&T can progress to the next stage, they will then enter the final CONCACAF qualifying round with the other top teams from Central and North America to be played next year from January 12-16 in California, United States, according to the dates released by CONCACAF on Friday.
Four teams from the CONCACAF will progress to the 2005 World Youth Championship in the Netherlands. If T&T ends up in the group to be staged in the US, they could well end up as one of the top teams to advance to the World stage with Panama and Costa Rica being the other two teams contesting the group. The other Group includes Jamaica, Canada, Mexico and hosts Honduras from which the top two also advances to the World Finals.
Corneal feels his team can get past the Cubans.
“The first result was a good one away from home. Scoring three goals on the road against what I thought was a good Cuban side meant a lot to us,” Corneal told TTFF Media. They (Cuba) were a confident bunch and they played with purpose but we were able to match that. We were faster to the ball in the second half and they were forced to commit themselves early because they were at home.”
He expects they will come all out when the second leg plays at the Mannie Ramjohn Stadium from 7pm on Friday. The Under 17s will also meet their Cuban counterparts from 5pm at the same venue.
“They will have to come all out at us and I expect the game will be a close one. We still have some things to correct and hopefully we can close them down and get into the next stage,” Corneal added.
Meantime, Tobago-born midfielder Keon Daniel made an obvious difference to T&T’s play in the second half against the Cubans and has been highly rated by Senior Team coach Bertille St Clair. Daniel scored one and was instrumental in the other two items scored by Hayden Tinto. There have been calls for the versatile playmaker to join the senior team in training but Corneal, who likens the left footed player to Kerwyn “Hardest” Jemmott, feels he still needs to mature before being called up to the seniors.
“He has to become a little more consistent at the youth level first before he could go higher. He did very well when he came on against Cuba but that was in the second half. Ability wise Keon has a great future ahead and should be a real asset once he keeps his focus. He performed the required role exceptionally well in Cuba by coming on and closing down the opposition in the middle but also using his ability to create room and add more fire to the attack,” Corneal explained.
“Right now we are introducing a style of play where we must not allow the opposition any time and room to settle and play. And this is what worked for us in Cuba. It is basically introducing another part to our overall style of play which had been lacking and could play a vital role in making the difference between us and other teams,” Corneal added. Technical Director Lincoln Phillips also lauded such approach, saying it was necessary to be adopted by National teams at all levels.