Just like the National Senior Team, this country’s National Under 20 and Under 17 National Football Teams could be heading to South America to intensify preparations for their upcoming World Cup Qualifying campaigns.
The U-20s will go into action when T&T hosts the Final CONCACAF Round from March 5-15. Canada, Mexico and the United States will be joined by host T&T and Central American sides Costa Rica and El Salvador. Another winner from a CFU Group being contested in St Vincent and the Grenadines this month will advance to the finals while the runners up will meet Honduras in a play off for the final spot. The teams in the CONCACAF finals will vie for a spot in the 2009 FIFA Under 20 World Championship in Egypt from September 25-October 16.
Head coach Zoran Vranes was expected to cut the squad to twenty five players on Wednesday inclusive of home-based and US-based players. Clico San Juan Jabloteh defender Robert Primus has joined the team in training and will return following his time with the Senior Team either after the Argentina trip or the World Cup qualifier away to El Salvador.
Under 17 team standout Kevin Molino is also in the squad but US-born winger Aaron Maund has been a no show. Last month Maund expressed a desire to join the T&T team even after being invited by the US U-20 team But according to T&T team manager Chris De Silva, the player’s heart appears to be elsewhere.
“We had been in constant contact before Christmas. His father was in touch with us and they expressed a desire to come to our training camp after the one with the US team. But even after they made requests for us to facilitate his visit, it appeared that he wanted to see what his options were with the US. All communication was cut… there was no response from them so at this point the player is not part of the squad. He needs to be fully committed if he wants to play for Trinidad and Tobago,” De Silva told TTFF Media on Wednesday. Maund appeared for T&T at the 2007 FIFA Under 17 World Championship in South Korea.
“Otherwise coach Vranes and the boys have been hard at work. We will train four days per week from this coming week and then head off on the trip to Brazil,” De Silva added.
Last Saturday the U-20s lost a warm-up match 3-2 to a local eleven comprising some US-based players and locals including Densill Theobald, Brent Sancho, Leslie Fitzpatrick and Cyd Gray.
The U-17s meantime are preparing under the watchful eyes of head coach Anton Corneal. And according to team manager Christopher Gouveia, the squad will be cut from 35 to 28 players next week.
“We’ve been preparing and the next phase will entail some warm up games to step it up a bit,” he said. Gouveia mentioned that striker Jerrel Britto was likely to return to England for a trial at another club after his stint with Portsmouth last year. And fellow squad member Johan Peltier has been invited to attend the Southampton Academy.
“It’s an important phase for us coming up and every effort is being made to ensure that we are best prepared as possible for the tournament,” Corneal told TTFF Media. “We’ve looked at some more players in Tobago and we’ll probably go back there for a training camp with the full team.”
The U-17s will go into the final Concacaf Round of qualification in Mexico in April. Guatemala, Panama, Costa Rica Canada, the United States, Trinidad & Tobago, Cuba and Mexico will battle for a chance to feature at the 2009 FIFA Under 17 World Championship in Nigeria from October 24-November 15.