The trio of St Ann’s Rangers’, defender Akil Clarke, midfielder Donelly Gopicharan of W Connection and Kevin Raymond of Naparima College, have been drafted into a 21-man Soca Warriors Under-20 squad which departs for Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela today from 3 pm.
In Venezuela, the T&T squad will participate in an invitational tournament hosted by the Venezuela Football Federation and involving Cameroon, Nicaragua, Panama, Ecuador and the hosts from October 20-28.
Missing out on the trip to Venezuela is senior team defender Joevin Jones of W Connection, who has been allowed to remain home and continue preparations with the senior squad for its Digicel Caribbean Cup Second Round Group F qualifiers here in T&T from November 2–6.
The Zoran Vranes-coached local squad will be using the tournament as part of its preparations for the Caribbean Football Union U-20 Group D home-and-away qualifying series against St Vincent and The Grenadines on November 16 and 23.
The winner of the T&T/St Vincent and The Grenadines series will then meet the winner of the Aruba/Suriname tie for a Concacaf spot. Jamaica won Group C to qualify for the Concacaf qualifiers, while the other CFU groups still to be played are Group A (Cuba, Netherlands Antilles, St Kitts/Nevis and British Virgin Islands) and Group B (Guadeloupe, Bermuda and Antigua & Barbuda). Haiti withdrew from Group B.
In addition to the four CFU group winners, the four second-placed teams in each group will compete in a round-robin series to determine the fifth qualifier for the Concacaf Final Round Championship in Guatemala from April 3–7 next year.
Already qualified for the the final round in Guatemala are Jamaica, Canada, USA and Mexico. Speaking on the eve of the team’s departure Vranes said the tournament will be very good preparation for his team ahead of its CFU meet.
“Generally the team has potential but we have to work on some things to get the players to a level that can make us compete with the best of Concacaf and I think this tournament will give is a very good indication of what level we are on,” he added.
Assistant coach Hutson Charles is also banking on a good showing from the team. “When you compare the other youth teams who have gone to World Cups in the last couple years, you can see that this present team has the potential to qualify for a World Cup also.
“But we need to do some fine tuning. We will not take teams like St Vincent easily and I think it’s works out quite well that we are getting the kind of preparation against teams like Ecuador and Cameroon in the build up to the first round of qualification,” Charles said.
T&T U-20 squad: John Thomas (Joe Public), Jamaal Francois (San Juan Jabloteh), Jerron Quashie (Stokely Vale), Dinelle Lopez (St Augustine SC), Dwight Ceballo (Ma Pau), Akeem Adams (W Connection), Joshua Bachan (Shiva Boys), Sheldon Bateau (San Juan Jabloteh), Marcus Joseph (Joe Public), Jerrel Britto (San Juan Jabloteh), Johan Peltier (San Juan Jabloteh), Jerron Morris (Defence Force), Kenaez Williams (Joe Public), Brandon Simpson (Joe Public), Vernell Ramirez (San Juan Jabloteh), Reshard Wint (Police), Ross Russell Jr (Defence Force), Kevin Raymond (Naparima College), Stephen Kerr (Trincity Nationals), Donelly Gopicharan (W Connection), Akil Clarke (St Ann’s Rangers).
Technical staff: Zoran Vranes (coach), Hutson Charles (assistant), Dale Saunders (assistant), Cheryl Abrams (manager), Gilbert Bateau (trainer), Adisa Davis (physio), Michael Williams (equipment manager).