The Technical Department of the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation completed a most fruitful opening Goal 2014 Training Camp on Friday at the Ato Boldon Stadium and Technical Director Lincoln Phillips described it as a fruitful one in which 108 Under 21 players were screened.
In the end a squad of 28 players eligible to represent the country at the Under 21 level were selected and the rest will continue to be monitored in similar screening sessions which will continue throughout starting from next month in other parts of the country.
Youth Development Officer Anton Corneal and other coaches Brian Williams, Ron La Forest, Michael McComie, Terry Williams and others saw three 45-minute matches on the closing day between the selected Under 21 players and a squad comprising players eligible for the Under 23 team which included several US College based players.
“This was a successful exercise in terms of giving our players hope and when a country has hope things are achieved,” Phillips told TTFF Media.
“Players normally when they go abroad, they fall through the cracks and most times they want to come back and play for their country but no one tends to see this and now there is a mechanism to take care of this. So from this standpoint the exercise has been successful. We even have a player we discovered out of the University of South Florida, Judah Hernandez who has been dying for a chance to play for Trinidad and Tobago,” Phillips added. Hernandez is a US-born player who is set to go to Belgium for trials.
Several of the players out of the US were compiled on database thanks to the efforts of the www.socawarriors.net website run by Inshan “Flex” Mohammed out of the US while some also contacted the TTFF via a notice on the Federation’s official website.
“Whenever these guys come back they always get into a fete match situation but now they have something solid to look forward to and they all came out this time.
“For the Under 21s selected we have up to twelve of them who will go back to the US for College seasons which means that we will continue to monitor not only the home-based players who were selected but also the other guys who were part of this camp. We will now identify the overseas players to come back and train with a squad for the CAC Qualifiers which begin in March.”
TTFF Special Advisor Jack Warner also made his way down to the Ato Boldon Stadium to sit in the stands and view the closing evening session which was witnessed by chief evaluator Muhammad Isa and his assistants.
Several players from the recent National Under 20 team made the cut including captain Makan Hislop, Carlon Murray, goalkeeper Thorne Holder, Kendall Jagdeosingh, Shane Calderon and Hayden Tinto among others.
Phillips said that Corneal will also continue to work on the setting up of screening and training sessions for the Under 15 and Under 17 teams and the TTFF is also looking to form similar youth teams to participate in the Dallas Cup in the United States.
The Under 21 players selected include:
Joel James, Josimar Belgrave, Yohance Marshall, Coneal Thomas (Superstar Rangers), Shane Calderon, Kerwin Beckles (W Connection), Carlon Murray (CL Financial San Juan Jabloteh), Dion Peters, Thorne Holder (Joe Public), Akil De Freitas, Kareem De Freitas (St Anthony’s College), Simeon Augustus (Caledonia AIA Fire), Akil Edwards (Defence Force), Kendall Jagdeosingh (National Quarries North East Stars), Randell Renwick, Kezi Lara (Princes Town SC), Judah Hernandez, Kevon Neaves, Kareem Smith (University of South Florida), Afif Najaar (Southern Illinois University Edwardsville), Makan Hislop (University of South Carolina), Sean Bateau (Fatima College), Mikhail Awai (University of Cincinnati) Abiola Sandy (Bowling Green College), Hayden Tinto (Caledonia AIA Fire), Justin Hay, Jack Weedon, Morris Kernateu (Naparima College).
Meantime, some of the Under 23 players looked at on the final day included:
Dean Logan, Stephen Cruikshank, Atiba McKnight, Odelle Armstrong, Julius James, Anthony Noreiga, Serginho Sandy, Keeron Benito, Darryl Roberts, Kevon Carter, Kyle Cupid, Mbwana Johnson, Marcus Cabralis, Fabien Lewis, Dwight Scott, Devon Jorsling, Clyde Leon, Jason Cudjoe, Marvin Lee, Dale Perez, Terrence Williams, Gerrard Johnson, Ainsley Romany, Abiola Clarance, Josh Stewart and Osei Telesford