Vranes to coach Olympic team

This was confirmed by an official of the T&T Football Federation (TTFF) yesterday. Vranes, the 55-year-old former T&T senior coach led the Under-20 Soca Warriors to the Fifa Under-20 World Cup in Egypt in September where they earned their first ever point in a Fifa competition, after a 0-0 draw with Paraguay in group play.

Vranes is due to arrive in the country on the weekend and will begin work next week with the Under-23 squad, which will comprise the majority of the players from the Under-20 World Cup team.

Expected to join Vranes on the technical staff are his assistants at the Egypt Under-20 World Cup, Anton Corneal and Hutson “Barber” Charles, both former national players.

Contacted for comment, Corneal said none of the appointments have been confirmed but added it will be a wise move by the T&TFF to do so. The squad will be named next week in preparation for a two-match series against Bermuda’s Under-23 side over the Christmas and New Year's holidays in Hamilton.

“You can expect players like Micah Lewis (Joe Public), Stephan Campbell (United Petrotrin) and Trevin Caesar (Ma Pau) to all be invited,” added Corneal.

Corneal, the former coach of the national Under-17 team, noted that they were already getting phone calls from clubs about players who were around the 21 to 22 years age bracket and could be possible inclusions on the team.

But he explained that with the Olympic Games taking place in London in 2012 those players will be too old by then to play for the Under-23 team. “The players that will be called up for training for the Olympic team and subsequent qualifiers will have to be 19 or 20 years as of now or younger.

“This will allow them to be able to compete at the Central American and Caribbean Games next year, (Under-21); Pan American Games in two years time (Under-22) and then the Olympics, which is an Under-23 competition.”