Columbus Crew striker Cornell Glen is gunning to wear the Trinidad and Tobago colours in the upcoming CONCACAF Gold Cup.
So pleased is the speedy striker on being recalled by head coach Leo Beenhakker, the former CL Financial San Juan Jabloteh man is promising to pull out all stock in an attempt to cement a spot on the team.
Glen has been a regular starter in the Crew team for the past six matches after being signed from Dallas FC earlier in the season. It took a while for head coach Greg Andrulis to fit him among the starters but now it seems Glen has left an impression. His latest exploit was a set up for Crew's goal in last week's 3-1 loss to New England Revolution.
“This Gold Cup is going to be a turning point for me,” Glen promised. “Honestly I’m just beginning to catch back myself and playing more and more for Columbus has played a big part in my form at the moment,” he told TTFF Media. “It was obviously disappointing not to be in the team for the last two games but now getting another chance is a good break for me.
“The coach at Columbus told me he had been looking at me for some time now and then he spoke to Stern (John) who apparently had some good things to say and the rest is history now. I am looking forward to making it happen good this time with him up front. I think a lot of people are accustomed with me coming in the side and taking things a bit easy maybe with a lot of jokes and stuff but it’s all serious business now and maybe the current coach will see his philosophy getting results from us a team,” Glen added. His Crew teammate Luis Gallardo is in the Panama squad as well as Frankie Hejduk in the US team for the tournament.
The former New York/New Jersey MetroStars player will team up with the rest of the T&T team on Monday at the Hilton, Ft Lauderdale for the commencement of a training camp ahead of the opening CONCACAF Gold Cup fixture against Honduras on July 6 at the Orange Bowl, Miami. His other strike partners selected by Beeenhakker include Stern John, Kenwyne Jones, Jason Scotland and Collin Samuel. Both Scotland and Samuel have expressed delight on getting the picks but their Dundee United boss Gordon Chisholm stressed on Friday that he hopes they can return in good form for their club.
“Once before, Jason was away for a couple of weeks and came back overweight, but, even if they are not involved in games, we need them to be doing a bit of training at this time of year. I expect they will make good use of the tournament across there,” said Chisholm.
The “Warriors” can expect a good backing in the stands as a group of T&T.
A group of fans living in Miami have arranged to occupy a section in the stand at T&T’s matches with a “Warrior Girls” posse along with steel pan, tassa and iron rhythm sections in association with fetebusters.com, a non-profit organization in Miami as well as a socawarriors.net crew.