Slovakia-based winger Lester Peltier says he’s readying himself for what he sees as a critical year ahead for the national team.
Peltier, speaking from Slovakia last week, disclosed that he was currently focusing on his club career with Slovan Bratislava but was only a phone call away regarding international duty and intends to earn his starting role in Stephen Hart’s team for the Concacaf Gold Cup which takes place in the United States in July.
“I’ve never played in a Gold Cup before so this is huge for me. I really want to be part of the squad and hopefully once I’m injury free I’ll be part of the team for the Gold Cup in July. I think we have a decent side at the moment and if we can prepare well and play some good football, then we can go there and do well against the other teams,” Peltier said on 101.7’s Sportsdrive talkshow.
Looking ahead to the rest of the year, he said, “The Panama game is a very good one for us as part of the preparations because we need as many games as we can get and Panama are one of the top sides now. The World Cup qualifiers in November are right around the corner and we have to ensure we are in top shape for that.
Peltier’s Slovan is in sixth position in the Slovak League table at the moment. It crushed Nitra 5-2 in a Cup match on Tuesday and Peltier seems to be enjoying the season.
“Personally I’m in good shape. I’ve been working hard and putting in my extras here at Slovan. We’re still looking to push forward a bit and climb the table. We have some crucial games coming up so we’re going to give it everything to get as much points as we can,” he said.
Figo’s proposed 48-team World Cup could favour T&T. Fifa presidency candidate and former Real Madrid standout Luis Figo has suggested expanding the Fifa World Cup to 48 teams.
Experts recently looked at what Figo’s vision would look like and there was good news for T&T as Figo said he wanted to focus on more teams outside of Europe getting to the World Cup.
Figo's vision involves two simultaneous groups stages of 24 teams, each held on a different continent, with the qualifiers coming together for the knockout stages in a third location. He's said that the extra teams will come from outside Europe, though we have our doubts as to whether Uefa are going to happily allow such an expansion to pass by without them nabbing at least a couple of spots.
The top teams chosen according to Fifa’s current rankings saw T&T end up in the top Concacaf six alongside Costa Rica, Panama, Mexico, United States and Honduras
“I believe we should consider proposals to expand the competition to a 40 or even 48 team World Cup,” Figo said at Wembley. “Both these options are feasible with an extra three to four days of tournament play. If this expansion were to take place I believe that additional teams should come from non-European nations."