Trinidad and Tobago head coach Stephen Hart has expressed satisfaction with the response of his players in training so far this week ahead of the team’s departure on Friday for Lima where they will face Peru’s Senior Men’s Team in an International Friendly on Monday.
“The players are accustomed with what we try to do and the way that we play are really guiding the players now coming in. It’s just a matter of the concentration and the intensity level that we have to get right
“Their work ethic has been tremendous. Some of the things might be new to them, moreso for Nathan than for Weslie because for centrebacks it’s pretty standard. For me, defending and the backline and working with the midfield is a matter of communication and that is going to take some time.
“Both sessions today were very intense. We don’t usually do that but it’s been like this because of the time frame. We have only one session on Thursday before we fly so we thought today was the right day to max it out,” Hart said.
“I have watched both Peru and Uruguay. We know what to expect from them. They will be playing at home and will be very comfortable. They will be working on certain things. I am guessing that a lot of their work will be on the offensive part of their game but that’s not my concern. My concern will be on how certain individuals fit into what we are trying to do and that we have a good sort of collective performance,” Hart added.
Peru named its Copa America squad a few days ago and several of the players listed are expected to line up against T&T on Monday. Their head coach Ricardo Gareca focused on unearthing fresh faces.
Left out of 23-man squad were the likes of Claudio Pizarro, Jefferson Farfan and Juan Manuel Vargas who also failed to make the initial 40-man roster.
Experienced players Paolo Guerrero, Yoshimar Yotun, Alberto Rodriguez and Christian Ramos were retained on Friday, along with five debutants, as Josepmir Ballon and Carlos Lobaton were among the 17 players cut.
Alejandro Hohberg, Luiz da Silva, Armando Alfageme, Luis Abram and Carlos Caceda are in line to earn their first senior caps when the Copa America gets underway in the United States on June 3.
There are also nine players with less than 10 caps in the squad. Drawn in Group B, Peru open their campaign against Haiti on June 4, followed by clashes with Ecuador (June 8) and Brazil (June 12).