Trinidad and Tobago’s Men Senior Team head coach Tom Saintfiet got the ball rolling in his new position as he oversaw the first couple sessions at the Hasely Crawford Stadium on Thursday evening and then on Friday morning at the Manny Ramjohn Stadium.
Among those training under Saintfiet on Thursday was Orlando City midfielder Kevin Molino, US-based players Aubrey David, Mekeil Williams, Cordell Cato, Estonian-based Radanfah Abu Bakr, Mexican-based duo Jomal Williams and Shahdon Winchester and veteran Carlos Edwards among the twenty four players who showed up on Friday. Not training was Central FC duo Jan Michael Williams, Sean De Silva and Nathaniel Garcia due to club matters.
Russian-based defender Sheldon Bateau was not in attendance as he is out of the country, so too Joevin Jones.
Saintfiet will go into the two international friendlies against Nicaragua on December 27th and 30th without the services of Bateau and Belgian-based midfielder Khaleem Hyland as the clubs of both players have indicated that they would not be released for the matches which are not being played inside of a FIFA international window. Local-based Elton John has been added to the training squad which will be trimmed next week when the team goes into a residential camp.
Saintfiet was in good spirits after his first session, saying he was pleased with the commitment shown by the players involved. He held a brief discussion with the members present before the beginning of the session which went for just over an hour.
“It’s a good start. I know the players have to go still to their clubs and for me it was the first contact with the players and I am quite happy with the commitment of the players,” Saintfiet told TTFA Media.
“I was very happy that we had a big group of players here. I felt a huge commitment of the guys with a good atmosphere. For me the connection between coach and players, staff and players is very important.
“ A national team coach has not so much influence on the physical part of the players because I train normally only five days, maybe a little bit longer with the group. We don’t have so much influence on the technical part because making players better takes much more time. My biggest influence can be tactically and psychologically and I think if you play for the national team it has to be first of all an honour to be selected,” he said.
He touched on what his selection will be based on, saying “I try to always play with the quality we have compared to the opponent because if we have good quality but the opponent has better quality then our quality is not so good as our opponent so I have to choose my tactic.
“In this situation I came to the country which had this year maybe not such a good year, two victories over St Vincent and the Grenadines and one against Dominican Republic, the only victories in 2016 so my first aim is to try to get a tactic to get points. Maybe it is not the most attractive tactic but playing good and losing 4-3 doesn’t bring anything at this moment. We need results immediately for sure against Suriname and Haiti so my tactical choice would result oriented based on our quality compared to the opponent,” Saintfiet added.
And the commitment of everyone involved will be a major factor during his tenure at the helm of the Senior Men’s Team.
“We have 1.3 million and only eleven people will stand in the middle of the stadium and listen to the national anthem and only 22 or 23 players will be selected. I want players who feel committed to the team and the country and I feel responsible for that. We need to create a group of players who are ready to battle, to fight. I always say national team is a modern type of army in war to fight against another country and we need players who will fight for their country because we have to go to the Gold Cup and then to the World Cup. That was very important for me today and I noticed a group of players who are committed and happy to be here and that’s a good start,” Saintfiet stated.