Senior national men's head coach Angus Eve and his players had the same mindset on Thursday, they were all ready to get back to work and it showed when training resumed at the Diego Martin Sporting Complex.
It was the team's first session since their participation at the Concacaf Gold Cup in the USA in July/August.
A 28-man training unit was released by the T&T Football Association (TTFA) as new head coach Eve began preparation with a home-based squad ahead of international match windows, in October and November.
However, the TTFA release advised that this is not the final squad for the upcoming match windows as stated above.
Eve was thrilled with their ready-to-work attitude.
"Things went really well. The guys seem to be enthusiastic," said Eve, who was recently confirmed in the position as head coach.
He said: "We have a lot of new players, a lot younger players that we are trying to establish and give some exposure to. This camp has a good blend of players who would have played in the Gold Cup and we have a lot of new kids who've come on board. We're giving them this opportunity to show themselves. And the enthusiasm from them is really good."
Under then-interim coach Eve, the Soca Warriors advanced to the Gold Cup's group stage after hammering Montserrat 6-0, then pulled off an 8-7 penalty kicks victory over French Guiana, following a 1-1 tie in the qualifiers.
Moving on to group A of the Gold Cup, the national footballers fell 2-0 loss to El Salvador and had to settle for two hard-fought drawn results with Concacaf powerhouse Mexico (0-0) and Guatemala (1-1).
Hoping to maximise on the upcoming two international windows, Eve said: "The first, we're trying to get a game to use the locally-based players to give them a bit of experience, some of the players who didn't actually play with me in the Gold Cup so I could have a first-hand viewing of them, it's about six of them to be honest and the rest of players."
He continued: "We will leave for the last window for the year where we could bring the full team in after we would have looked at this group and some of the foreigners that didn't see before, to give ourselves a real platform building on to next year going into the Nations Cup."
Eve, in his dual role as coach of the national men's Under-20 team, has already begun planning for the youth team, which he indicated will also start preparation soon.
The former Defence Force standout player said: "We've been putting that list together. We've been reaching out to all the top programmes in the country like Trendsetters Hawks, Queen's Park, Jabloteh. Teams like Presentation College, Naparima College which traditionally some of the best young players come from."
Eve also praised the support he has been receiving thus far in compiling a youth training squad. "The response of the coaches and the management of those teams have been very well because for two years now we actually couldn't play football so I'm using the recommendation system to do the group that we would start training because we can't openly use screening because of the restriction of COVID."
A native of Carenage Eve pointed out that: "There are a lot of kids we are already getting information on. We got a lot of players - we have two goalkeepers who look really well. One is actually playing with New England and one is in Canada with Toronto FC. So, they look good prospects already and there is a number of other players that we are looking at because we're mostly scouting for players."
Training Squad
Strikers
Reon Moore (Defence Force), Brent Sam (Defence Force), Christian Thomas (Police), Jahiem Mc Fee (Unattached), Tyrese Bailey (Police).
Midfielders
Aaron Lester (Defence Force), Duane Muckette (Unattached), Dylon King (Defence Force), Isaiah Hudson (Unattached), J'deem Parris (Police), Hashim Arcia (Defence Force), John-Paul Rochford (Unattached), Kevon Goddard (Defence Force), Micah Lansiquot (Unattached), Sean Bonval (Unattached).
Defenders
Alvin Jones (Unattached), Curtis Gonzales (Defence Force), Darnell Hospedales (Club Sando), Jameel Neptune (Unattached), Joshua Alexander (Caledonia AIA), Keshawn Hutchinson (Police), Nigel Carraby (Unattached), Weslie John (Unattached), Robert Primus (Unattached), Trevin Latapy (Defence Force),
Goalkeepers
Marvin Phillip (Unattached), Adrian Foncette (Police), Aaron Enill (Defence Force).
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Eve wants to give T&T footballers chance to prove worth.
T&T Newsday Reports.
TRINIDAD AND Tobago men’s coach Angus Eve wants to give as many players as possible the opportunity to showcase their talent ahead of forthcoming tournaments.
On Thursday, the T&T footballers resumed training under Eve for the first time since the Concacaf Gold Cup in July.
Eve, who was the interim coach during T&T’s Gold Cup campaign in the US, was named as the full-time coach with a two-year contract earlier this month.
Discussing the training session at the Diego Martin Sporting Complex, Eve said, “Things went really well. The guys seem to be very enthusiastic. They want to be part (of the squad). We have a lot of new players, a lot of younger players that we trying to establish and give some exposure to. This camp has a good blend of some of the experienced players who would have played in the Gold Cup and we have a lot of new kids who came on board. We giving them this opportunity to show themselves and from the enthusiasm I saw from them today it was really good.”
Eve is hoping to line up matches for his players in the two international windows coming up, in October and November respectively.
“We are hoping to maximise those international windows. The first one we were trying to get a game that we could use the locally-based to get them a bit of experience and some of the players who did not play with me in the Gold Cup, so I could get a first hand viewing of them.”
Eve, who said six new players have joined the squad, wants to have all his foreign-based players available for the second international window in November.
“The rest of the players we will leave it for the last window of the year where we could bring the full team in after we had looked at this group, and some of the foreigners, that we did not see before to give ourselves a real platform building towards next year going into the Nations Cup.”
Under Eve, T&T had a respectable showing at the Gold Cup which included a 0-0 draw against Concacaf powerhouse Mexico.
Eve, who is also the national Under-20 coach, is starting to scout players for future tournaments.
Eve said because no football has been played for 18 months, he is contacting managers and coaches of top youth clubs and schools to recommend players who will be an asset to the national Under-20 team.