While the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association tries to secure friendly matches for the national senior team, head coach Dwight Yorke will be checking on the status of players overseas, both those already inside the team set-up and those who may be eligible to represent the country.
Yorke, appointed last month, has so far held a one-week camp with locally-based players.
However, TTFA president Kieron Edwards has said Yorke and his coaching staff will be back and forth.
“He’s also doing his due diligence to get up to speed with the international players...He’s carded to go and see Levi (Garcia) and have some discussions with Levi and those guys in Europe shortly,” Edwards said in an interview on local TV station WESN.
Current immigration laws currently limit the number of players with T&T roots that can be recruited. However, the TTFA is hoping that some changes to the laws will eventually be made. However, the search for new players is continuing.
Edwards noted that, “we are in discussions with several persons with heritage from the diaspora, not just on the senior level but Under-17 level as well, and the Under-20 level to bolster those teams because we have an important World Cup Under-17 qualifier coming up in Costa Rica shortly.”
Asked about the possibility of recruiting winger Jadon Sancho, currently on loan with Chelsea from Manchester United in the English Premier League, whose mother is Trinidadian, Edwards declined to say which players the TTFA had been in contact with.
He added however that, “if we do get the likes of Jadon Sancho in our outfit, it would only help Trinidad and Tobago football.”
Sancho has been capped 23 times by the England senior team.
Meanwhile, Edwards said efforts to get warm-up games are ongoing. “We are in final discussions with Saudi Arabia in terms of having that game played, but there is interest from other countries in terms of having games played outside of the (FIFA match-day) Window and I think that’s important for the local group.
“I think with coach Dwight Yorke coming in...and having the camp with the local guys, I think that has re-energised the local players and given them the confidence to push on and really represent and be part of this World Cup campaign,” he explained.
”It’s important that we have games for the local group as well as the guys that are playing in the USA and Canada...They would be in their off season as well...so that we can ensure these guys really stay match fit at that intensity and at that level.”
SOURCE: T&T Express