Three Trinidad and Tobago players have been asked to join the 18-member Dundee team in training over the next couple of days with the hope of playing for the Scottish club in the near future.
Goalkeeper Kelvin Jack and defenders Brent Sancho and Ian Gray will be training with Dundee today at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, from 4 pm.
The trio may either skip national training eight hours earlier at the same venue, or train lightly under coach Hannibal Najjar, who yesterday claimed that he was unfortunately not informed of the arrangement.
Jack, Sancho and Gray, who played key roles in steering CL Financial San Juan Jabloteh to its first Trinidad and Tobago Professional Football League title last season, were recommended by their former coach, Englishman Terry Fenwick.
Fenwick was forced to quit his job at Jabloteh last week when he was installed as manager of Northampton Town of the English Second Division.
Of the three-some only Sancho has played professionally outside T&T. He played for Mypa 47 in the Finnish League and for Metro Stars in the American MLS (Major League Soccer).
All three are expected to be in the starting line-up for the T&T President’s XI on Sunday against Dundee at the National Stadium, from 6 pm, as well as on Friday when the visitors tackle Jabloteh at the Larry Gomes Stadium, Malabar, from 4 pm.
Solid performances by either one, or all three, could land a contract with the top Scottish club.
Jack, Sancho and Gray watched the Dundee players go through their paces yesterday during a workout at the Mucurapo venue.
Director of Dundee, Jim Connor admitted yesterday that although Sunday is a friendly international, his side will be competitive.
“It is a very important time for us as we are on our winter break. We are hard in training.”
Connor promised “a very incredible and exciting match.”
Coach of the foreign team, Jim Duff also echoed the same sentiment. “We are here first and foremost to prepare for the restart of football in Scotland (January 25). We are here to work hard and we hope it will be a difficult match. I can assure you that my players are determined to work hard.”
According to Duff, “Dundee is a very cosmopolitan team with players from Agrentina, Uruguay, Georgia (Russia), Australia, England and Scotland. We are not a typical Scottish side.”
The Dundee visit, their first to the Caribbean, was made possible by Pro Sports Caribbean Limited and sponsored by KFC as part of its 30th Anniversary celebrations.
KFC will be offering 25,000 tickets free of charge to the local public. Tickets can be obtained from any one of its outlets across the country. Negotiations are also underway among KFC and Pro Sports Caribbean to bring a number of English and Scottish Premier Division Clubs, as well as other top professional teams, to play here over the next three years.
Peter Miller, a top official of Pro Sports Caribbean, said that the next visit will be West Brom in July.
He indicated that Northampton Town will also be coming “and I expect four Trinis to be on that team.”
Over the next couple of months Fenwick will be bidding to have several Jabloteh players on his team at Northampton.