Russell Latapy will lead a squad of home-based players onto the training pitch at the Hasely Crawford Stadium on Wednesday afternoon as the final stretch of preparations commence for next Wednesday’s 2010 World Cup Qualifier against El Salvador.
Latapy revealed on Tuesday that he will not announce his final squad until later in the week including his quota of overseas-based players for the all important clash with the Central Americans.
“I don’t think it’s absolutely necessary for us to reveal too much at this time. But I have a fair idea of what the squad will be but every player will have the opportunity to vie for selection,” Latapy told TTFF Media.
“It’s a crucial match for us and with it being a mid-week game it means that we don’t have much time together with the final squad. In saying that, it means also that this will be a very crucial week for us ahead of the match itself.”
On Wednesday, Latapy will take a look at his local-based invitees in a training exercise against the National Under 20 team at the Hasely Crawford Stadium from 5pm.
There was also more progress regarding the likelihood of English-based duo of Jlloyd Samuel and forward Bobby Zamora lining up for T&T as both are expected to obtain Trinidad and Tobago passports this week which would be the last step in ensuring their eligibility of representing the Red,White and Black.
“We are literally a day away from getting the passports for both Jlloyd and Bobby. All the ground work has been done to ensure the both players have the necessary requirements to play for Trinidad and Tobago. They have both confirmed that they are available to play for us. Both players are also in touch with the Trinidad and Tobago/Uk High Commission and it’s a matter of them picking up their passports.” Muhammad told TTFF Media on Monday.
Meantime, San Jose Earthquakes midfielder Arturo Alvarez says he is "95 to 96 percent sure" he will be called up by the El Salvador national team for a World Cup qualifier against Trinidad and Tobago on Aug. 12, making the Houston native's re-declaration of national-team allegiance official.
The 24-year-old Alvarez has drifted out of the U.S. national-team picture since he last played for the Under-23 team in 2007. Since being shut out, he determined the best chance he'd have to continue his international career was to seek eligibility to play for El Salvador, his parents' birth country.
FIFA's new eligibility rules, passed in June, relaxed the restrictions on such changes. Because Alvarez never played in an official match for the senior U.S. national team, he became eligible to make the switch.
El Salvador has been shut out twice in the Hexagonal and certainly could make use of Alvarez, who has scored 21 goals and logged 17 assists over a seven-year career in Major League Soccer. Salvadoran national-team captain Ramón Sánchez, Alvarez's teammate on the Earthquakes, told SI.com last week that Alvarez would be able to help the team immediately and should see playing time in his first game.