Soca Warriors coach, Russell Latapy and his technical staff will meet with members of the T&T Football Federation Executive Committee today.
The meeting will be held at Concacaf’s Office, Edwards Street, Port-of-Spain from 2pm. T&T’s performance over the last three international friendly matches is expected to be at the top of the agenda.
Latapy is also set to discussed the team’s continued preparations for the Digicel Caribbean Cup Second Round Qualifiers from November 2 -6 in T&T.
In recent weeks, T&T’s preparations have not gone according to plan as the Soca Warriors have gone winless in their last three friendly match, which was capped off by a shock 0-0 draw away to Belize at the Fifa Goal Project venue in Belmopan on Friday last.
In the other matches, T&T was beaten 3-1 at home by regional rivals, Jamaica on August 11 which was followed by a 3-0 away defeat to Panama on September 7 in Panama City.
Commenting on the team’s progress, former national goalkeeper, Lincoln “Tiger” Phillips said the team has now ended its first phase of preparations by exposing a number of locally-based professionals to international competition.
“The first phase was to expose some new faces to international football and this is now over. Now its time to move onto the second phase.
“This will include the injection of some of the players based in North America who we have not had a look at before or in recent times and may add some quality to the team.
“During the first phase, the coach (Latapy) was able to see which of the players were able to make that step up to the next level and those who he thinks will add some value to the team when the final squad is brought together.
“The first stage was a chance for the local guys to show their worth and while some may have grabbed the opportunity there were those who did not.”
Having played the last three matches with an almost entirely local squad without securing a win, Latapy is expected to call on a few North American based players for his team’s next outing, a friendly encounter away to Jamaica on October 11 in Kingston.
Asked to comment, Soca Warriors manager, David Muhammad confirmed that coach Latapy was hoping to have a look at a few overseas players. “The match with Jamaica falls on a Fifa international day so the overseas based players will be available for selection.
“We may not call on the guys who are based in Europe but there are a few players in North America, who the coach wants to have a look at,” said Muhammad.