National Senior Team head coach Russell Latapy has called up five overseas-based pros for two upcoming friendly internationals on October 6 and October 10.
The “Soca Warriors” will travel to Kingston to face Jamaica on October 10 and the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation is expected to finalize an opponent to play at the Hasely Crawford Stadium on October 6 by this weekend.
Among the players recalled include San Jose Earthquakes striker Cornell Glen, LA Galaxy defender Yohance Marshall, DC United defender Julius James and Puerto Rico Islanders duo Kendall Jagdeosingh and Keon Daniel. The full squad will be announced in due course.
Initially, there was the option to invite inform Stoke City striker Kenwyne Jones and Ipswich Town midfielder Carlos Edwards for the friendly against the “Reggae Boyz” which falls on a FIFA date, but neither of the European-based players will be available for the Digicel Caribbean Cup an so it was agreed that Latapy will use only players available to him for the Regional Cup tournament.
Jamaica’s head coach Theodore Whitmore has gone ahead and invited Jones’ Stoke City teammate Ricardo Fuller for the encounter. Fuller is among eight overseas-based players invited by Whitmore including San Jose Earthquakes midfielder Khari Stephenson, Columbus Crew defender Shaun Francis,Toronto FC striker Obrian White, New York Red Bulls’ Dane Richards, Ryan Johnson of San Jose Earthquakes and Norway-based midfielder Rodolph Austin.
T&T lost to Jamaica 3-1 last month and then suffered a 3-0 loss to Panama on the road, before being held 0-0 by Belize. Latapy’s team then managed to pull off 1-0 and 3-0 wins over Antigua/Barbuda and St Lucia respectively.
“It’s important for us to start having a look at some of the overseas-based players available to the team for the Digicel Caribbean Cup and as such we have opted to invite some of the players that are playing in the MLS.
The Jamaicans as we know will be taking this return friendly in Kingston seriously as they want to ensure that their impeccable home record remains intact and they too will be inviting a number of overseas-based players for the encounter. They are really on a high at the moment,” Muhammad told TTFF Media.
Latapy, after returning with the team last Monday following its 1-1 draw with Guyana with a fully home-based team a day before, will resume training at the Hasely Crawford Stadium from 4pm on Monday.