Trinidad and Tobago Senior team head coach Russell Latapy is likely to name his final 20-man squad for the upcoming Digicel Caribbean Cup group stage by Saturday as he continues his training sessions at the helm of the provisional squad this week at the Hasely Crawford Stadium.
United States-based defender Julius James is carded to join the team in its live-in camp at the Crowne Plaza on Tuesday while LA Galaxy defender Yohance Marshall who made his debut in the recent 1-0 loss to Jamaica, is expected in on Friday.
Latapy has delayed naming his final team as he assesses the readiness of the players currently in camp while Puerto Rico Islanders duo Kendall Jagdeosingh and Keon Daniel will play for their club later in the week before arriving in Port of Spain on the weekend prior to T&T’s opening match on Tuesday against St Vincent and the Grenadines at the Hasely Crawford Stadium.
Added to that, W Connection duo Hughtun Hector and Shahdon Winchester have been missing from training over the past couple days and are due back on Tuesday following a trial with Ukraine top flight club PFC Sevastopol.
Also training with the Senior team has been former under 20 midfielder Kevin Molino who is now a regular with Ma Pau FC’s first team in the T&T Pro League.
La Galaxy defender Chris Birchall has been in talks with the T&T management but is not available due to Galaxy’s playoff commitments in the MLS and the fact that he is a first team regular. San Jose Earthquakes striker Cornell Glen is also sidelined because of a hamstring injury.
“The team is still a decent one with several players who have been playing at the international level in recent months and getting that exposure. We don’t expect any of the matches to be easy but we are at home and we will put in the work that is necessary for us to get to the Finals.
We are eyeing the Digicel Cup in Martinique in December but before that we must take care of Haiti, Guyana and St Vincent next month,” W Connection midfielder Clyde Leon told TTFF Media.
Leon who captained the team against Jamaica in Kingston recently, added “This current week of training, double sessions each day will serve us well because we have the opportunity to spend more time together as team both on and off the training field and that is an important element of team building.
We must be able to prove how much progress we’ve made over the past few matches by pulling off good performances in the matches coming up.”