Trinidad and Tobago’s Men’s Under 20 team head coach Brian Williams announced a final 23-man squad on Monday evening to contest the upcoming Caribbean Football Union First Round qualifying matches slated to take place at the Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva June 15th-19th.
Williams along with assistant coach Kerry Jamerson and his technical staff have been overseeing the preparations of the team over the past few weeks ahead of their opening fixture with Guadeloupe which kicks off at 7:30pm on Wednesday June 15th. The match will be part of a double header with Turks and Caicos facing St Lucia in the earlier contest from 5pm.
On Sunday, T&T defeated Siparia Spurs 2-0 at Irving Park, Siparia through goals by Jarred Dass and Jabari Mitchell before Williams announced the final team in the presence of TTFA technical director Muhammad Isa who also spoke to the players ahead of the upcoming competition.
US-based New York Red Bulls defender Noah Powder arrived in Trinidad on Monday and will train with the team on Wednesday with English-based Morgan Bruce also expected in this week.
The squad includes previous Under 20 team midfielder Jabari Mitchell and Nicholas Dillon as well as Kareem Riley, the captain past T&T Under 17 Team. Isaiah Hudson has also made the cut along with US-based college player Dass and Canadian-based defender Jacob Sooklal.
Commenting on the selection, Williams said he was satisfied with the composition of the squad.
“I think the squad is good, competitive one,” Williams told TTFA Media.
“The last four days we were able to analyze the players properly and see who responded well to the training from a fitness standpoint and with regards to the other demands we have been making of them from a tactical standpoint.
“I am looking forward to see the team play with great expectations. The strength will come through mostly our offensive play. We have some good offensive players but we have a bit more work to do in order to become more steady in the defence. Noah Powder came in today and Morgan Bruce comes in this week as well and they will add some stability to the team,” Williams stated.
“We will continue to look at the players to come up with the best possible composition for the games. We have to work on our game in the final third because we’ve been missing some chances on goal. We will be concentrating on our finishing in the few days leading up to the tournament.
“The next few days will be interesting for us. We had a couple injuries to deal with . We have young Tyrel Emmanuel out but we are quite pleased with the way things have gone for us. We expect all three teams will be eager to do well and as such we will not take any of the teams for granted,” Williams added.
“The training camp this weekend was very important for us and I’d like to thank the FA for arranging it for us. It was important for the team bonding at this stage of the preparations. We had the opportunity to do some video sessions and strengthening the team cohesion before the tournament starts next week.”
Tickets for the games will be on sold on matchday at the Stadium and are priced at $20 (covered) and $10 (uncovered).
About the Qualifiers
The CFU First round will see action in four groups with the group winners, plus the best runner, second and third best runner up joining hosts Curacao for the CFU Final Round in October. The top five teams from there will advance to the CONCACAF Final round in Costa Rica in February, 2017 from which four teams will qualify for the 2017 FIFA Under 20 World Cup in South Korea.
T&T 23-man squad
Goalkeepers
Jadiel Poon Lewis – Queen’s Royal College
Jabari Brice – San Juan Jabloteh
Denzil Smith – Shiva Boys College
Defenders
Tyrek Sampson – North East Stars
Kierron Mason – DirecTV W Connection
Andrew Rullow – Premier Football Academy
Jacob Sooklal – Durham United FC
Kori Cupid – W Connection
Isaiah Garcia – W Connection
Noah Powder – New York Red Bulls
Midfielders
Jabari Mitchell – W Connection
Kareem Riley – Central FC
Shane Sandy – North East Stars
Yohannes Richardson – Shiva Boys
Morgan Bruce – Stevanage Borough
Micah Lansiquot – St Ann’s Rangers
Forwards
Nicholas Dillon – Central FC
Jarred Dass – Stony Brook College
Rushawn Murphy – East Mucurapo
Kathon St. Hillaire – St Ann’s Rangers
Isaiah Hudson – W Connection
Josh Toussaint – St Ann’s Rangers
Quinn Rodney – Club Sando
CFU UNDER 20 FIXTURES
All Games at Ato Boldon Stadium
Wednesday June 15th, 2016
St Lucia vs Turks and Caicos, 5pm
Trinidad and Tobago vs Guadeloupe, 7:30pm
Friday June 17th, 2016
St Lucia vs Guadeloupe, 5pm
T&T vs Turks and Caicos, 7:30pm
Sunday June 19th 2016
Guadeloupe vs Turks and Caicos 4pm
T&T vs St Lucia, 6:30pm