As Technical Director Rene Simoes continues to keep the preparations of the National Under 17, Under 20 and Under 23 teams in process, he has also called for there to be some changes which he thinks will go a long way in improving the state of local football and the progress of national teams.
"We are trying to make everything work in the best way possible. Of course I will like to have some teams in the camps like the Under 17s and the Under 20s. Some of these players come from poor families and their diets are not really suitable for that of a player who is with a national team. We can see now that players who were on the Under 17 team and are now on the Under 20 team we see that their performance is not so much the same because their diet has been a problem for some of them," said Simoes. "We are quite happy that the Professional League has accepted our suggestion to have the Under 19 League. That will keep them in training and fit. It is a lot better than these players just playing two months of the Schools League. I have to congratulate the Professional League for this youth league. We will continue to have the training and with the Under 20 team we have to finalize our squad for the qualification tournament in November."
He added that there is the possibility that the senior team will play a friendly against Mexico following the 2002 World Cup.
" I am not making any contacts now too much for the senior team for matches because they will all be after the World Cup it seems now and I am not sure what the situation will be like then. I keep saying if I have to leave here I will like to leave a proper structure in place for all national teams so that if someone else has to come in, he will have the players from each team to look at and continue the preparations. "I am quite happy about the players we have found and have in training now. Now we are training them by our eyes, the Brazilian eyes. It is very different when another one achieves his player and looks to train them. It's different with how I like defenders and midfielders with how another type of coach might like them. I don't like defenders who only clean up at the back, I like defenders who can play the game all round because as we have seen that especially against some opponents like the Americans, they know we are very skilful. So when they play us, they tie down our midfield, so when you have defenders only clean things up or kick the ball away, we don't play at all. When we start to play at the back, there are several options in our play. By our eyes now we select players who can play like this in all departments of the football," added Simoes.
He commented on the need for a change in approach by locals which he knows will not come by easily. "What we also have to change is our culture a bit but I am not saying that the overall culture of the country is bad. When we compare Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica, we can say technically this country is ahead but when you look at the fighting capacity, you can say that Jamaica is better, so we have to change that. We have to take the players and give them or instill into them that fighting capacity. We have to develop that winning attitude with players from ten and twelve years old," he said.
And as to his thoughts on Jack Warner's reappointment as President of CONCACAF, Simoes stated "I think it is great for the CONCACAF. When you look a things like before you had only two spots for the World Cup and then with Mr Warner now we have three places, when you look at the delegates from the Caribbean and CONCACAF and their attitudes towards him you see that he ahs had to be very experienced to do this. I ask God to give him the wisdom to continue his work and I also I ask him to look at the social aspect of the football a bit more and help give the underprivileged people more opportunity to become somebody and make a living through football because when you look at the Caribbean you see there is so much potential in that area."
Players selected for National Under 23 training on Tuesday at the Hasely Crawford Stadium from 4pm.
Daurance Williams, Devon Mitchell, Ronald Primus, Kerry Baptiste, Collin Samuel (CL Financial Jabloteh), Peter Ramon Fortune (Arima Fire), Marvin Phillips, Dean Logan, Andre Pacheco (Princes Town SC), Serginho Sandy, Denzel Theobald, Conrad Smith, Michael Bubb (Caledonia AIA), Kendall Davis, Kevon Clement, Lyndon Diaz (Vibe CT 105 W Connection), Kenwyne Jones, Andre Toussaint, Naeem Frederick (Joe Public), Anthony Noreiga (Starworld Strikers), Fabien Lewis, Wendell Joseph (Naparima College), Cory Rivers (Defence Force), Ryan Stewart (Mayaro Spurs).