National Senior Team Head Coach Coach Leo Beenhakker wasted no time in getting his first up close look of players in this country when he attended Saturday’s Pro League encounter between Vibe CT 105 W Connection and Tobago United at the Ato Boldon Stadium.
A day after their arrival in Trinidad, Beenhakker and his two assistants Theo De Jonk and Whim Rhizerburg were on the scene with the latter two attending the match between National Quarries North East Stars and CL Financial San Juan Jabloteh at the Sangre Grande Recreation Ground.
In the squad called for the first training session at the Hasely Crawford Stadium from 10:30 am on Monday, nine players are from Jabloteh, five from W Connection and one from Tobago United.
And after viewing the clash in Sangre Grande, De Jonk and Rhizerburg added National Under 20 player Kendell Jagedeosingh and Anthony Wolfe to the training squad.
Meantime, experienced home-based pro Angus Eve said he expected that Beenhakker would get a group of players hungry to work under him from Monday.
“We possess a lot of talented players who I think don’t get the type of experience to really show themselves up and now that they are getting a first time opportunity to work under the new coach I am pretty sure that they will be all eager to do well under him,” Eve told TTFF Media on Sunday. “We know that several of the recent players on the team from the overseas leagues are going to be coming back later in the month but as of now, it’s a fresh slate and the coach is going to be making judgments on what he sees and not just on what he’s heard. Hopefully everyone can make that sort of contribution to assist him in making the right decisions in terms of team selection for the next two games against Panama and Mexico,”
“None of us have worked with him before but we all know what’s been happening and we know his reputation. He’s coming with loads of experience and pedigree and hopefully he can transfer that onto our football. We are a country which has players with good technique and skill but we need some organization and hopefully he can bring that to the team now,” Eve said adding that he didn’t think it was a situation where the team will be needing to start from scratch again because of the fact that several of the players which drew 0-0 with Costa Rica in the last qualifier should be able to show themselves up again with Beenhakker at the helm.
The Dutch-born coach has also indicated that he hopes to see the list of overseas-based pros by May 18 in order to have a final team by the closing two weeks leading up the match against Panama at the Hasely Crawford Stadium on Saturday June 4.
Squad for training
Derek Phillips (Shamrock Rovers), Densill Theobold (Caledonia Fire), Keon Daniel (St. Clair Coaching School), Gary Glasgow (Unattached), Hasely Holder (Unattached), Anton Pierre (Defence Force), Dwayne Jack (Tobago United), Jan Michael Williams, Arnold Dwarika, Andre Toussaint, Kendall Davis, Atiba Charles ( W Connection), Keyeno Thomas, Nigel Daniel, Angus Eve, Duarance Williams, Kerry Baptiste, Trent Noel, Aurtis Whitley, Michael Celestine, Nigel Pierre (CL Financial San Juan Jabloteh), Carlon Murray (Unattached), Kevin Graham, Derek King (Joe Public) Radhanfan Abu Bakr (St Mary’s College), Anthony Wolfe, Kendall Jagedeosingh (National Quarries North East Stars)