Michel Poon-Angeron is relishing the prospect of a long national team career, having been short-listed in coach Terry Fenwick’s 26-team squad for upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Guyana and Puerto Rico.
Nineteen year-old Poon-Angeron is a former St Mary’s College midfielder who currently plays for the reserve squad of Argentina Premier division Club Atlético Banfield, having initially joined the club’s Under-19s.
Trinidad and Tobago’s senior men’s team open their qualifying campaign for the Qatar 2022 World Cup against Guyana next Thursday at the Estadio Panamericano in the Dominican Republic capital of Santo Domingo, before playing an away qualifier against Puerto Rico three days later at the Estadio Centroamericano in Mayaguez.
“I believe that with some grit and some fight we could go and pull some results off,” Poon-Angeron speculated about the upcoming assignments.
“I am confident in what we have been putting in as an entire group,” he continued, adding, “We’ve been putting in hard work and working on the game plan that coach Terry (Fenwick) has put out for us.”
A former national youth player, Poon-Angeron had his first experience at senior level when a young, experimental Trinidad and Tobago team fell to a humiliating 7-0 defeat to the USA in a friendly international in January.
Poon-Angeron feels that the USA defeat has inspired many of the young players to try and prove themselves, himself being among them. “I see a lot of intent and a lot of points to be proven among the players,” he noted.
Likewise, the teenager is also hoping to prove himself as a future senior national player. “For me this has always been my dream as a little boy so I feel very privileged. It coming into fruition and I just want to seize the opportunity with both hands and make the country proud...make my family proud.”
Watch: Poon Angeron ready for World Cup qualifying task