TTFF NEWS - T&T prepares for Olympic qualifier vs Cuba next Tuesday

T&T prepares for Olympic qualifier vs Cuba next Tuesday

Issued by Shaun Fuentes, TTFF Media Officer, October 2007

 

Trinidad and Tobago will be looking to the services of overseas-based trio of Kevon Neaves, Aaron Downing and Matthew Bartholomew to take them past the Caribbean final round of Olympic qualifiers which gets going here on Tuesday.

 

T&T will host the three-team group which includes Cuba and Grenada with the winner advancing to next year’s CONCACAF Final round leading to the Beijing Olympics. And coach Michael McComie along with Wim Rijsbergen and Jan Van Deinsen finalized the 20-man squad which will go into action against the Cubans from 5pm on Tuesday at the Marvin Lee Stadium, Macoya.

 

Neaves, who earned a call up from Leo Beenhakker and came on in the second half of T&T’s 2-0 win over Iceland last February, spearheads the list of five overseas-based players in the team which goes into camp from Saturday. Neaves trained and played that game in London alongside the likes of Dwight Yorke, Russell Latapy, Stern John and Carlos Edwards to name a few.

 

The ex-W Connection duo of Bartholomew and Downing have been absorbing the experience of European football since February in Belgium with Royal White Star Woluwe FC,   while Marcelle Francois and English-based goalie Andre Charles are expected to add a bit more to the T&T outfit. Charles is a former National Under 17 and Under 20 goalkeeper and has been attending Southampton Solent University. Francois, a former National Under 20 team and CL Financial San Juan Jabloteh player is attached to the California University of Pennsylvania.

 

The rest of the team includes W Connection striker Shane Calderon, Joe Public’s Kendall Jagdeosingh, Caledonia AIA’s Carlyle Mitchell, Hayden Tinto, Superstar Rangers defender Corneal Thomas as well as United Petrotrin’s Keon Daniel and Simeon Augustus who impressed during the last group phase in Suriname.  CL Financial San Juan Jabloteh’s Elton John also earned a pick but there is no place for Khaleem Hyland nor Atulla Gurra and Lester Peltier.

 

McComie also had to release defender Radanfah Abu Bakr who, if selected, would have missed the Cuba game having been red carded in the last game against Suriname. It means Abu Bakr would also have missed two weeks of School in England. McComie opted for another local defender instead.

 

“The coaches and I looked at our options closely and this is the final squad we came up with and we’re quietly confident they can pull us through this round,” McComie told TTFF Media. “It’s unfortunate though that we couldn’t get the kind of sessions we wanted which meant that we picked some players based on their performances in the FCB Cup games we saw. And this happened simply because after a meeting with the Pro League and the clubs in an attempt to arrange for the release of players for training, the League got back to us too late. So we return to the training ground this Saturday.

 

“We went with the players we felt are in better form right now and of course we also feel that the overseas-based players will bring the kind of leadership and form that we need to get by these teams, particularly Cuba. We think Cuba is the best prepared team in this group and that game will be a difficult one no two ways about it.  We need to prepare well for them and stick to our game plan,” McComie added.  The rest of the team is Larry Bacchus, Devon Drayton (United Petrotrin); Marcus Ambrose (Caledonia AIA); Alkie Edwards (Defence Force); Kevin Mussio (St Anthony’s College); Kareem Gray (W Connection) and Christopher Sam (Police FC).

Olympic Qualifier fixtures
  9/10/2007 T&T vs Cuba 5:00pm Marvin Lee Stadium

11/10/2007 Cuba vs Grenada 5:00pm, Marvin Lee Stadium       

 13/10/2007 T&T vs  Grenada 5:00pm, Marvin Lee Stadium