Digicel T&T Pro League champions, W Connection travelled to Tobago yesterday for a 10-day training camp in preparations for next month's Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Club Championship. This follows their shock exit from the Lucozade Sports Goal Shield tournament via a 1-0 loss to St Ann's Rangers on Friday. The 34-man squad is being led by coach Stuart Charles-Fevrier and assistant Earl Jean and will return to Trinidad on April 27. W Connection and fellow TT Pro League compatriot Caledonia AIA are seeded with Puerto Rico Islanders and Antigua's Barracudas FC picking up automatic CFU Club Championship second round berths.
The second round will be contested from May 1-6 with two-time defending champion Islanders and Caledonia paired in one of the second-round groups, and Connection and Barracudas in the other, while first round winners will make up the four-team groups. Following his team's defeat against Rangers, Charles-Fevrier said his players will now focus on the Championship. "We definitely want to win. So we want to give the players the best possible preparation." Charles-Fevrier noted that the players were in good spirits. "With football the challenge is always ahead of you. We have a lot of young players and we need to refocus them and get the right mental attitude," he added. A total of three matches will be played in a space of five days (1-6 May) in the second-round with the winners and runners-up of each group advancing into the CFU club championship finals May 23-27, with three teams qualifying for next season's Concacaf Champions League.
Speaking on the tight scheduled, Charles-Fevrier said, "I try to look for solutions. I don't have control over those things. I won't take the easy way out and complain. As the coach, my focus is on trying to help players prepare for this. If I complain, it would be passed on to the player. And when the players start complaining, we won't get the best out of them." The St Lucian-born former T&T national coach said he welcomed the positives gained by the defeat to Rangers.
"Had we won, it would have been a difficult situation for us in terms of preparations for the CFU Club Championship. Having said that, we did play to win the match against Rangers but with everything in mind, we didn't feel it as much. I thought we played well, but we didn't have enough passion." For the CFU tournament W Connection is likely to strengthen its squad with former midfielders Andrei Pacheco and Christian Viveros.
According to "Savonetta Boys" coach, Pacheco who was released by T&TEC FC last month has indicated his desire to rejoin the club and has been included in the trip for Tobago while the club is working on re-introducing the 21 year old Colombian, Viveros back into the squad. Viveros is expected to join the camp today.
W Connection squad for Tobago camp
Jan-Michael Williams, Aquelius Sylvester, Murilo Da Costa (goalkeepers), Hashim Arcia, Matthew Bartholomew, Akeem Benjamin, Rennie Britto, Jerrel Britto, Kern Cupid, Jelani Grosvenor, Jamal John, Joevin Jones, Elijah Joseph, Clyde Leon, Anthony Parris, Johan Peltier, Andre Quashie, Keon Quow, Kemuel Rivers, Gerard Williams, Kenaz Williams, Jomal Williams, Shahdon Winchester, Felinto Dos Santos, Kegan Ellis, Neil Benjamin Jr., Alvin Jones, Akeem Roach, Matthew Woo Ling, Damani Richards, Andrei Pacheco, Jamal Clarence, Christian Viveros.
Technical staff: Stuart Charles-Fevrier (technical director/coach), Earl Jean (assistant coach), Trevor Nottingham (goalkeeping coach), Raymond McLean (manager), Anthony Streete (Under-18 coach), John Jerry (equipment manager), Jo Ellen Cole (physiotherapist), Christine Riley (chef), Anne Ifill (chef).