Eight members of the national Under-20 football team will leave for Miami, Florida, today where they will join coach Derek King, his assistant Hutson Charles and senior team coach Stephen Hart for the five-day training camp ahead of next week's Concacaf Under-20 Championship in Jamaica.This was confirmed by T&T Football Association operations manager William Wallace yesterday before he along with King and Charles boarded their flight to the USA and was to be joined later in the afternoon by Hart.
Wallace said all the players were granted their US Visas with only the team trainer Sharon Joseph being denied. He added: "So with New Years Day (today) being a public holiday, we will not be able to get all the passports back in time so the eight players who have their own will be traveling tomorrow along with the assistant manager Wayne Cunningham, while the remaining 11 players will travel on Friday."The other members of the technical staff will also travel on Friday while goalkeeper Johan Welch is already in the USA, being a member of the Houston Dynamo Juniors team."
The players who will leave today, according to Wallace, are Neveal Hackshaw, Matthew Woo Ling, Ricardo John, Jabari Mitchell, Brendon Creed, Duane Muckette,Leland Archer and Martieon Watson, while captain Shannon Gomes, Levi Garcia, Akeem Garcia, Kevon Goddard, Javon Sample, Maurice Ford, Jesus Perez, Akeem Humphrey, Aikim Andrews, Kishun Seecharan and Kadeem Corbin are due to leave tomorrow.
Looking ahead to the tournament in which T&T, the reigning Caribbean Football Union Under-20 champions will face the host, USA, Panama, Guatemala and Aruba in their round-robin Group A pool, Wallace said he was confident in the team's chances."Just as my coach expressed his confidence in the team doing well the players also have my full backing in their efforts to qualify."Even though we had some problems with the Mexico camp being called off and a delay in the departure of the team coach King has not made any excuses and is still very satisfied in what he was able to achieve in preparing the team."He (King) has done a great job in my view and with the couple of matches we have planned for during the training camp I expect it to be the best way to go into our opening match," ended Wallace.
At the camp, which is fully funded by TSTT the 20-man squad and technical staff will be based at the Shula's Hotel and Resort in Miami Lakes.T&T's first training match will be against the Kendall Soccer Coalition team of the USA Soccer Development Academy at the St Thomas University Ground on Saturday at 3 pm while the young Soca Warriors will meet the Weston Soccer Club at Weston at 7 pm two days later before facing Canada U-20s ahead of their departure for Kingston on January 7.
T&T enter the Concacaf tournament as CFU champions having blanked Haiti 3-0 on a Kadeen Corbin hat-trick at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in early September.Prior to beating the Haitians in the final, T&T which was on a first round CFU qualifying bye defeated Suriname (2-1) and Curacao (4-0) and drew 1-1 with Cuba to top its four-team pool with seven points while the Haitians swept past Dominican Republic (2-1), Aruba (2-1) and St Kitts/Nevis (5-2) for maximum nine points.
Group B comprises Mexico, the two-time defending Concacaf Under-20 champions; Cuba, Canada, El Salvador, Honduras and Haiti.The top team from each group advances to the World Cup, and the second and third place nations from each group advance to the final day knockout phase, with the chance to dispute one of a pair of play-in matches which will determine Concacaf's other two World Cup spots at the Fifa Under-20 World Cup New Zealand 2015.The 20-man squad will be captained by Shannon Gomez and includes several of the regulars from the CFU Under-20 Championship which T&T captured earlier this year.
But there is some additional experience coming into the fray with previous Under-20 team captain Duane Muckette returning to the line-up and former Under-17 members Lelan Archer and Brendon Creed also making the cut along with USA-based forward Ricardo John following an impressive season for Virginia Tech.A former national defender and coach of Joe Public, which he led to five titles in one season King said he was also imprressed with the showings of former Queen's Royal College standout and national Under-20 captain Duane Muckette who suffered a torn MCL while in training with the University of South Florida, and missed the CFU competition, but has since recoverd.
T&T will open against host Jamaica at the National Stadium in Kingston on January 9 followed by matches against Aruba (January 11), Guatemala (January 14) and Panama (January 18) before endinfg round-robin play against USA three days later.The National Stadium in Kingston and the Montego Bay Sports Complex will each play host to Group A matches, while the latter venue hosts all the action in Group B, and the final phase on January 24.
Groups and Fixtures
Groups
Group A: T&T, Panama, Jamaica, Aruba, United States and Guatemala.
Group B: Mexico, Cuba, Canada, El Salvador, Honduras and Haiti.
Fixtures
January 9
(Jamaica National Stadium).
Aruba vs Panama, 3 pm
USA vs Guatemala, 5.30 pm
Jamaica vs T&T, 8 pm
January 10
(Montego Bay)
Mexico vs Cuba, 3 pm
Honduras vs El Salvador,
5.30 pm
Haiti vs Canada, 8 pm
January 11
T&T vs Aruba, 3pm
Panama vs USA, 5.30pm
Jamaica vs Guatemala, 8pm
January 12
Canada vs Mexico, 3 pm
Cuba vs Honduras, 5.30 pm
El Salvador vs Haiti, 8 pm
January 14
Guatemala vs T&T, 3 pm
Aruba vs USA, 5.30 pm
Jamaica vs Panama, 8 pm
January 15
El Salvador vs Canada, 3 pm
Mexico vs Honduras, 5.30 pm
Haiti vs Cuba, 8 pm
January 16
Panama vs T&T, 3 pm
Guatemala vs Aruba, 5.30 pm
Jamaica vs USA, 8 pm
January 17
Cuba vs Canada, 3 pm
El Salvador vs Mexico, 5.30 pm
Haiti vs Honduras, 8 pm
January 21
Panama vs Guatemala, 3 pm
USA vs T&T, 5.30 pm
Jamaica vs Aruba, 8 pm
January 22
Cuba vs El Salvador, 3 pm
Honduras vs Canada, 5.30 pm
Haiti vs Mexico, 8 pm
January 24
Second Play in Seed vs Third
Play in Seed, 2 pm
1st Play in Seed vs Fourth
Play-in Seed, 5 pm
1A vs 1B, 8 pm
T&T Under-20 Squad
Goalkeepers: 1. Johan Welch (Houston Dynamo Juniors/USA), 2. Javon Sample (Central FC).
Defenders: 6. Shannon Gomez (capt) - (W Connection), 3. Martieon Watson (W Connection), 7. Maurice Ford (W Connection), 4. Brendon Creed (Temple University/USA), 8. Leland Archer (College of Charleston/USA), 5.Jesus Perez (North East Stars), 15. Neveal Hackshaw (North East Stars).
Midfielders: 13. Kevon Goddard (Central FC), 17. Akeem Humphrey (Club Sando), 18. Matthew Woo Ling (St Anthony's College), 9. Aikim Andrews (W Connection), 10. Akeem Garcia (W Connection), 12. Jabari Mitchell (W Connection), 16. Duane Muckette (University of South Florida/USA), 11. Levi Garcia (Shiva Boys HC), 14. Kishun Seecharan (Club Sando).
Fowards: 19 .Kadeem Corbin (St Ann's Rangers), 20. Ricardo John (Virginia Tech/USA).
Technical staff
Derek King (coach), Hutson Charles (assistant coach), Michael Maurice (goalkeeper coach), Stephen Hart (technical advisor), Michael Taylor (physiotherapist), Michael Williams (equipment manager), Douglas Archer (manager), Wayne Cunningham (assistant manager), Sharon Joseph (trainer), Terrence Babwah (doctor), Shaun fuentes (media officer/technical video)