Greg Ranjitsingh, a 23-year-old Canadian-born goalkeeper, is the lone newcomer named in a 24-member team by T&T Soca Warriors coach Stephen Hart for this country's next two Group C Concacaf Semifinal Round World Cup 2018 qualifiers against Guatemala on September 2 and USA, four days later.
T&T currently sits at the top of the four-team group with ten points, three ahead of USA while Guatemala is next with six points and St Vincent and The Grenadines, bottom of the table without a point.
The Kenwyne Jones-captain Soca Warriors will host Guatemala at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo from 7.06pm and need only a point from that match to cement its spot in the six-team Final Round of Qualifiers to the World Cup in Russia before heading to Florida for a September 6 meeting with USA.
Speaking at a media briefing at the T&T Football Association head office yesterday, Hart pulled one surprise in Ranjitsingh.
He was selected ahead of former captain, Jan-Michael Williams, who has recovered from a shoulder injury but has seen no playing time at his club Central FC.
Ranjitsingh who qualifies to play for T&T through local parentage and has tried out in the past with national youth teams is a former Mercer University shot stopper and has been enjoying an impressive season for Louisville City FC in the United Soccer League in the USA.
He will compete with veteran custodian Marvin Phillip of Morvant Caledonia AIA and Police FC's Adrian Foncette for the starting role.
Also included are Jones of Central FC, Aubrey David, Radanfah Abu Bakr, Sheldon Bateau, Daneil Cyrus, Yohance Marshall, Mekeil Williams, Joevin Jones, Andre Boucaud, Hughtun Hector, Levi Garcia, Kevin Molino, Khaleem Hyland, Neveal Hackshaw and Trevin Caesar.
The Mexican-base pair of Shahdon Winchester and Jomal Williams are also included while Carlyle Mitchell, Kevan George and Cordell Cato, all return as well with former England youth international John Bostock of French Second Division club, Racing Lens .
Bostock, a midfielder was in line to represent T&T in the previous qualifiers versus St Vincent and The Grenadines, but his international paperwork and all-clear from FIFA was not ready, and despite the situation still not be sorted Hart has included him in the team.
With respect to including Bostock ahead of FIFA's decision to process his application to represent T&T, Hart said he was optimistic things would work out.
"The T&TFA president has been very persistent in his approach to get the situation verified and we are almost 100 per cent leading towards the situation being resolved by Monday.
"Some of the problems in the delay were because people at FIFA being on vacation and some other stuff, but all the presentations of documents and dialogue has been ongoing for weeks now."
Asked if it was a risk having Bostock travel to T&T again as he did for the matches against St Vincent and The Grenadines and not play, Hart replied, "We are not looking negatively towards the situation. All indications are that it should be resolved by Monday and if I wait until Monday to call him into the team, it means John will not be in a situation where he will be able to train or be part of the team."
"So I rather take the chance, leaning towards the decision by FIFA being made official ahead of the game.
If it's not then it's not something that's in my control, so if it works out in the negative I have no control over that, and that's kind of the reason I went with 24 players."
Hart also expressed his delight at having hard tackling midfielder Kevan George and Cordell Cato back in the squad as well as the Korea-based Carlyle Mitchel l and Mexico-based duo of Jomal Williams and Shahdon Winchester.
With respect to George, Hart said, "He has been playing every game for his team and has been doing do very consistently and he gives the midfield a different dynamic and option that I don't have at the moment.
Hart said T&T still has a lot to do to advance to the final phase of qualification. "Both Guatemala and USA have a better set up going into the final set of matches in that they will both be playing at home for the final day. But Guatemala knows very well this is a match they have to come and get a result and they have to come and fight for that result and we have to be aware of that ourselves.
"I don't anticipate it's going to be pretty at all as international football is very very difficult to maintain levels of consistency as the last time we played was more or less in March with this squad. So we are now going into a game in September where a number of players have only played a few games as the season has just started, but we also have some players who have played many games.
"So its important that I get the balance right and players find their feet within the squad and get the result in the game. Of course no coach plays for a draw so we are going for three points.
In terms of preparations for the Guatemala match, Hart said when the team goes into live-in camp on Sunday, some players will have private individual sessions ahead of others who have made long travels.
"Those here on Sunday will certainly do something light, but as a full group we will officially begin on Monday and work up to the match with double sessions every single day.