Glen "Fido" Francis, coach of this country's senior men's hockey team has set his sights on a "top five" finish when the T&T Hockey Board host the FIH Men's World League Round Two Qualifiers from March 25 to April 2.
The tournament will consist of eight teams at the National Hockey Centre, Tacarigua inclusive of Malaysia, Japan, Russia, USA, Barbados, Chile, Switzerland and hosts T&T.
The second round begins in Dhaka, Bangladesh, where Canada, Oman, Egypt, hosts Bangladesh, China, Sri Lanka, Ghana and Fiji compete between March 4-12 while from March 11-19, Ireland entertains France, Poland, Ukraine, Italy, Wales, Scotland and Austria in Ulster. Commenting on the groups, Francis noted that the quality of teams will be very high.
"But based on what we know, Malaysia will be the pick of the bunch as they are currently doing well in the Asian Cup under their highly rated Australian coach and had a 10-1 win over Japan recently.
"We came up against Russia last time out and they proved a much stronger team than us and we expect them to be a force again which will leave us with Japan, USA, Barbados, Chile and Switzerland to battle out for the other places as those teams are more on our level, " added Francis, a former national goalkeeper.
With little under four months to go before the tournament which will qualify two teams to the semifinals, Francis said preparations are going based on what is available.
"The team is a young one and some of the guys are preparing for exams as well as carrying injuries, but overall we are targeting a much better showing that we had two years ago and realistically I feel we can finish among the top five."
Francis said he was also hoping that the team gets exposure to more international warm-up matches.
"We recently hosted Barbados in four-match series, but we honestly need to play tougher opponents to improve our game," ended Francis.
Apart from the top two teams in each tournament advancing to the semifinals, the two highest placed teams in the FIH Hero World Rankings of the teams that finish third will also move on.
The semifinals which take place next June and July, offer teams the chance to qualify for the Hockey World League Finals later in the year, plus the ultimate prize of 2018 Hockey World Cup qualification.
When the inaugural FIH World League competition was held in 2012, T&T under the supervision of Francis topped its round one series on home-soil after victories over Chile (2-1), Barbados (3-1) and Venezuela (9-2) at Tacarigua.
However, in the second round in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, T&T suffered losses against Argentina (9-2), South Africa (10-2) and Chile (0-4) but won against Brazil (6-2) and USA, 4-3 via a penalty stroke led by Francis as well.
And two years ago, T&T again topped its round one series in Kingston, Jamaica with wins overs Jamaica (3-0), Barbados (3-1) and Dominican Republic 2-0 via penalty-stroke shootout after a 2-2 draw under the supervision of stand-in coach Raphael Govia.
But in round two played in Chula Vista, California, T&T went under to Russia (6-1), USA (7-1) and Canada (3-0) in Pool B round-robin player before losing to Ireland (12-2) in the quarterfinal, 2-1 to Italy in the fifth to eighth semifinal, and 5-3 to USA in the seventh place playoff.
Among the players expected to return for T&T are 38-year-old England-based former captain Kwandwane Browne who has represented T&T for 18-plus years and with more than 300 international appearances.
It will be the his first appearance since a torn achilles tendon on his left foot in 2015 prior to the Pan American Games in Canada.
Training squad: Kwandwane Browne (England), Lyndell Byer, Dillon Campbell, Shaquille Daniel, Aidan De Gannes, Ghardel Elcock, Kwasi Emmanuel, Kristien Emmanuel, Kieron Emmanuel, Dylan Francis, Nicholas Grant, Marcus James, Tariq Marcano (England), Teague Marcano, Oliver Meyer-Bothling (England), Stefan Mouttet (Australia), Michael O'Connor II, Jabari Perez, Mickell Pierre, Jordan Reynos, Andrey Rocke, Christopher Scipio, Isaiah Scott, Cheon Steele, Karlos Stephen, Akim Toussaint, Jordan Vieira.