Former national footballer Brian Haynes has been appointed the new under-20 men’s coach.
His appointment comes following a review of various applications by technical director Anton Corneal over the past few weeks ago a TTFA release stated on Wednesday.
Haynes is expected to serve initially on a six-month basis that started yesterday (November 1), where he will also be at the helm of an under-23 men’s team, which will be used as a feeder programme for the senior national men’s team.
In addition to his duties at the under-20 and u-23 teams, Haynes is also expected to assist the parent T&T Football Association with developing the Talent Identification and Scouting Systems across the various age groups, a release explained yesterday.
As a player, Haynes represented T&T at the senior level between 1987-1997, as well as at the u-20 level between 1980-1982. He played for Dallas Burn in Major League Soccer from 1996-2000, along with a host of other clubs in the US.
As a coach, Haynes was recently attached to the Colorado Rapids II in the MLS NextPro. He also served at Charlotte Independence in the USL Championship and Inter Miami Developmental Academy. He began his professional coaching career as an assistant coach with Dallas Burn in the MLS in 2001-2006.
In a reaction to his appointment, Haynes said: “It’s an understatement to say I’m delighted with the appointment. What I’m looking for is the next Trinibagonian who wants to make an impact, not just in his local community, but for the country itself. It’s always been my passion to work with players between the ages of 18 and 24, It’s where I feel comfortable, and when the opportunity came, it didn’t matter when it was going to be.”
He said also, “Once it was offered to me, the answer was yes. I’m thankful for the opportunity and I can’t wait to come home to get to work with these players.”
According to Haynes, “First and foremost I will get familiar with the players, get to know them, and get all the information on these players. I will be looking at all the videos. I am a possession-oriented type of coach. I am also the kind of coach who likes to press and, I am also the kind of coach who wants to make sure that we entertain first.
“Yes, we want to win, but we want the Trinbagonian people to come to support us because we play a brand of football that is something they want to see. We are going to work harder than any other team.
“We are going to do our best to qualify and take this team as far as we can take it. I want to make sure we can put our name back on the map in CONCACAF. Mediocrity is not something I am willing to stand for.”
Meanwhile, Corneal, responding to the appointment of Haynes told the media, “I think Brian will be a good addition to our set-up, not just as the men’s u-20 head coach, but also helping to prepare some of the younger players to be introduced into the senior team in the near future. He is coming here in a two-fold role. He will also give us the opportunity to access players, especially those coming out of the US with him being based there for such a long time where he has established a lot of connections.”
According to Corneal, “His appointment is based on a couple of different roles that he will play, especially knowing that the under-20 tournament will be hosted in T&T in February 2024. Given the time, we have a couple of persons who will work with him, which we will finalise soon to begin the screening of players that will be of age for that team.
“The TTFA High-Performance Programme staff has been scouting and monitoring the progress of the players, in particular in the SSFL. We are proud that many of the top-performing players in the SSFL are already part of our High-Performance Programme or National U17 Programme but that is not to say that we haven’t also been encouraged by a few other players who have stood out that we would now like to invite into the Programmes.
“The age group for the Tournament is players born from 2005 to 2009 so we do understand that many of Coach Shawn Cooper’s Under 17 team from earlier this year may be a part of this Under 20 team, but of course, we will scout, screen and bring in some other talent as well with Brian.”
Trinidad and Tobago will host Group D of the 2024 CONCACAF Men’s U20 Qualifiers. T&T has been drawn in Group D with Canada, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Dominica with the group matches to be played at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Port-of-Spain.
Teams will battle in round-robin play between 23 February to 2 March 2024.
The winner of the group will advance to the 2024 CONCACAF Men’s U20 Championships.
A total of 27 men’s U20 teams have been divided into three groups of five and three groups of four. The winners of the six groups will advance to the 2024 CONCACAF Men’s U20 Championships joining the six seeded nations, the USA, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Costa Rica, and the Dominican Republic.