The T&T Football Federation has made a request to the Caribbean Football Union for a change in date for the opening round of matches in the CFU Club Champions Cup Final Round Series in T&T.
This was confirmed by Soca Warriors team manager David Muhammad who said the change is to facilitate T&T’s international friendly away to Chile on May 5.
The Chileans will be using the match against T&T as part of their preparations for their South Africa World Cup Finals opener against T&T’s Concacaf rivals, Honduras.
But the May 5 date for the friendly also coincides with the start of the four-team CFU Club Championship Finals which serves as a qualifier for the Concacaf Champions League.
The tournament to be played at the Marvin Lee Stadium, Macoya, will see Digicel T&T Pro League clubs, San Juan Jabloteh and bmobile Joe Public competing against Bayamon FC and Puerto Rico Islanders, both of Puerto Rico, on May 5, 7 and 9.
With the unavailability of its European-based players due to club commitments and the match not being on an official Fifa match day, the Soca Warriors squad for the Chile match at the Estadio Tierra de Campeones, Iquique, is expected to comprise a number of Joe Public and Jabloteh players.
This means they will be unavailable for their clubs’ CFU opener, which ironically pits both local teams against each other.
These players include, the Joe Public quartet of Kerry Baptiste, Trent Noel, Hayden Tinto, Radanfah Abu Bakr and goalkeeper Marvin Phillip along with Jabloteh’s Ataullah Guerra, Robert Primus, Sheldon Bateau and Jason Marcano who are all part of the national training squad.
Muhammad said: “We have made the request because we know the players all want to represent their clubs in the CFU tournament which is very important and at the same time have a chance to represent their country.”
Contacted for comment, Neville Ferguson, Acting General Secretary of CFU confirmed the organisation had received a request for a change in date of the matches, but a decision was yet to be made.
Following a break for the start of the Digicel T&T Pro League which kicked off on Friday, national coach Russell Latapy resumed training sessions at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo, yesterday and will have another today from 4 pm. Latapy is expected to name an 18-man squad for Chile on the weekend.
Latapy was re-appointed to the position in March after guiding the team through the latter stages of the failed 2010 South Africa World Cup qualifying campaign last year after the resignation of Colombian Francisco Maturana.
The Chileans, ranked 13th in the world by Fifa, finished second in the South American World Cup qualifying campaign with 33 points, one behind Brazil.
Latas looks at alternate squad for Chile.
By: Nigel Simon (T&T Guardian).
Soca Warriors coach Russell Latapy will more than likely have to take an alternate local squad to Chile, for its international friendly on May 5 at the Estadio Tierra de Campeones, Iquique stadium.
This after team manager David Muhammad said the request made via the T&T Football Federation to the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) for a change in date for the opening round of matches in the CFU Club Champions Cup Final Round Series in T&T, has not found favour with CFU’s officials to date.
The T&T camp had requested the opening round of matches in the CFU tournament on May 5 at the Marvin Lee Stadium, Macoya, involving T&T’s Joe Public and San Juan Jabloteh, and Puerto Rican duo, Islanders and Bayamon be pushed back to allow the players from the two local clubs who may be selected on the national team for the Chile match to play in both encounters.
For the match against the South Americans, Latapy is not expected to have the services of any of his European or North American-based players, as the match does not fall on an official Fifa match day which made it priority for him to have his best local players available.
However, the players currently in the national training team are attached to Joe Public in Kerry Baptiste, Trent Noel, Hayden Tinto, Radanfah Abu Bakr and goalkeeper Marvin Phillip and Jabloteh’s quartet of Ataullah Guerra, Robert Primus, Sheldon Bateau and Jason Marcano all of whom likely to miss the match if CFU blanks the request.
The other scheduled match days for the CFU Club tournament which will qualify the top three teams to the Concacaf Champions League are May 7 and 9. Contacted yesterday for an update, Muhammad said they were yet to get a positive response from CFU Acting General Secretary, Neville Ferguson. In the meantime, coach Latapy was making plans to select two different teams in anticipation of the outcome.
Muhammad said: “He is trying to put together two teams to travel to Chile because we still don’t know if we will get through with the request made.” Latapy was expected to meet with members of his technical staff at the end of yesterday’s training to finalise an 18-man squad which will leave for Chile on Sunday or Monday.
The Chileans will be using the match against T&T as part of their preparations for their South Africa World Cup Finals opener against T&T’s Concacaf rivals, Honduras. The Chileans, ranked 13th in the world by Fifa, finished second in the South American World Cup qualifying campaign with 33 points, one behind Brazil.