There’s a little lad running around the field in T&T colours these days by the name of Sean De Silva. The St Mary’s College and La Foucade Coaching School player wore the captain’s armband and scored his first goal in T&T Under 15s’ 19-0 win over Anguilla at the Hasely Crawford Stadium last Sunday.
He is hoping now to help his team into the final of the CFU Under 15 Youth Cup with a win over Guatemala in today’s semi-final fixture at the HC Stadium.
De Silva, a slightly-built boy, has won the admiration of the fans with his intelligent play and vision in the middle of the park for the young “Warriors”.
And he’s hoping to emulate English-born T&T midfielder Chris Birchall, particularly since his memorable goal in T&T’s 1-1 draw with Honduras in the CONCACAF Gold Cup last month. That goal has been likened to something like a David Beckham strike and De Silva too is has been the chosen dead-ball specialist for the T&T side.
“The player I look up to these days is Chris Birchall. I like his style and he seems to be a good thinker when he’s out there and he has a sort of passion for success. I think I could try to emulate him and hopefully go on to do good things for the country and for myself as a player,” De Silva said.
“The experience so far has been a good one for the entire team and we are aiming to achieve some success that will make the fans be proud of us and hopefully we can move on to bigger things as our careers continue.”
Birchall was in fact surprised to hear about a young T&T player already looking up to him. “It’s great stuff to hear my name being called by a young T&T player. It means that I might be doing something good and I’m thankful for that. The rest of the guys are working hard to bring some success to the country on the football pitch and we hope to bring home a result on Wednesday against the Americans. Hopefully the young lads will continue their winning performances as well,” Birchall said.