Digicel Pro League Champions W Connection will travel to the sister isle of Tobago on Wednesday for a ten-day training camp in preparations for Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Club Championship matches early next month.
A 34-man roster will travel to Tobago led by head coach Stuart Charles Fevrier and coach Earl Jean and return to Trinidad on Friday 27 April.
W Connection and fellow TT Pro League compatriot Caledonia AIA are seeded sides along with Puerto Rico Islanders and Antigua’s Barracudas FC picking up automatic CFU Club Championship second round berths.
The second round will be contested from 1-6 May with two-time defending champion Islanders and Caledonia paired in one of the second-round groups, and Connection and Barracudas in the other, while first round winners will make up the four-team groups.
“We want to put a lot of focus on the Caribbean Club Championship,” said Fevrier. “We definitely want to try and win it. So we want to give the players the best possible preparation.”
Jan-Michael Williams, Aquelius Sylvester, Murilo Da Costa(goalkeepers), Hashim Arcia, Matthew Bartholomew, Akeem Benjamin, Rennie Britto, Jerrel Britto, Kern Cupid, Jelani Grosvenor, Jamal John, Joevin Jones, Elijah Joseph, Clyde Leon, Anthony Parris, Johan Peltier, Andre Quashie, Keon Quow, Kemuel Rivers, Gerard Williams, Kenaz Williams, Jomal Williams, Shahdon Winchester, Felinto Dos Santos, Kegan Ellis, Neil Benjamin Jr., Alvin Jones, Akeem Roach, Matthew Woo Ling, Damani Richards, Andrei Pacheco, Jamal Clarence and Christian Viveros makes up the 34-man camp roster.
“The players are in good spirits but with football the challenge is always ahead of you. We have a lot of young players and we need to refocus them and get the right mental attitude for the challenges ahead,” added the Connection coach in response to his decision for the Tobago camp.
A total of three matches will be played in a space of five days (1-6 May) in the second-round with the winners and runners-up of each group advancing into the CFU club championship finals May 23-27, with three teams qualifying for next season’s CONCACAF Champions League.
Speaking on the tight scheduled of three games on five days, Fevrier said, “I try to look for solutions. I don’t have control over those things.
I won’t take the easy way out and complain. I can’t dwell on three games in five days. As the coach, my focus is on trying to help to players prepare for this. If I complain then that would be passed onto the player. And when the players start complaining, then we won’t get the best out of them.”
Last Friday Connection suffered a 1-0 defeat against St. Ann’s Rangers at the Mannie Ramjohn Stadium in the quarter-final stage of the Lucozade Sport Goal Shield to exit the tournament won by the Fevrier coached side two seasons ago.
However the St. Lucian born coach welcomed the positives gained by the defeat saying, “Had we won (and advanced further into the Lucozade Sport Goal Shield tournament), it would have been a difficult situation for us in terms of preparations for the Caribbean Club Championship.
Having said that, we did play to win the match against Rangers but with everything in mind, we didn’t feel it as much. I thought we played well, but we didn’t have enough passion behind our play.”
Connection is likely to strengthen its squad ahead of the CFU second-round with former midfielders Andrei Pacheco and Christian Viveros.
According to Fevrier who admitted he wants to strengthen his squad, Pacheco who was released by T&TEC FC last month has indicated his desire to rejoin the ‘Savonnetta Boys’ and will make the Tobago trip while the club is working on reintroducing the 21 year old Colombian, Viveros back into the squad. Viveros is expected to join the camp on Thursday.
Travelling Connection Staff
Stuart Charles – Technical Director
Earl Jean – Assistant Coach
Trevor Nottingham – Goalkeeping Coach
Raymond McLean – Team Manager
Anthony Streete – U18 Coach(on Monday)
John Jerry – Equipment Manager
Jo Ellen Cole – Physiotherapist
Christine Riley & Anne Ifill - Cooks