Little rest for U-17s.
... first game in Holland on Tuesday.
By: Shaun Fuentes (TTFF).[/size]
Trinidad and Tobago’s National Under 17 footballers, a day after arriving in Arnhem for a live-in training camp before going to Korea, will head straight into game action when they take on the Under 18 team of Dutch First Division club De Graafschap from 7:30pm (1:30pm TT time) on Tuesday.
The 21-player squad along with the team staff and senior team head coach Wim Rijsbergen arrived in Amsterdam shortly around 9am on Monday after a nine-hour flight out of Curacao after departing Piarco before numerous family members and well wishers on Sunday morning among them CONCACAF President Jack Warner, TTFF General Secretary Richard Groden and senior team manager Sam Phillip.
They checked in at the Papendal Hotel and Conference Centre which is a 90-minute drive from Amsterdam just before midday.
Papendal is one of Holland’s main training base for Olympian athletes and football teams having already hosted Barcelona FC among other big names and currently is the home base for Dutch club Vitesse Arnhem. Skipper Leston Paul and teammates also bumped into members of Spanish La Liga side Athletico Bilbao who are here for a training camp.
“It’s just the right type of facility we were hoping for a training camp before going to Korea,” head coach Anton Corneal told TTFF Media. The selection and final arrangements were confirmed by Rijsbergen and assistant coach Jan Van Deinsen, who met the team in Amsterdam as he undergoes rehab at home on an injured back.
“It has all the settings and it’s right type of atmosphere for athletes in training and we intend to maximize our time out here,” Corneal continued.
Of course Corneal is fully aware of the effects a nine-hour flight plus a four-hour stop over in Curacao, can have on players and as such was careful about how he put his players through their paces at a 6pm session to rid the jet lag.
“We will not go right into anything too strenuous but it’s important we get it out of the system and ensure that we adjust to everything out here as quickly as possible. Keep in mind that we are into our final build up and we also have to maximize the time we have left before the first game against Ghana,” Corneal added. “And tomorrow’s game should be a good exercise for us because I think the boys have been prepared for this sort of camp. We will go all out because we must see where we are at this stage and it’s no longer a trying point. We have all our players here all fit and ready and we know the team will give us a good run because it’s a chance for them to play against international opposition and they would surely like a good result against us. We will not back down.,” Corneal added.
The name of the club De Graafschap means the Count's Territory in Dutch although they are nicknamed the 'Super Farmers'.
While not a large club by European club football standards, this club has remained a semi-regular fixture in the Dutch Eredivisie (top league). It is a club with a lot of tradition, however, with players such as the former PSV coach Guus Hiddink.
Rijsbergen is also quite popular around here and was all too happy to meet up with his teammate from the 1974 Dutch World Cup team goalie Jan Jongbloed who is current a goalkeeper coach.
He moved around with pride as he accompanied the T&T U-17s around the compound. His presence and any mention of the name Leo Beenhakker brought smiles and talk of T&T’s showing at Germany 2006 among most at Papendal on Monday.
“Papendal is happy to receive you in an Olympic ambiance. Top sport and recreational sports are totally at home on the roughly 160 hectares. All facilities of Nationaal Sport Centrum Papendal offer business guests, sports enthusiasts and individual guests the possibilities to meet, enjoy sports, spend the night and relax,” a statement from Papendal read.
“Dutch and foreign (top) sporters know Papendal as a multifunctional, internationally oriented centre with a high degree of quality and hospitality. The grounds feature an impressive number of sports and recreational facilities.”
The conference centre is ideal for organising meetings, a trade show or a major event. The halls have a capacity from 6 to 3000 persons. This means that there are unprecedented possibilities for arranging meetings, courses, workshops, presentations and business events.
The young “Soca Warriors” are most likely to savor everything from their stay in this part of the Netherlands before heading further east next week.
