Corneal could change line up for Colombia clash.
By: Shaun Fuentes (TTFF).[/size]
National Under 17 team head coach Anton Corneal says he could possibly change around his starting eleven for Thursday’s vital Group F encounter against Colombia as FIFA Under 17 World Championship action continues at the Cheonan Sports Complex.
Corneal, after allowing his players some spending time, just under two hours in the morning period with their family members who made the journey over from Trinidad, conducted a 75-minute training session later that day in cool conditions and said he expected his team to make a stiff contest out of the encounter with the South Americans.
With Stefan Campbell’s second half free kick strike opening T&T’s account at the tournament, strike pair Stephen Knox and Daniel Joseph have given all indications that they will be seeking hard to add their names to a FIFA scoresheet and will need to be on top of their game if T&T is to push for a positive result. They looked sharp with their fellow teammates as Corneal, Wim Rijsbergen and Hutson Charles observed as the players worked on their finishing. Ross Russell was also taking nothing for granted with goalie Glenroy Samuel.
Corneal has also done his homework on Colombia.
“We saw Colombia play both in Peru and here at the first game which means we have done our home work. We will pay attention to their big target players up front and of course they overload their midfield but we have prepared for it and hopefully we can shut their short passing game down and also go up and down the sides of the park. We need to pay attention to that and play to our plan at the same time,” Corneal told TTFF Media.
“They have players who run off their big striker and we have to deal with that. We may change our starting team and we have gotten over the Ghana game which was not an easy one to play. Ghana were experienced and quite quick, probably the toughest team in the group. Now we can look ahead to our next two games which starts against Colombia where I feel we can definitely settle and play from early on,” he added. “This game is not beyond us by any means.”
Colombian head coach Eduardo Lara added on the eve of the match, “ They (T&T) are a strong opponent. This World Cup is on a very high level." And their assistant coach Ramiro Virafana told TTFF Media that after drawing 3-3 with Germany on Monday, his team sees the affair as a must-win one and they will not take the Caribbean team lightly.
“This is very important one for us because a loss can put us out. For us we don’t see Trinidad as the easiest team in the group. They have some strong players and the number 10 and number 11 players are very fast. I don’t know what our chances are at the moment,” Virafana said in a somewhat unsure manner. “We want to win yes but we will see how it ends up.
And with Colombia taking note of his danger as a speedy attacker, striker Joseph knows all too well that his game will have to be almost flawless from the 8pm (7am T&T time) kick off.
“I just want us to start well and of course my game and Knoxy’s (Stephen Knox) will have to be good because we need to get goals. Hopefully we can all pull off a good one and get three points. A win will be nice,” Joseph said.
And while Honduras went down to Argentina 4-1, T&T took note of the dancing Haitians as they held the mighty France 1-1 in the “family affair” of the tournament so far. Colombia though, could be well advised not to expect too many friendly motions at match time. And parent Chris De Silva, father of midfielder Sean De Silva, with a squint and a smile said that only family spirits are allowed in the T&T camp at least until the final whistle.
“It’s absolutely thrilling for all of us to be over here and be with the boys for the tournament. To experience this is massive for all of us. This is Trinidad and Tobago representing on the world stage and win, lose or draw we are here to support with the red, white and black. We want to win of course and Colombia needs to know that and experience what we have to offer.”
