With just over a month left before their Concacaf World Cup qualifier against Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago’s Under 17 men’s team will continue their preparations this week with a training match against 2010 TTFF bmobile National Super League double champions T&TEC at the Ato Boldon Stadium from 4pm on Thursday.
Currently, the T&T team, under head coach Shawn Cooper is in training four times per week and is heading into the final leg of their preparations before meeting Jamaica on February 15 and Guatemala on February 17 in Montego Bay in the group phase of the Concacaf Final Round towards the 2011 FIFA Under 17 World Cup in Mexico.
The team was engaged in a training camp in Colombia in November and is also likely to visit Venezuela prior the tournament in Jamaica. Cooper’s preparation programme submitted to the TTFF includes residential camps every weekend and the TTFF is also making efforts to secure two further international matches prior to the tournament.
Cooper explained that there were some adjustments made to the team’s preparation program.
“We had a program set bearing in mind that the tournament would take place in April but that changed and we’ve had to readjust our preparations. Currently we are doing our best to prepare the team with everything being condensed into a shorter period but the players are responding well,” Cooper told TTFF Media.
“This team has loads of talent but it’s important that we give them the best opportunities available with international exposure and we’ve seen this happening and hopefully it can work well in our favour,” he added.
Cooper said he was currently focusing on his team’s defensive ploys.
“Right now we are trying to focus on transition play in relation to our defensive work in terms of what we do when we win possession and the speed at which we will go at our opposition.
A lot more focus is on the defensive aspect of our play because we’ve conceded heavily in this tournament in the past and I think if we can avoid that… then we have enough talent in the attacking third to do what is necessary to win matches.”
The current 30-man squad will be trimmed to 25 players by weekend before a final 20-man squad is named for the tournament.
“I have a fair idea as to what the final squad will be. I will trim it to 25 players by weekend before the final squad is named next month.
We’ve evaluated the players in training including the North American overseas-based players of which some three of those players have been impressive. They will determine their own selection based on what they demonstrate in the sessions to come,” Cooper said.