A Trinidad and Tobago home-based senior squad will travel to Tobago on Friday to take on the National Olympic Team in a training fixture at the Dwight Yorke Stadium from 5pm.
The team will include the majority of the players from the recent squad that participated in the 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign which ended with a 2-0 victory over Guyana on Tuesday. Former Defence Force striker Devorn Jorsling and Caledonia AIA's Akeem Armstrong has been added to the roster.
The Angus Eve-coached Under 23 team will face Cuba on November 24, hosts St Kitts/Nevis on Nov.26 and Suriname two days later for the right to go on to the CONCACAF Final qualifying round in the United States in March.
Eve will name his final squad for the tournament on Saturday. His current training squad includes Joevin Jones, Mekeil Williams, Shahdon Winchester, Andre Marchan, Jomal Williams, Jerrel Britto and Jayson Joseph (W Connection), Caledonia AIA's Jamal Gay, Trevin Caesar, Aquil Selby, Micah Lewis, Nuru Abdalluh Muhammad and Zane Coker. Seldon Bateau and Leslie Joel Russell of San Juan Jabloteh, St. Ann’s Rangers’ Kareem Moses and Akil Clarke, T&TEC's Marcus Joseph and Aubrey David as well as DirecTV North East Stars’ Jeromie Williams and Kaydion Gabriel, Marcus Chandoor of WASA FC, Santa Rosa FC's Jean-Luc Rochford and US-based striker Cameron Roget.
T&T assistant coach Anton Corneal explained: "The decision was made to give the Under 23s a warm up against the senior team even before these matches against Guyana and while there is the opportunity to involve some younger faces into our senior team set up, we thought it would be the right thing to also gave the Under 23s a game against the current players who have been in training as a team for the qualification. This means also that they would get the best possible test from them before heading to St Kitts."
T&T Senior Team - Marvin Phillip, Jan Michael Williams, Seon Power, Carlyle Mitchell, Osei Telesford, Hayden Tinto, Akeem Adams, Kevin Molino, Stern John, Hughtun Hector, Keon Daniel, Kendall Jagdeosingh, Anthony Wolfe, Andrei Pacheco, Devorn Jorsling and Akeem Armstrong.
Meantime a CONCACAF Release has stated the following: "The 2012 Men's Olympic qualifying tournament will be held in three cities in the United States -- Carson, CA; Nashville, TN; and Kansas City, KS, from March 22 to April 2. The tournament will determine the confederation's two representatives at the 2012 Olympic Games.
The eight-nation tournament consists of two four-team groups with the top two finishers from each group advancing to the semifinals.The semifinal winners will advance to the tournament final and book their tickets to London.
One of the four-team groups will be contested at The Home Depot Center in Carson, while the other group will play in Nashville's LP Field, home to the Tennessee Titans of the National Football League.
The semifinals and final will be played in the Kansas City, Kansas' LIVESTRONG Sporting Park, which opened in June of this year and is home to Major League Soccer's Sporting Kansas City.
The tournament will kick off in Nashville on March 22, followed by two more match days on March 24 and 26.Carson will host matches on March 23, 25 and 27.The semifinals will be played in Kansas City on March 31 with the final taking place on April 2.
The Home Depot Center and LP Field were venues in the 2008's Olympic qualifying tournament.The Home Depot Center and LIVESTRONG Sporting Park were venues for this summer's CONCACAF Gold Cup.
Six teams have qualified for the competition thus far: automatic North American qualifiers the United States, Canada and Mexico; plus El Salvador, Honduras and Panama from Central America.
The final two qualifiers will be decided in the final round of Caribbean qualifying, featuring Trinidad & Tobago, Suriname, Cuba and host St. Kitts & Nevis, played November 24-28 in Basseterre."
The draw for the CONCACAF finals will take place after completion of Caribbean qualifying on a date to be determined.