Final squad named for Caribbean Cup Finals

The squad includes four overseas-based players and sixteen home-based players and will be captained by W Connection goalkeeper Jan Michael Williams.

Joint head coaches Hutson Charles and Jamaal Shabazz will conduct a final training session on Tuesday evening before the team heads to St John’s Antigua on Wednesday morning ahead of the opening game of the tournament on Friday against Haiti at the Antigua Recreation Ground.

Commenting on the squad, Charles, who has guided T&T to five victories and one draw in their six previous Cup qualifying matches to date, said he was satisfied that the best possible squad was selected at this time.

“We have had the majority of these players together for much of the campaign so far and I think this is the best possible squad we can have on paper heading into the Finals,” Charles told TTFF Media.

“We sat down and did our assessment and looked at the current readiness of the players in terms of their current form, fitness level and the same applied in relation to these players who we brought into the mix from outside of Trinidad and Tobago. We felt that it would make sense to maintain the majority of the squad that has been together for the previous six games,” he said.

On the team’s preparations ahead of Friday’s opening game, he continued: “We know that the bulk of the work in terms of preparing for Friday would have to be done here in Trinidad because by the time we get to Antigua it’s basically just over a day before we play our first game.

Jamaal has brought all the information to us on the Haiti team because he was in charge of Guyana for their meeting in the previous round so we know what to expect from them and we will do our best to prepare the team as best as possible to meet that challenge.”

The four semi-finalists (top two teams from each group) will qualify for the CONCACAF Gold Cup, which is slated for July 2013. The 2012 champions of the Caribbean Cup will receive a grand prize of US $100,000. The Runners-up will take home US $75,000 with third and second places will take away US $50,000 and US $30,000 respectively.

T&T has won the regional title on eight occasions, more than any other country. Jamaica, the defending champions and only surviving country in the 2014 World Cup qualifying race, have won it five times. Martinique and Haiti have each won the tournament once. Jamaica won the last two editions and three of the last four.

Staff
Hutson Charles – Co-Head Coach Jamaal Shabazz – Co-Head Coach
Derek King – Assistant Coach
Jefferson George – Goalkeeper Coach
William Wallace – Manager
Dave Isaac – Physiotherapist
Terence Babwah – Doctor
Michael Williams – Equipment Manager
Shaun Fuentes – Press Officer