National Senior Team head coach Leo Beenhakker has selected ten home-based professionals to be part of a 25-man squad for next week’s live in training camp ahead of the training affair with Peru club champions Alianza Lima.
The squad will begin training on Monday at the Larry Gomes Stadium, Malabar and will close with the match before the squad breaks again before another camp the following week to coincide with the friendly international against El Salvador on May 25. The game against Alianza will be played at 6:30pm on May 18 at the Hasely Crawford Stadium as part of the build up to the June 4 WCQ against Panama at the same venue.
A notable return to the squad is Defence Force defender Anton Pierre who Beenhakker omitted from the previous camp but noted that the door was not closed on the player.
“I said after the first cut that I was not closing the door for anybody, not for Anton Pierre nor anyone else so I don’t really understand all the emotion,” Beenhakker said after the match with National Quarries North East Stars which has two players in the current squad in Anthony and Glenton Wolfe.
Some of the locals in the team include Atiba Charles, Arnold Dwarika and Densill Theobald with veteran midfielder Angus Eve being left out.
Team captain Dwight Yorke was scheduled to arrive here on Friday evening while the rest of selected overseas pros are all carded to partake in the upcoming camp will be here by Monday with only Glasgow Rangers defender Marvin Andrews and Dundee’s Brent Sancho being excused until May 23 due to club commitments.
Also in the team as a player is midfielder David Nakhid who is coming off a training stint with Belgium Premier side Club Brugge KV.
“I have taken the position now that I am prepared to do whatever I can to help the team get to Germany. I have been coach/player at my club but recently I have been back playing the regular 90 minutes and I also went back to Club Brugge where my former coach is in charge now and got in some valuable training time. Coach Beenhakker had indicated his desire to have me in the team as a player and if that’s what takes then I am willing to make the relevant contribution,” Nakhid told TTFF Media on Friday. The former T&T captain was recently positioned as assistant coach/player for the “Warriors”.
“I think it’s a positive sight to have most, if not all the players, available for the upcoming camp and while we still don’t have much time before the Panama game, all the guys are obviously going to have to be focused to give it their best shot this time around.”
Beenhakker added: “It’s a good chance to have the guys from abroad be part of the preparations after we had a good look at the locally-based players over the past couple of weeks. It continues to be a try out period but of course now we have more players involved who have been in the team for some of the past matches and we can now make a better assessment,” Beenhakker told TTFF Media.
Squad for training camp
Clayton Ince (Crewe Alezandra), Daurance Williams (CL Financial San Juan Jabloteh), Jan Michael Williams (Vibe CT 105 W Connection), Anton Pierre (Defence Force), Arnold Dwarika (W Connection), Chris Birchall (Port Vale), David Nakhid (Al Mabarrah), Gary Glasgow, Hector Sam (Wrexham), Cornell Glen (Columbus Crew), Carlos Edwards (Wrexham), Atiba Charles (W Connection), Aurtis Whitley (Jabloteh), Dennis Lawrence (Wrexham), Leslie Fitzpatrick (Real Salt Lake), Avery John (NE Revolution), Marlon Rojas (Real Salt Lake), Glenton Wolfe (National Quarries North East Stars), Anthony Wolfe (NE Stars), Derek Phillips (Shamrock Rovers), Densill Theobald (Caledonia AIA Fire), Kenwyne Jones (Southampton), Brent Rahim (unattached), Stern John (Coventry City) and Dwight Yorke (Sydney FC).