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Fri, Mar

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Trinidad and Tobago head coach Leo Beenhakker spent the weekend in England continuing his scouting of players for National team selection, this time taking a look at former Bolton Wanderers forward Ricky Shakes as he ran out for Swindon Town.


But while making his way around on the job for T&T, the Dutch-born coach also found himself in search of a new opposition for T&T’s warm up international on March 1. Originally, intentions were to play against Wales but that country has now opted to play T&T’s other Group B opponent Paraguay on the same day at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium and the “Soca Warriors” should know in the next few days who else they will now be facing. Meantime, reports out of Jamaica have stated that discussions are be taking place between the English FA and the Jamaican FA over a possible friendly between the two countries. JFF Vice President George Evans confirmed this.

TTFF Special Advisor Jack Warner and Beenhakker have been trying to finalise the list of internationals before the World Cup and while the likes of Scotland, Northern Ireland and Norway were also possible teams to face on March 1, the former Real Madrid boss will now try to finalise who faces the “Soca Warriors” on what is the only FIFA international date for friendlies before the World Cup next June.

Warner is adamant that T&T will not be left behind in the build up to Germany 2006 and so far he has seen Beenhakker making the necessary turns to ensure that.

Swindon deputy chairman Mark Devlin confirmed that Beenhakker was a at the venue on the weekend after he had requested tickets to the match. But Devlin only knew he was present after a friend pointed out that the T&T head coach was in the stands. Shakes did not start in the 0-0 draw with Blackpool but eventually came on in the 61st minute.

“I went downstairs to look at the list of those who had asked for tickets and there he was. Hopefully he was impressed with what he saw of Ricky,” Devlin said.

Beenhakker was one of 5,766 spectators for a match that saw Town reduce ticket prices on a Saturday that traditionally sees poor attendances up and down the country. He is now expected to continue looking at other possible additions to the “Soca Warriors” line up.

“We have our eyes open and of course we also need to keep informed as to what the other teams are doing and what our players are doing. This is the World Cup and of course there’s every reason to enjoy what’s happening but you also have to ensure that you know what you are doing and how you must prepare for it,” Beenhakker told TTFF Media.