Eighteen-man squad named for back to back friendlies.
By: Shaun Fuentes (TTFF).[/size]
Trinidad and Tobago head coach Francisco Maturana named an 18-man squad on Monday which included captain Aurtis Whitley to face Haiti and El Salvador in back to back warm up internationals before traveling to Havana for this country’s first semi-final round World Cup qualifier against Cuba.
The team, which departs this Friday for Port-Au-Prince, is a fully local-based outfit but includes some well known faces with Whitley making a return after being declared fit following an ankle blow which forced him to miss the recent 2-0 win over the Haitians at the Marvin Lee Stadium.
Also in the squad are Keon Daniel and Clyde Leon who both missed the last encounter due to injury. Experienced midfielder Densill Theobald, Cyd Gray and forward Cornell Glen are all on the list as well.
Following the second friendly international against El Salvador at the RFK Stadium, Washington on August 14, the squad will then be adjusted with the inclusion of the selected overseas pros for the clash with Cuba. That squad will be announced after the affair with El Salvador. The Central Americans are preparing for their World Cup qualifier against Costa Rica on August 20 and are also grouped with Haiti and Suriname.
“I think these two games are in good timing for us because we must see how the team progresses before Cuba. I want to see these players and then of course we will have our players from overseas come in to join us for Cuba. There will not be major changes but same time I think the squad now will be very keen to do well again versus Haiti and El Salvador and it will give us a good idea of our position for our first semi-final round match,” Maturana told TTFF Media.
Glen, coming off a goalscoring performance against the Haitians, said he’s slowly falling back into his own. “I still have some progress to make but I’m also starting to feel like my old self and that’s always a positive sign when you’ve been injured or away for some time. I have had a lot of bad injuries and hopefully that’s something of the past. As of scoring the goal, I felt good about that because I have worked a lot in the past few weeks and it’s paying off now. I just want to keep on playing and maintain my spot on the team. I always want to make a contribution to the team,” Glen said.
When asked about the foreseen contest for starting roles in the striking department, the former LA Galaxy forward noted: “There’s always been a strong competition for places in the forward line for the national team so it’s nothing new to me. The main thing is to keep focused and work hard and the rest will happen. Once the team is benefiting then that’s the important thing. Our main focus is to get winning results. We may not have looked pretty in the first half against Haiti but I prefer to win and get to a World Cup and not look pretty rather than look pretty and stay home.”
The team resumes training at the Larry Gomes Stadium on Tuesday and will continue with sessions until Thursday before departing for Port-Au-Prince on Friday.
These are the 18 players that shall be featured in the Haiti and El Salvador matches
1.Marvin Phillip
2.Cleon John
3.Makan Hislop
4.Densill Theobold
5.Cyd Gray
6.Aurtis Whitley
7.Aklie Edwards
8.Keyeno Thomas
9.Radanfah Abu Bakr
10.Keon Daniel
11.Khaleem Hyland
12.Gyasi Joyce
13.Kerry Baptiste
14.Akeil Guevara
15.Anthony Wolfe
16.Clyde Leon
17.Cornell Glen
18.Andre Toussaint
