Corneal unaffected
Saturday, January 6 2007
Newsday News
TRINIDAD and Tobago assistant football team coach Anton Corneal
believes the CL Financial San Juan Jabloteh players have lost an
opportunity to represent their country.
And he strongly feels the team selected still has what it takes to
win the Digicel Caribbean Cup to be staged in Trinidad later this month.
"I guess it's a lost opportunity for the San Juan Jabloteh players.
They had an opportunity to represent their national team but lost
out," Corneal told ttproleague.com.
The former national striker however admitted that the Jabloteh
players will be missed.
"Surely we would have liked to have the services of some of the
Jabloteh players, as most of them have some experience at the higher
level," Corneal said.
Corneal conducted training sessions for the Soca Warriors for a week
while coach Wim Rijsbergen was out of the country on holidays.
He believes the team has the players to win the Digicel Caribbean Cup.
"We had 29 other players to choose from and it's a good opportunity
for these youngsters who have been in the camp to step up. I honestly
don't believe with Jabloteh players out, it is going to affect the
team," Corneal said.
"This tournament is going to show us which players have the potential
to go on to bigger and better things. In the camp the players have
shown commitment and dedication to practice and I believe they can
win this tournament," Corneal said..
San Juan Jabloteh pulled 12 of their players from the national
training camp, due to club commitments, as they prepare for the
upcoming Caribbean Club Championships.
Jabloteh face Baltimore Sportif of Haiti in the semi-final leg of the
Caribbean Club Championships on January 26 at the Manny Ramjohn Stadium.
The Jabloteh players who were part of the national training camp were
Duarance Williams, Keyeno Thomas, Ian Gray, Marcelle Francois, Nigel
Daniel, Glenton Wolfe, Kerry Baptiste, Trent Noel, Jason Marcano, Pro
League topscorer for 2006 Anthony Wolfe and World Cup players Cyd
Gray and Aurtis Whitley.