CFU Youth Cup to play off here next month.
By: Shaun Fuentes.[/size]
Mexico, Guatemala to come as guests.With the 2006 World Cup coming to a close, local football fans will now get a chance to witness the best of Caribbean youth football as the Caribbean Football Union Under 16 Youth Cup takes place in this country with 28 nations competing for supremacy from August 14.
The CFU, under the presidency of Jack Warner, will stage 50 matches over seven venues across T&T with the final being played on August 26 at the Hasely Crawford Stadium with the winner advancing to the CONCACAF Final round of qualification towards to the FIFA Under 17 World Championship 2007 in Korea.
There will also be four guest teams including Mexico, Canada, Guatemala and Panama to bring a different element of action as the countries look ahead to South Africa 2010.
The theme for this year’s tournament is “To catch a star for 2010” and Warner has reiterated the need to spot upcoming talent and have it properly nurtured for future events with obvious emphasis being placed on South Africa.
T&T have been grouped with British Virgin Islands, Dominican Republic and Aruba for the opening phase. The hosts will kick off versus Aruba at the Hasely Crawford Stadium from August 14 at 6pm. Further information on the tournament will be released in due course.
Technical Director Lincoln Phillips and youth development officer Anton Corneal have stuck to the task of scouting local talent and a squad of players have been in training over the past months preparing for the upcoming tournament. This training has been overseen by coach Ken Elie.
“The country and I mean moreso the young talent is on a high right now following our exploits at the World Cup and we need to capture this with everything we have as we look to the development of our players and teams. Every young kid wants to be the next Soca Warrior star because they have witnessed what our team has been able to achieve on the world stage and if we can transform that enthusiasm onto the pitch then we surely we could have benefited in more ways than one,” Phillips told TTFF Media.
Soca Warriors captain Dwight Yorke also spoke of proper development recently, recalling his time as a youth player as well.
“These are obviously important things that we need to look at and it starts with encouraging the young ones,” Yorke told TTFF Media. “We were all once players at that age, coming through the ranks with the younger teams and we have shown that we have what it takes to go on. I hope that they can see what we as a team was able to achieve and now work towards more success. We have the talent and now we need to work on that and I’m sure we will be capable of producing good teams.”
Experienced goalie Shaka Hislop also expressed similar sentiments and he like the rest of Soca Warriors will maintain a keen interest in the ongoing rise of this country’s football.
Commenting on FIFA Under 17 Finals, Warner added “FIFA has every reason to look back with pride on its decision, almost 20 years ago, to give a huge boost to youth football worldwide by introducing this tournament, initially an event for the Under 16s and changed in 1991 to Under 17s”
And now with the staging of the CFU leg, he is hoping the region can reap the benefits of the efforts at that level. “Now we must go to every length to unearth the talent that lives among us. We have seen the Yorkes, Hislops, Latapys and Johns come through the 80s and early 90s and more recently the Kenwyne Jones and the Theobalds. As we look towards 2010 now who says we can’t catch more rising stars,” said Warner, who is also the chairman of the Organizing Committee for the FIFA U-17 World Cup Korea 2007.
Full Standings.
Related News.Tobago to play in CFU Under 16.
Tobago News.[/size]
A Tobago representative team, will, for the first time participate in the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Under-16 tournament next month. The event will be staged in Trinidad and Tobago and is expected to attract representative teams from all the football playing countries in the region.
In preparation for the tournament, the Tobago Football Association has been conducting a series of screening sessions aimed at selecting the best available talent to ensure that Tobago has a quality team to represent the island in the tournament. The third of these screening sessions is scheduled to come off this Sunday 9 July at the Dwight Yorke Stadium, Bacolet from 9 a.m.
Tony Keith, one of Tobago's most respected coaches has the responsibility for conducting the screening sessions and he told the Tobago News that "so far we have been attracting players from all across the island and we have come across some amazingly talented youths who have the strength, size and natural skill which are the basic requirements for transforming them into top-class players".
Keith stressed the need for Tobago's young players to have an on-going development programme and more playing experience against opponents of a higher level, in so doing their development will be more enhanced, he added. Keith said that players for the Under 16 screening must be born before January 1, 1990.
