Warriors start regrouping.
Stern keen to work with new prospects.
By: Shaun Fuentes (TTFF).
National team head coach Wim Rijsbergen will begin his work with the National Senior team for Saturday’s friendly against Nicaragua with a morning and evening session at the Larry Gomes Stadium Malabar.
Rijsbergen and other members of the team were carded to begin camp at the Crowne Plaza on Monday night with the overseas pros such as Stern John, Chris Birchall, Kenwyne Jones, Jason Scotland, Atiba Charles, Carlos Edwards and Avery John all reporting. Sunderland’s Dwight Yorke is expected in on Tuesday. Walsall will not release Sam as they reported he has picked up an ankle injury.
“The guys are coming in and it gives us a good chance to regroup again after the World Cup because several of the players were not there for the Japan game. This is all a process not just for these two games, but it’s all part of preparing for future competitions like the Gold Cup and the 2010 World Cup qualifiers. We will train twice at the Larry Gomes on Tuesday and then by midweek the full squad with people like Dwight will be in,” Rijsbergen told TTFF Media on Monday as he also looked on a National Under 20 team training session.
He added: “Again we will use the chance to have the overseas players linking with the local guys because this will no doubt play a positive part in their development. The fact is we will continue to look for players and include those who show promise and then try to aid them with development measures. We will also set up scouting sessions in the United States and Canada later on to have a look at what is available there."
Coventry City duo Stern John meantime will be hoping to appear in both games as the second one versus Panama next Wednesday at the Hasely Crawford Stadium could see him making his 100th senior international appearance for T&T. More importantly though, he’s also excited to see what are the future prospects for the national team.
“It’s always good to be here to play for the national team and me as a player, I always want to be out there and do well in front of the home fans. So this is a good chance to get two games in before the end of the year. But this is not just part of continuing where we left off at the World Cup but also to rebuild as well and it’s good to see some new faces getting the chance. I will be looking forward to working with the new kid who is in the forward line (Andre Toussaint) because he seems to be a decent prospect. Hopefully we can help guys like him and the others for the future,” John told TTFF Media.
And Toussaint, the W Connection standout, is also relishing the opportunity.
“I feel very proud to be selected in a squad with these guys but that’s not enough because now it’s down to working hard and trying to keep my spot,” Toussaint said on Monday. “This is not a chance to waste and I will be looking to see what improvements I can make to stay on the team for as long as possible. Seeing that Stern John and Dwight Yorke and the other World Cup guys are back makes it even better. I’ve worked with Stern before but now it’s different because it’s after the World Cup and it’s different kind of experience. This will be a nice challenge for me,” he added.
