Brian Williams appointed head coach of Men’s U-20 team
TTFA MediaThe Trinidad and Tobago Football Association is today pleased to announce the appointment of Brian Williams as Head Coach of the Trinidad and Tobago Men’s National Under 20 Team.
President of the TTFA, David John-Williams made the disclosure at the TTFA head office in Port of Spain on Wednesday afternoon as he relayed some of the Association’s plans for the upcoming calendar.
It was also announced that former National Team player Kerry Jamerson will serve as the Under 20 Team’s Assistant Coach with the rest of the staff appointments to be announced in due course.
Williams is a past National Senior Team assistant coach and a former National Under 20 Men’s Team head coach. And of course he was a player attached to the famous 1989 Strike Squad.
“It is always an honour when called upon to serve your country and particularly a national football team,” Williams told TTFA Media on Wednesday.
“I know exactly what it means to be the head coach of a national team and it comes with a huge responsibility especially when the expectations of the Trinidad and Tobago public are very high. I am personally looking forward to this challenge and aiming to see what difference I can make in this part of the FA’s program. The main objective is to qualify for the next FIFA Under 20 World Cup in South Korea and our first objective is to come out of the Caribbean phase and into the CONCACAF final round,” Williams added.
The provisional training squad will be announced shortly but Williams commented on the talent at his disposal, saying “It’s an interesting one. We have at least sixteen players already shortlisted who are playing with the senior teams in the local Pro League and of course we have some other talents like Levi Garcia who is also eligible to play for the Under 20 team. I will have a look at the players coming out of the past Under 17 team and we will gather all the information on eligible players from the North American Leagues and other overseas leagues,” Williams added.
The TTFA President also disclosed that the group phase of the Caribbean Football Union qualification will be staged in Trinidad and Tobago in June. Four teams from the Caribbean will advance to the CONCACAF Final stage from which four nations will then qualify for the 2017 FIFA Under 20 World Cup in South Korea.
John-Williams further added that the CFU Final Round of the Under 17 qualifiers will be staged in Trinidad and Tobago in August/September which means the team will have automatic entry
The TTFA President said he was pleased with the appointment of Williams and Jamerson, adding that their appointments were approved by the TTFA Technical Committee chaired by Dexter Skeene.
“We are pleased with the appointments. We know that the Under 20 qualifiers come up in mid-June and we are looking forward with a lot of anticipation.
“The good thing about this administration so far is that the technical committee approved the appointments. They were given certain guidelines and we have the support of the technical committee and I am happy to make the announcement on behalf of the technical committee,” John-Williams stated.
“In terms of the Under 17 team, a program has been running since under the past administration and has continued and we are very happy about that. Regarding the Under 20 team, this team is going to be a very good one in that several of the players are already playing senior football in the TT Pro League and the rest of the players will come from the last Under 17 team so I think we are very comfortable with where we are at in terms of the Under 20 program and we expect a very good showing from them,” John-Williams added.
<![CDATA[<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/_AQqJXrDyHU" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/_AQqJXrDyHU</a>]]>
