Final U-20 Squad named for CONCACAF Qualifiers.
TTFA Media.Trinidad and Tobago Men’s Under 20 Head Coach on Thursday announced a final 20-man roster to participate at the upcoming CONCACAF U-20 Men’s Championship at the IMG Academy, Bradenton, Florida from November 1st.
Latapy’s team resumed training on Tuesday at the Manny Ramjohn Stadium in Marabella.
“It’s a situation where we’ve come up with what is the best squad available to us at this time and we’ll head entering the tournament with the intentions of giving the best possible performance. I’ve always treated any football match or competition in that manner as a player and as a coach and it will be no different this time around,” Latapy said.
T&T will feature in Group A and will meet St Vincent and the Grenadines in their first match on November 1st. They then face Puerto Rico (Nov 3rd), United States (Nov 5th), Suriname (Nov 7th) and US Virgin Islands on November 9th. Only the Group winners of the six groups will advance to the next phase of two qualifying from which the top two teams from each group will qualify for the 2019 FIFA Under 20 Men’s World Cup in Poland.
The 2018 CONCACAF Under-20 Championship will be the 6th edition of the CONCACAF Under-20 Championship (27th edition if all eras included), the men’s under-20 international football tournament organized by CONCACAF. It will be hosted at Bradenton, Florida, United States between 1–21 November 2018.
A new format was announced, removing the regional Central American and Caribbean qualifiers and guaranteeing each entrant a minimum of four competitive games.
The competition will determine the four CONCACAF representatives at the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Poland.It will also determine the CONCACAF teams playing at the 2019 Pan American Games men’s football tournament in Lima. United States are the defending CONCACAF champions.
T&T Squad.Goalkeepers:Denzil Smith (W Connection), Jabari Brice (Unattached).
Defenders:Luke Singh (Toronto FC II), Kerdell Sween (Trinity College East),Derron John (Club Sando); Jerrin Jackie (Presentation College), Justin Homer (Kean University—US), Mikel Mieres (Morvant Caledonia Utd), Matthew Beal (Shiva Boys Hindu College),
Midfielders: Jabarry Francis (Club Sando), Judah Garcia (Point Fortin Civic), Shaqkeem Joseph (Moruga Secondary), Ethan Bonaparte (St Augustine Secondary); Che Benny (Leixões—Portugal), Kishon Hackshaw (St Ann’s Rangers), John-Paul Rochford (QRC), Nickel Orr (San Juan Jabloteh), Mark Ramdeen (Naparima College).
Forwards:Jaydon Prowell (North East Stars), Isaiah Lee (Monroe College—US).
Head Coach – Russell Latapy.
National Under 20 Men's Team resume training for Concacaf ChampionshipRELATED NEWSVisa issues for U-20s Francis, Beckles.
By Walter Alibey (Guardian).T&T's Under-20 footballers worked out at the Manny Ramjohn Stadium in Marabella yesterday for a second time this week, in preparation for the CONCACAF World Cup Qualifiers in the USA in two weeks time.
The first session was on Wednesday morning, and the young players are to go through another training session today at the same venue from 9:30 am, under the watchful eyes of national coach Russell Latapy.
The team is expected to leave on Sunday. Team manager Alexandria Procupe said. But after receiving visas for most of the players and staff, she is still attempting to gain interviews for Club Sando's Jabarry Francis, Shiva Boys Hindu College's Matthew Beal and St Anthony's College's midfielder Highley Beckles.
Both Beal and Francis are two late additions to the team, hence the last-ditch efforts to seek visas for them, while Beckles was among the squad considered earlier in the campaign but was cut late by Latapy. Procupe said because an application was submitted earlier for Highley, she has been forced to continue her efforts to secure a visa for him.
Procupe who was expected to submit the final list of 20 players to the Concacaf on Wednesday night, said if the visas are not secured in time for Sunday, the players will either make the trip at a later date or in a worst-case scenario, be replaced.
The team includes Portugal-based Che Benny, defender Luke Singh who now represents Toronto FC in the Canadian top-flight competition, striker Isaiah Lee who recently started school at Rochester College in the United States, midfielder John Paul Rochford, who left local shores last night for trial in the US, and 2017 Secondary Schools Football League (SSFL) stand-out Judah Garcia, who is on trials in Argentina.
Procupe said they are all to join the T&T team in the USA, ahead of the tournament, where TT will contest Group 'A' of the qualifiers, that includes St Vincent and the Grenadines, Puerto Rico, Suriname, US Virgin Islands and defending champions USA.
Procupe told Guardian Media Sports that although the team did not receive proper preparation, she is confident her lads will have a good chance of advancing. "The mood in the camp is very upbeat. I think we have a great bunch of talented players, who, had been prepared better, would have really had a good chance."
The players are scheduled to do their medicals on Saturday. They will open their campaign against St Vincent and the Grenadines on November 1 and will play their last match November 9 against the USVI.
Only the top team will progress from the group.
TEAMDenzil Smith, Jabari Brice, Che Benny, Judah Garcia, Kishon Hackshaw, Justin Homer, Jerrin Jackie, Derron John, Shaqkeem Joseph, Isaiah Lee, Mikel Mieres, Nickel Orr, Jaydon Prowell, Mark Ramdeen, Matthew Beal, John-Paul Rochford, Luke Singh, Kerdell Sween, Jabarry Francis, Ethan Bonaparte.
