T&T prepare for Central American tour
courtesy: Trinidad Express
Saturday, January 27th 2007
The Trinidad and Tobago national football team leave team for Panama City today for the first of two friendly engagements in Central America.
The "Soca Warriors," beaten finalists in Tuesday's Digicel Caribbean Cup final, also play Costa Rica on February 4. The squad resumed training yesterday, with standby players Christian Baptiste and Anthony Noreiga rejoining the group.
Striker Kevon Carter was also recalled, while US college-based players Makan Hislop and Keeron Benito were scheduled to depart for their respective schools and will not make the trip.
Defender Osei Telesford is also recovering from an injury, while Jan Michael Williams, Kerry Baptiste and Nigel Daniel were released to their clubs after Tuesday's game for CFU Club Championship action.
National coach Wim Rijsbergen said he hopes to at least have more training sessions with the current group but sees the importance of having a proper mix with the overseas-based players.
"Every time we have a group together, we try to see what their level is and with these kind of games, we can see if some of the guys can make the next step. Some of them can make the next step, some reach their level and you see whether it's good or not to play at the international level. If we see weaknesses then we try to work on it or we look for other guys," Rijsbergen said.
"We try play against international teams where we can improve these guys. Of course this is the same for every international game and tournament we will face and the next one is the Gold Cup. Hopefully by the Gold Cup we will have the right players in the right positions for the tournament."
On the subject of continuing training, the Dutchman added: "Most of these guys will go back to their clubs. Hopefully we can find a solution where with the local boys we can train maybe once a week. What will happen is they go back to their clubs and they go back to their old rhythm and the rhythm here is not good enough to make the next step."
Read this and ah not sure of the team going.
