Soca Warriors meet Guadeloupe at the Oval.
By: Shaun Fuentes (TTFF). National Team head coach Francisco Maturana has expressed a fair amount of enthusiasm ahead of Wednesday’s friendly international against Guadeloupe after spending the last two days focusing on putting together the right starting eleven for the clash at the Queen’s Park Oval, Port of Spain at 4pm.
Maturana, ably assisted by Anton Corneal and Cesar Maturana, got down to serious business as his full 19-man squad assembled and by Tuesday evening at the Dwight Yorke Stadium he had a relatively good idea of his squad’s capabilities with Sunderland striker Kenwyne Jones and Southampton striker Stern John showing themselves up with the rest.
The squad includes some young raw talent with Hayden Tinto, Keon Daniel, Khaleem Hyland, Kerry Baptiste and Jason Marcano all gearing towards a spot in the starting eleven and Maturana has expressed a willingness to work closely with the new faces on the squad. Of course the nineteen faces are all new to him but there are those he knew of prior to taking up duty here. Midfielder Marvin Oliver is also hoping to make an impression with defenders Osei Telesford and Joe Public’s Seon Power likely to start in defense.
Wrexham midfielder Silvio Spann, despite a lack of playing time in the Wrexham first team, is in good shape while Swansea City striker Jason Scotland, Densill Theobald, goalie Clayton Ince, Collin Samuel, John and Jones have brought a new dimension to the team.
“I think we have worked well and we will try very hard to continue this and get the right type of game,” Maturana said.
“Every player is working hard and you can see there is that desire to do well. We will try to get everything together to put on a good performance and make the best team possible,” he added.
Theobald, one of the surviving members from the 2006 World Cup squad has been in training for the past week or more. An despite the fact that T&T’s first World Cup qualifier is not until June, there is already the urgency in the preparations and the same is expected to be applied on the playing pitch.
“You can sense that he is willing to work very much to develop the young players and that is a boost for them. His way of coaching includes a lot of ball work and after the full squad came together this weekend he didn’t waste any time… it was right down to getting the team ready for Wednesday’s game. The sessions have been quick and intense and as a player you cannot complain about that because I think it is all about trying to get the team as best ready to play the game,” Theobald told TTFF Media.
Goalkeeper Ince meantime, is coming back into the team after the World Cup, admitting that he has become a stronger individual after being the number three in Germany.
“It was a bit disappointing but it was also a learning period. In life you don’t get everything as you want and there are things you have to work harder for. I work harder when things are not going my way,” Ince told TTFF Media on Tusday.
”Going in as number three in the World Cup it’s hard but you have to respect the manager’s decision and support each other, I think we all played a part.. the three goalkeepers and it worked out well.
“I don’t look at myself as the number one goalkeeper even now and the manager will decide who he wants to play. I am here to give my support and help build the team and football overall. We have a young bunch coming up and we have to work towards getting to the 2010 World Cup. We have some young fresh legs and we can definitely go places. We have to focus solely on the football,” Ince added.
The team, after two sessions at the Dwight Yorke Stadium on Tuesday, will arrive in Trinidad early Wednesday morning and will check in at the Holiday Inn before heading into Port of Spain for the encounter. Prior to the main feature, T&T’s National Under 15 team will play an exhibition match against Guadeloupe’s Under 15s from 1:30pm.
T&T Senior Squad:Marvin Philip (W Connection), Nigel Daniel (Jabloteh), Seon Power (Joe Public), Osei Telesford (Chicago Fire), Akile Edwards (Defence Force), Keon Daniel (United Petrotrin), Kerry Baptiste (Joe Public), Marvin Oliver (Caledonia AIA), Khaleem Hyland (Jabloteh), Jason Marcano (Jabloteh), Hayden Tinto (Caledonia AIA), Trent Noel (Jabloteh), Keston Williams (Defence Force), Stern John (Southampton), Kenwyne Jones (Sunderland), Clayton Ince (Walsall), Silvio Spann (Wrexham), Densill Theobald (Ujpest FC), Collin Samuel (Toronto FC) and Jason Scotland (Swansea City).
Click for video of Soca Warriors in Tobago.
