Another tough contest for T&T Under-20s
T&T Express
Trinidad and Tobago's national Under-20 footballers will get the chance to sharpen their preparation for the 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup with a warm-up encounter against South Korea's Under-20 team at the host association's National Training Centre, Seoul from 4 p.m. (3 a.m. T&T time) today.
The junior "Soca Warriors" arrived in Seoul Thursday night following their two-match stint in United Arab Emirates and will be hoping for a better showing on tour since leaving Port of Spain last Friday.
They lost both games to the UAE, with 1-0 and 5-0 scorelines.
Korea are preparing to face off with United States, Cameroon and Germany at the Under-20 World Cup in Egypt in September, while T&T will kick off the tournament against the hosts.
In March, former South Korea senior team captain Hong Myung-Bo was appointed as head coach of the Under-20 team, replacing Cho Dong-Hyun, who had successfully guided the young Taeguk Warriors into the finals.
Myung-Bo was assistant to Dick Advocaat at the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
For today's match, Myung-Bo has included four professional players, including forward Kim Dong-Sub of Japanese A-League club Shimizu S-Pulse, defender Lee Taek-Gi of Korean pro club Pohang Steelers, Kim Young Wook of Korean club Chunnam Dragons, and midfielder Kim Ui-Beom who plays for FC Seoul, also in the professional K-League.
The rest of the squad comprises players attached to universities in South Korea.
South Korea, who defeated Japan 4-0 to book their spot in Egypt, have qualified for the Under-20 World Cup on ten previous occasions, with their best result being a fourth place finish in Mexico in 1983.
They have never gone beyond the group stage since they reached the quarter-finals at Portugal 1991.
"This is an important time for me as I'm set to make a coaching debut. Achieving good results at the finals is not my only goal. I will work hard to transform the young players into the stepping stones for the future of Korean football," Myung-Bo said as he looked ahead to the upcoming Finals.
Trinidad and Tobago captain Leston Paul will be hoping to lead his team to a more complete showing in Seoul, realising they must make good of these training matches.
"We know it's important to do well and hopefully get good results in these matches. I think some of the guys are still very disappointed with the last 5-0 loss and I hope we can forget about it and lift our performance and confidence now," Paul told Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF) media officer Shaun Fuentes after they completed a one-hour session under lights at the Training Centre's first field last night in chilly conditions, with the temperature at 19 degrees Celsius.
Strikers Qian Grosvenor and Daniel Joseph are yet to find their feet, while back-ups Trent Lougheed and Juma Clarence will be eager to impress when given the opportunity.
Glenroy Samuel, along with regulars Sean De Silva, defender Akeem Adams and Paul are expected to return to the starting line-up after being left on the bench from the start by coach Zoran Vranes in the 5-0 loss in Al Ain.
Vranes is looking at the encounter as a chance to iron out some problems in the squad.
"Of course I was disappointed with the last result. Our guys at this point should be physically and mentally ready to give South Korea a good game," said Vranes.
"Of course the home team will be more rested than us. We are here to prepare and we must see every game as an important part of our training schedule.
"If you look at the facilities here where we trained tonight you can see it's one which should be every player's dream to train at. I hope we can make enough use of it over the next week or so and we will see which players take full advantage of it," he added.
