Pfister conducts first session with 'Warriors'.
By: Shaun Fuentes (TTFF). National Team head coach Otto Pfister today insisted that his job with the Senior Team was not to get the right balance of youth and experience in the squad.
Instead he will set about his selection based on whichever player has the sufficient potential regardless of age as he embarks on his project of qualifying for the 2014 World Cup Finals in Brazil.
Pfister met with some of the home-based players for the first time since his appointment on Monday morning at the Ato Boldon Stadium.
Following a talk with the players and members of his technical staff, the German-born coach then conducted a light 55-minute session with the squad which did not include members of Caledonia AIA due to their traveling to Haiti later this week for a CFU Club Championship encounter. Those players will however attend Wednesday’s session in Couva.
Among the players who trained included goalkeepers Marvin Phillip, Cleon John and Jan Michael Williams as well as midfielder Clyde Leon who captained the team at the 2010 Digicel Caribbean Cup.
T&T Under 20 captain Sheldon Bateau, Micah Lewis, Seon Power, Hayden Tinto, Kern Cupid, Ataullah Guerra, Andrei Pacheco and Keston Williams were among some of the familiar faces present at training.
After a ten-minute warm-up, Pfister observed the players in a half-field scrimmage, also getting involved by stopping the play and communicating with the players on occasions. His strong vocal presence was notable throughout.
“This was my first meeting and official session with the boys. We cannot start too strong because a lot of the boys are not too active right now but we had a good session for exactly 55 minutes. We will increase session by session.
We discussed some things like the rules for their behavior and other things in our meeting,” Pfister said after this first session.
“I have a very good impression (after the session). Everybody moved and everybody is in the field and that is important. Last week I was in Europe and I saw some overseas boys.
But I will not say too much on that right now because we have to make sure about everything. But at the end of the day I hope we can have all the boys.
“It is not about a balance of youth or experience. It’s about performance that counts. It’s not a question of whether the boy is young or if he is old. If the boy is good enough then he will be in the field,” he added.
Pfister said he will plan his sessions over the next few weeks in relation to preparing for the two upcoming FIFA dates in June and August.
VideosView Pfister's post-training commentsView highlights from the session
