A 26-member T&T men’s Under-20 football team under the supervision of coach Brian Williams will depart for Cali, Colombia today to enter a residential training camp ahead of the Concacaf Final Round of Under-20 Fifa World Cup qualifiers next month in Costa Rica.
The T&T team is expected to play up to five training matches against local Professional clubs in Colombia, and possibly a game against the Colombia national Under-20 team after which Williams will select his final 20-man squad for the Concacaf Finals.
Looking ahead to the training camp, Williams pointed out, “This leg of the preparations in Colombia is about getting the final chemistry in relation to the starting 11 and the final 20. Our main objective over the past few weeks was to get the team physically and mentally in the best shape possible and now we will focus on everything game related with emphasis on how we will want to play against the teams we are scheduled to face.”
Keston Julien and Nicholas Dillon are currently on trial in Europe and will join the team in Costa Rica while Williams remains optimistic about Dutch-based senior team winger Levi Garcia also joining the squad.
“Keston and Nicholas are both on trials and will join the team in Costa Rica and we will still very hopeful of getting Levi to join us in time for the competition. Noah Powder, Morgan Bruce and Jadel Poon-Lewis will join the squad in Colombia,” Williams said.
The 19-year-old Garcia who plies his trade with AZ Alkmaar in the Dutch Eredivisie is being looked at as key to T&T chances in the competition.
However, according to a source close to the local football federation (T&TFA), Williams can expect to be without the speedy and nippy winger who made his senior team under former T&T senior men’s coach Stephen Hart during the Semifinal Round of the current 2018 Concacaf World Cup campaign away to St Vincent and The Grenadines last year (March 25) at Arnos Vale Ground and netted the decisive item in a come-from-behind 3-2 win.
Garcia has featured in only eight matches for AZ Alkmaar this season and has one goal to his credit, and it was hoped that his lack of game time would pave the way for his release.
But with the Concacaf competition not falling within a Fifa stipulated window to release players for national team duty, it is likely Williams will have to do without his key asset.
T&T will face Bermuda in its opening Concacaf qualifier at the Ricardo Saprissa Stadium on February 19th, before taking on hosts Costa Rica at the National Stadium on February 22nd and El Salvador at the same venue on February 25th.
Under the new format, designed to increase the number of meaningful competitive matches, the top two teams from Groups A, B, and C will advance to the Classification Stage, where the Confederation’s four tickets to the World Cup at this level will be determined in round robin play among two groups of three teams each.
The top two teams of each of the two Classification Stage groups will qualify as CONCACAF representatives to the FIFA U-20 World Cup Korea Republic 2017.
