Sports
Stephon Nicholas
Trinidad and Tobago men’s football coach Dwight Yorke said there will be “curry favour” in his squad as he defended his youthful 26-man selection for a pair of final round Concacaf World Cup qualifiers on September 5 and 9.
TT will begin the campaign at home against Curacao on September 5 at the Hasely Crawford Stadium Mucurapo, from 8 pm, in a crucial encounter before going on the road to Kingston to face the Reggae Boys four days later. Yorke’s troops will stay on the road for their next two qualifiers against Bermuda (October 10) and Curacao (October 14), before closing off against Jamaica at home on November 13.
In a media release on September 2, the TT Football Association named the squad, which includes the uncapped duo of 21-year-old Real Salt Lake defender Kobi Henry and 24-year-old Jerrin Jackie, who plays in Portugal. Also making the cut was 21-year-old Lincoln City player Justin Obikwu, who has two caps.
Dutch-based defender Deron Payne, 22, and defender Alvin Jones missed out due to njury.
TT star forward Levi Garcia, now playing in Russia, is an automatic pick while exciting young MLS wingers Dante Sealy and Tyrese Spicer are also included. Former MLS No 2 draft Wayne Frederick II, 21, is in the squad as well as Canada-based Steffen Yeates, 25.
At a media conference on September 2 at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Yorke said excitement is in the air for TT football and he urged his players to embrace the moment and enjoy what is expected to be a sold-out stadium for the first match.
“I’m very confident that my players, come Friday night, we’ll be ready to perform at the highest level,” he said.
Asked where the on-field leadership in the team would come from giving the number of new additions, Yorke said the players will all grow with match experience.
The former Manchester United striker said every squad member earned their selection based on merit.
Saying he needed to choose his words carefully, Yorke said at times in the past, some senior players would be automatic picks in national squads. However, he said while he is at the helm, this would not be the practice.
“I think that there’s been a trend, a trend usually in Trinidad and Tobago football that the older players tend to pick themselves, and that’s not the case here…
“There is no curry favours, there is no pat on the back. You’ve got to earn the right to be in this squad….Whether young or senior player, you can’t take anything for granted. We don’t have the luxury to entertain that in our sport. We’re here for business.”
Yorke said his aim is to win Group B and qualify automatically for the 2026 World Cup.
He believes the first step to achieving that goal is to get three points on September 5.
“The home games are the most important games,” he said when asked whether it was a must-win clash against Curacao.
“We know that in this format, over the history of these kind of group qualifications, you’re going to have to win your home games. Of course, when we play Curacao at home, we want to win…
“That would be our approach, our mindset looking forward to playing against Curacao, which by no means is going to be a walk in the park. You don’t have that luxury of an easy game. Every game is really difficult for us.”
He said he has heard people commenting that TT were placed in the easiest group of the World Cup qualifiers, but he stressed that the task ahead will be tough.
“It’s no point in getting ahead of ourselves. We need to take care of business first.”
Reflecting on his team’s progression since a 5-0 drubbing against USA in June in the Gold Cup, Yorke said his players have showed great character and resilience since.
Among the criticism Yorke levelled against his players after that match was their pedestrian start to the game. Asked if this has been addressed, Yorke said, “Well, it’s a thing that we talk about on a consistent basis, right? It’s not something I fix overnight.
“Traditionally, we always tend to start very slow. I call it a reactive rather than a proactive team. Certainly, at home, we’ve been a lot more proactive under my reign….That tells me that we’re starting much better on the front rather than on the back.
“I think that’s something we’ve wanted to improve over the last ten months and continue to improve. And we will see that in the game on Friday as well.”
On the absence of striker Reon Moore, the top score for TT in the last four years, now plying his trade in Vietnam, Yorke said the door is not closed to players but he was satisfied with his options up front, referencing Isaiah Lee, Nathaniel James and others as capable of getting the job done.
“We don’t take these decisions very lightly. They’ve got to go back and prove me wrong…But for now, I have to be focused on these players. I’ve got to focus on the players that are called up based based on their current performance. Not based on something that happened four years ago. We need to look at current form because we need players to perform – not next week. We need players to perform on Friday.”
TT squad: Marvin Phillip, Darnell Hospedales, Kobi Henry, Rio Cardines, Josiah Trimmingham, Andre Raymond, Steffen Yeates, Daniel Philips, Nathaniel James, Kevin Molino, Levi Garcia, Ryan Telfer, Tyrese Spicer, Wayne Frederick II, Dante Sealy, Justin Garcia, Andre Rampersad, Justin Obikwu, Real Gill, Jabari St Hillaire, Denzil Smith, Noah Powder, Kaile Auvray, Kaihim Thomas, Isaiah Garcia, Jerrin Jackie.
