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Central FC midfielder and Trinidad and Tobago international Duane Muckette is set to be the third Soca Warriors player at Memphis 901 FC, after the United Soccer League (USL) Championship team announced his capture this morning.
Memphis FC revealed today that they have inked deals with Muckette and former New York Red Bulls II goalkeeper Scott Levene—both 23 years old—pending league and federation approval.
(Copyright Chevaughn Christopher/Wired868)
Muckette should join compatriots Leston Paul and Triston Hodge at the second tier US club. There are two other familiar faces at the fledgling club, as Jamaican midfielder Ewan Grandison played alongside Muckette for the ‘Couva Sharks’ last season while American defender Wes Charpie was his teammate at the University of South Florida.
Memphis sporting director Andrew Bell believes the former QRC student, who can operate as a ‘10’ or deep-lying playmaker, has the technical qualities to be a hit at ‘The Bluff City’.
“Duane is an electric and dynamic young player,” Bell told the club website. “He has great energy, and his ability to stretch the defence will be very important for us. Duane possesses the work ethic that the City of Memphis will certainly recognise and appreciate.”
At present, Memphis have 13 players for their inaugural season, which kicks off at the AutoZone Park on Saturday 9 March against the Tampa Bay Rowdies.
Muckette was a regular member of Soca Warriors head coach Dennis Lawrence’s travelling squad in 2018 although he has just one senior international cap as a substitute. The 28 year old Paul, a tidy, composed holding midfielder, has 17 senior caps while the 24 year old Hodge, a left back, has 16 senior caps.
(Courtesy Chevaughn Christopher/Wired868)
There are nine other Trinidad and Tobago players confirmed with USL teams for the 2019 season, who are: Leland Archer, Ataulla Guerra (Charleston Battery), Shannon Gomez (Sacramento Republic), Jamal Jack (Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC), Andre Fortune (North Carolina FC), Neveal Hackshaw (Indy Eleven), Kevan George (Charlotte Independence), Mekeil Williams, Cordell Cato (both Oklahoma City Energy FC), and Noah Powder (Real Monarchs).
Only Guerra, Hackshaw, Cato and George received international call-ups last year.
Guerra was the only Soca Warriors player among the league’s statistical stand-outs in 2018 as his 15 goals was the USL’s joint ninth highest goal tally. The former Central playmaker was also named on the USL All-Star second team.
Goalkeeper Greg Ranjitsingh, who can represent Canada and Trinidad and Tobago, recorded 11 shut-outs for Louisville City FC, which was the seventh best mark in the USL. Ranjitsingh, who was an unused substitute for Trinidad and Tobago’s last two World Cup qualifiers against Mexico and the United States, has since moved to MLS team, Orlando City.
(Courtesy Charleston Battery)
Editor’s Note: The number of Trinidad and Tobago players in the USL was updated from 10 to 13 after Oklahoma City Energy FC announced the capture of versatile defender Mekeil Williams and winger Cordell Cato and Noah Powder’s move to Real Monarchs was confirmed.
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Congratulations ⚽️ ⚽️
Hopefully Coach Hart will recruit a few for his Halifax team.
Debbie Espinal Coach Hart as well as, other coaches from other teams in the new Canadian professional league..
..What league is that?..
Keith Look Loy Canada is starting their own version of the MLS in April. Lets wish them all success.
Debbie Espinal .That I know. Thanks. I refer to the “Caribbean Professional League”? They have been talkingabout that for eons..
Noticed Hart chose quite a few Trinis for his Halifax team. Sticking with his home boys. Ah love eet.
Any where better than playing in the pro Ttpro League ,I hope the guys keep striving for excellence so that they can elevate to the MLS, Liga MX and maybe even to the Prem.
Sadly our Pro League which is sorely deficient is the only means of exposure for our players so they should be giving it their all so they can be spotted. Every step is a step up.
Debbie Espinal and the Super League
Those Americans feel their smart huh , only taking our players in to the 2 division leagues, Because they know we’re in the goal cup this year , well played
Conrad Smith not sure I get your point. Think an MLS team wouldn’t bring in a T&T player because we are in Gold Cup? Wouldn’t they do the same for Mexican or other players?
Conrad Smith really good yes
Dwight Yorke was one of the best
allyuh feel is joke ??..i reading the Michael Carrick book i got for christmas..reach page 75 and he all ready mention two trinis…those were the days .
Gary Dwight and Shaka?
Lasana Liburd yes..as he played at West ham when Shaka was there..Carrick as youth player now trying to break through..and he mentioned Dwight as a how much of a thrill it was to play at Old Trafford against that UTD team.
The only current Premier League striker I could think of with the technique to rival Dwight Yorke is probably Aguero.
Not even Harry Kane or Firmino.
Lasana Liburd huge…huge…
Lasana Liburd on another note..i also got the Brian Clough book by Johnathan Wilson…
Gary I always remember being well positioned at Old Trafford to see Dwight (who was playing for Blackburn) caress a long ball with Rio Ferdinand literally climbing all over him. It was Zidane-esque.
You could offer Lukaku a million dollars and he couldn’t do it.
Lasana Liburd pure class yes…Big Rom need to watch some tapes…lol…Stern waz amazing with Pressure on his back also..thank god i saw them both…and Mr 10..
Yeah. Stern actually used to be criticized for his first touch and I think he had a good touch too.
Okay he wasn’t as technically gifted as Dwight. But his hold-up play was very useful. His performance against Sweden is a case in point.
If you want a one dimensional player, check Michael Owen. His touch almost as bad as Lukaku’s. Easily the most disappointed I’ve ever been in seeing a big player live was watching Owen.
yup…we have to find a 9 to cement a place…crazy the drought we have now..tnt
and a next one to put pressure on that one…
Gary and Lasana you have to watch the treble season with Man United……all I have to say categorically without Yorke they would not have had those three titles…29 goals and 23 assists in one season …… a striker ….. Ok Latapy…..Lara…..Boldon…..I don’t think we really appreciate some if the things we have achieved and are capable of achieving ……it’s kinda funny
Gary Hector soon.
Timothy Rochford i take it under 20 skipper Roachford is your son ??..im also a huge fan and i wish the kid all the best .
Malik Johnson yes of course…its the 20th anniversary..ive watched lots of that stuff…
and sorry for the hijak of the thread…go Muckette..
Gary Hector Got a few youths now who can be that #9 with the right guidance/coaching
…and discipline
Timothy Rochford got ya…
Lol Go Muckette!!!
Timothy Rochford I really need him on the pushups scene though…. NOT weights…. calisthetics…dips..pushups.. pullups…squats…abs ….after he roll one through yuh leg people will go after him because of his size…. I’m serious lol
Malik Johnson you are Quite right. He is surprisingly much more stronger with the ball at his feet. Presently working on his weaker areas. Thanks.
go…just go…
Congrats…..
Add to the list: Mekeil Williams (Oklahoma City Energy FC) and Nathan Lewis (Lansing Ignite FC – USL League One)
Nigel so league one is like the third division then?
Yes, and there is also a League Two now.
Nigel good grief! ??♂️
The things our players have to put up with now…
Well of course especially if they are not being developed from a very young age eh, so all the bootleg coaches and academies better get to the real professional programs so that we can once more see our players in the EPL and the other real professional leagues abroad and that is in the first divisions eh Them really good yes
Once upon a time our players were all over the MLS, now is SALT.
Once upon a time the MLS wasn’t buying the best South American talent as well. The world is moving along and leaving us
..Our best players are desperate to flee local football and are willing to brave virtually any conditions to get out. They tell me as much..
It’s understandable. Salaries have dropped by about 75 percent… If you can even call them salaries anymore.
Lasana Liburd Agreed. Sigh..
Nigel wasn’t Nathan Lewis on the Memphis team or was it the Indiana team? Has he moved?
Malik he was at Indy Eleven. He didn’t play much apparently and they didn’t keep him.
Now Nathan has dropped down a division.
Lasana Liburd Correct..
Wow the funny part is it’s more difficult to keep these contracts despite being a lower level….aren’t they simply one season contracts renewed at the club’s discretion? I really think done of these guys should look to Canada….a new league looking to get on their feet….the US is not that promise land they think it is
Malik the irony is that being an international player isn’t necessarily a plus in the North American leagues.
Because they play through FIFA international breaks, some teams don’t want international players if they can help it.
That goes for Canada and some of the US leagues.
Lasana Liburd I would say in the US leagues….it’s all about perception tbh…. we’ve been identified as bring lazy…don’t work hard inconsistent so in terms of getting US players who are gonna be fitter… harder workers… more determined….we’re easily overlooked …..yet we have and have always had that X factor that potentially makes us that player that can unlock a defence and it comes from our background of street ball…a dwarika drag…irasto knights….Latas….nixon….wise….. Yorkie…..Skilla….Jones….Stern….Trotman. America can never develop those natural types of players not even Pulisic…..the good coaches know that but the prefator coaches also know how low our football has fallen almost desperate so they know they can get us for cheap with the threat that you don’t perform you’re back to Trinidad so here’s two cents take it or leave it. The benefits of Canada is it’s a new league forming and in order to establish themselves they need something different to help market the league…not a long ball rugby brand but someone who can bring it down…roll it through yuh leg rush in and play a defence splitting pass rather than a constant 50 yd airball over the top ……
Malik I’m sure Stephen Hart and Derek Terron King will be looking for a Trini player or two who can catch the eye.
So I hope their team does well.
Lasana Liburd I have one for them now but he’s not Trini he’s from Eritrea under the radar and unknown….and he’s been an absolute explosion …just trying to get a video together… unfortunately I don’t really know Derek.
Malik Johnson send the video to Derek anyway, I assure you he will give him a fair chance/look.
Timothy Rochford I’ll do it thanks 🙂
Lasana Liburd facts man.. we not good enough. May be good here…. but the days of Dwight Yorke and Latapy and K Jones are over…. coaches are not only looking for talent but professionalism….the coaches always say… we too damn lazy…
Hence the reason why some.our nowadays players doesn’t last very long with any one team in my second sweetest country, they lack the discipline and professionalism . Them really good yes
I don’t think it is laziness Tony. We aren’t developing the players in the same way as we did before.
Our players don’t get the education they did a decade or two ago.
Tony I agree it’s not necessarily laziness …it’s more exposure and attitude….we have natural athleticism but our midfielders are not exposed to games where our midfield is coached to work hard. We laud one way players but don’t focus two way players. It’s a matter of poor coaching and limited exposure….now to make that transition at a late level is traumatic because you’ve never had to before…..coaches don’t enforce it.
Fellahs could be working real hard doing the wrong thing and it won’t take them anywhere, for instance.
I agree with that Lasana …. they working on the wrong things.
Football coaches are looking for players who can give them options… players who can play in more than one position… that’s what it has come too…
Fellas I think we also forgetting one important thing, back in the days we use to play sometimes four games a day which means getting plenty game time and playing amongst the bestest but these nowadays players knows nothing about playing plenty football or even doing the individual training, they more interested being playing video games or running done our sweet women in our sweet country eh Them really good yes
Earl Mango Pierre that’s real talk
Nigel Myers Noah Powder just completed a move from Orange County SC to Real Monarchs, the USL team of MLS Real Salt Lake
Lasana Liburd and Stephen eh go tolerate no shit so they better go fit and ready to perform.
Debbie for sure!
Sean thanks.
Lasana Liburd Not on website yet, signed last Thursday
I’m assuming that with so much local talent in the USL, Dennis Lawrence has already selected at least three weekends that he would be flying there to see games. (Like when a few teams of interest are playing each other and maybe on the Saturday and Sunday and even Friday within reasonable distances).
And that the TTFA has that budgetary request on its desk.
I mean when I was abroad and there was a Dundee derby on the Saturday and Falkirk or Rangers playing on the Sunday, I would book my weekend in Scotland because I knew I would see five or six Trinis in action on one trip.
To me that was common sense. But…
Okay since all the transfers won’t be confirmed yet, Dennis can hold off on finalizing the games he wants to see. But you get my thinking on the matter anyway. ?
I don’t know if Coach Dennis would want to recruit any of our players ,plying their trade in the USL nah because that is like recruiting the players in our Super League, our players really needs to get back playing in the MLS or the real professional leagues abroad in Europe starting with the EPL because our sweet country will always be competing against the real top of the line professional players representing their countries starting with the upcoming Gold Cup 2019 in my second sweetest country eh Them really good yes
Lasana Liburd ..And therein lies my point, it being that the assumption is that a coach whi will be out of contract will AUTOMATICALLY be retained. How is that possible? Where in the world of business does an employee gain a new contract without an assessment? Smfh yes…
Keith not really. It should be someone’s job to plan for such eventualities whether they are retained or not. Dennis should have a pitch ready, even if to show why he SHOULD retain the job.
And the TTFA should be mindful of what is needed for its teams whether there is a coaching change or not. In my opinion.
Last year all USL games could be viewed free live streaming outside the USA, within USA games can be viewed on ESPN Plus for a monthly fee. At a minimum any coach can watch from Home of Football viewing room..lol
Lol. But I’d never recommend a coach draw conclusions from watching on the tele. Your view of what a player is doing is so limited.
I don’t even like putting my name on a match report I do when I’m not live because it is such an inferior viewing point.
But if the finances are not there… What can you do. :-/
Lasana Liburd Agreed for coaches and scouts, live is a must
…We have GPS training vesta but cannot pay the players who use them. Smfh yes .
And reporters Sean Powder! Lol. But money is a factor.
I covered two Gold Cups in the past. Now the Gold Cup format is one group game in one city, another about three or five hours away by plane, then the third one on the other coast… Is Concacaf flipping serious?!
Surely only massive media houses can afford to send a reporter to cover the Gold Cup now and that’s a shame.
Before your group was based in one city and you only had to pay to move if you got into the knockout round.
But administrators don’t care about media so…
Or fans btw! They would be in the same boat.
Lasana ask Shabazz… oops….?? your honour please stricken this comment from the court
Lasana so to be clear you’re assuming that these guys have common sense? This is officially your most disappointing comment for 2019…..repent…repent I say lol
??
Cordell Cato just signed with Oklahoma City Energy FC
Duane Muckette congrats son.
For real it is time our players look outside for there new and better life getting good God’s blessings to him
go and work hard Duane I believe in your ability now you have to prove it
Opening doors guys…awesome. Congrats
I know that sooner than later he wudda finally got a contract to play in meh second sweetest country in the real professional league, Congratulations to the midfield general and continue flying our flag very high…….BOOM