Former Barcelona Beach Soccer player, Amarelle, hired to lead T&T ‘Beach Boys’

Former Spain and Barcelona beach soccer player Ramiro Amarelle will guide the Trinidad and Tobago Men’s National Beach Soccer team in their Russia 2021 Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup campaign, according to a TTFA release today.

Trinidad and Tobago are among 12 nations who will participate in the 2021 Concacaf Beach Soccer Championship, which runs from 17-23 May at the Complejo Deportivo FedeFutbol Plycem, in Alajuela, Costa Rica. The top two teams advance to the World Cup.

Amarelle, who arrived in the country last week, will take up duties with the national squad later this month and lead the preparation for the tournament. The former Spain Beach Soccer player is also a Fifa instructor and holds a Uefa Pro License coaching badge.

He should be joined ‘in a few days’ by assistant coach and analyst Jaime Paz, while assistant coach/mental coach Maria Gordo is in quarantine at the TTFA Home of Football at present.

The rest of the Trinidad and Tobago technical staff comprises of Ryan Augustine (player/assistant coach), Dr Jason Pilgrim (athletic trainer), Dr Oba Gulston (team manager) and Yuri Chapman (assistant manager/equipment manager).

“It is an honour for me and my assistants to get this opportunity to prepare the national beach soccer team of Trinidad and Tobago for the Concacaf championship,” Amarelle told TTFA Media. “It is an exciting challenge and will require a total team effort. We are looking forward to working with all the players, the other members of the staff and everyone at the federation to make this the best possible preparation of the team.

“Of course the main ambition is to qualify but this will also be a process to improve beach soccer and create a better environment and awareness for beach soccer in the country. We will aim to improve many different aspects of the game here.”

The twelve participants at the upcoming Concacaf competition are: Bahamas, Belize, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands and USA.

The teams will be divided into three groups with the two top finishers advancing to the knockout stage, which begins with the quarterfinal round on 21 May.

The two semifinal winners will earn a spot at the Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup, as well as the Concacaf final on 23 May.

Trinidad and Tobago were Concacaf Beach Soccer quarterfinalists in 2015, 2017 and 2019. At present, Mexico are the defending Concacaf champions.

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