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Canada will travel to Trinidad on Friday for Concacaf Under-20 Championship qualifying action with six players who participated at the 2023 Fifa Under-17 World Cup.
Only one team will advance from Group D, which includes hosts Trinidad and Tobago, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Dominica. And, although TTFA technical director Anton Corneal suggested that the young Soca Warriors have their most talented roster in over a decade, Canada head coach Andrew Olivieri believes his own pool is far from shabby.
(Copyright Miguel Gutierrez/ Straffon Images via TTFA Media)
“There is quite a deep, wider squad with this group,” Olivieri told The Canadian Press.
The 42-year-old Olivieri, once an assistant to former Trinidad and Tobago head coach Stephen Hart at Canada national youth level, has served as Canada Soccer’s Men’s National Youth Excel since 2022—which means he simultaneously operates as head coach to Canada’s Under-15, Under-17 and Under-20 Teams.
The Canada national youth system relies on clubs and academies to do the development work, so that the head coach only calls up players for tactical work in mini-camps and games.
In Trinidad and Tobago, in contrast, the national youth coach gathers players with widely different levels of football education based on the teams they represent. And the Soca Warriors coach needs time to fill in those gaps—and sometimes to do technical work too.
Photo: Daniel Prentice/ Wired868
As an illustration, National Under-20 Team head coach Brian Haynes started screening for his squad last November and still had 32 players in camp over the Carnival weekend.
Olivieri, without holding a single training session, has already picked his 21-man squad for the competition and will do all his preparatory work in just six days.
Captain and central defender Lazar Stefanovic, goalkeeper Nathaniel Abraham, defender Theo Rigopoulos, midfielders Jeevan Badwal and Alessandro Biello, and forward Kevaughn Tavernier all represented Canada at the Peru 2023 Under-17 World Cup.
Of those six players, only Tavernier did not feature when Canada defeated Trinidad and Tobago 3-2 at Concacaf Under-17 level in Guatemala last year.
Canada started their campaign with a 3-2 win over Trinidad and Tobago.
The young Soca Warriors, coached by Shawn Cooper, went down to 10 players after just 19 minutes—after an early red card to Rio Cardines for a handled ball—and trailed 2-0 by roughly the hour mark.
However, a second half goal by substitute Malachi Webb and a late free kick by Lindell Sween gave the North American team a scare.
The Canadians, who employed a 3-1-4-2 system with Bellio as a deep-lying playmaker, enjoyed 77 percent ball possession with 13 shots to three and 649 passes at 88 percent competition rate, compared to 158 passes at 60 percent accuracy by the young Warriors.
(Copyright Miguel Gutierrez/ Straffon Images via TTFA Media)
Trinidad and Tobago look set to beef up their roster with the likes of Salt Lake Community College forward Larry Noel and the Presentation College (San Fernando) pair of midfielder Levi Jones and defender Cody Cooper expected to feature prominently. (Cody is the son of the National Under-17 coach.)
Canada, despite a lack of time together, can boast of players on the books of globally recognised outfits such as forward Oumar Diallo (Inter Milan—Italy), midfielder Jesse Costa (VFL Wolfsburg—Germany) and attacker Tavio Ciccarelli (Sheffield United—England).
Defender James Cameron (Vancouver FC) and Tavernier (Forge FC) have played senior football in the Canadian Premier League (CPL) while forward Kimani Stewart-Baynes was the fourth draft pick for MLS outfit, Colorado Rapids.
Photo: Valleumbra Sport
Olivieri, who also made room for 15-year-old CF Montreal Academy defender Sergei Kozlovskiy, told The Canadian Press that he tried to avoid selecting inactive players, such as boys in the United States collegiate system.
In the Trinidad and Tobago camp, full back Lyshaun Morris (Point Fortin Civic), midfielders Nathan Quashie, Kanye Francis and Jabari Forbes (all Club Sando) and Sween (Morvant Caledonia United) featured regularly in the TTPFL Tier One.
Forward Michael Chaves, midfielder Aidan De Gannes and defender Jaden Williams, all Fatima College students, represented QPCC in the TTPFL Tier Two.
Photo: Daniel Prentice/ Wired868
Olivieri has been undone by Caribbean opposition before. At the 2022 Concacaf Under-20 Championship, Canada lost 1-0 to Cuba while they were eliminated 1-0 by Haiti in the quarterfinal round of the 2023 Concacaf Under-17 Championship.
With only one team progressing from the group, Olivieri said he is wary of Trinidad and Tobago.
“They’re right around the same ranking as us at the under-20 level,” said the Canada coach, a former goalkeeper. “We’re playing at their home, in their country, under their environment—so that’s an additional challenge.”
Photo: TSN
Canada kick off Group D against Dominica from 4pm at the Hasely Crawford Stadium on Friday 23 February, while Trinidad and Tobago tackle “Vincy Heat” from 7pm at the same venue. Admission is $50.
Canada and Trinidad and Tobago clash in the final game of the round robin-style tournament from 7pm on Tuesday 27 February at the Hasely Crawford venue.
(Canada National Under-20 Team)
Goalkeepers: Nathaniel Abraham (Toronto FC II, MLS Next Pro), Ivan Pavela (NK Lokomotiva Zagreb—Croatia), Gregoire Swiderski (Girondins Bordeaux—France);
(Copyright Miguel Gutierrez/ Straffon Images via TTFA Media)
Defenders: James Cameron (Vancouver FC, CPL), Christian Greco-Taylor (unattached), Sergei Kozlovskiy (CF Montreal Academy), Adam Pearlman (Toronto FC II, MLS Next Pro), Theo Rigopoulos (Toronto FC Academy), Ethan Schilte-Brown (Kilmarnock—Scotland), Lazar Stefanovic (Toronto FC II, MLS Next Pro);
Midfielders: Jeevan Badwal (Whitecaps FC2, MLS Next Pro), Alessandro Biello (CF Montreal Academy), Tiago Codinha (Twente Enschede—Netherlands), Jesse Costa (VFL Wolfsburg—Germany); Myles Morgan (unattached), Matteo Schiavoni (CF Montreal Academy);
Forwards: Oumar Diallo (Inter Milan—Italy), Kimani Stewart-Baynes (Colorado Rapids—MLS), Kevaughn Tavernier (Forge FC, CPL), Tavio Ciccarelli (Sheffield United—England), Santiago Lopez (Pumas UNAM—Mexico).
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Lasana Liburd is the managing director and chief editor at Wired868.com and a journalist with over 20 years experience at several Trinidad and Tobago and international publications including Play the Game, World Soccer, UK Guardian and the Trinidad Express.
