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Trinidad and Tobago Men’s National Senior Team head coach Angus Eve will almost certainly have to start his 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign without gifted 23-year-old flanker Tyrese Spicer.
Spicer, who was Major League Soccer club Toronto FC’s first round draft pick last year, was included in Eve’s 39-man pool last week for qualifying matches against Grenada (5 June) and The Bahamas (8 June) in Port of Spain and Basseterre, St Kitts and Nevis respectively.
(Photo John E Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports)
However, Wired868 understands that he is likely to be unavailable, due to concerns by his employers regarding a niggling foot injury.
Toronto head coach John Herdman, who steered Canada at the 2022 Qatar World Cup, allegedly prefers that Spicer use the international break for rehab—although the player continues to feature for the club on MLS match days.
The Trinidad and Tobago Football Association, according to Fifa rules, can force Toronto to release Spicer to his country for an independent assessment, and possibly to play. But it has been decades since the local football body took such an adversarial stance.
In 1994, then TTFA special advisor Jack Warner had Fifa threaten Reading FC with sanctions for not releasing goalkeeper Shaka Hislop to play in an international friendly against the United States.
Hislop, who felt he had a gentleman’s arrangement with late TTFA president Oliver Camps to skip friendlies—since there was no international football match window at the time and he was vital to Reading’s promotion campaign—used his British passport to save himself and his club from a ban.
And the acrimony between the parties resulted in a five-year stand-off before Hislop eventually made his senior international debut in 1999. The former St Mary’s College goalkeeper went on to represent the Soca Warriors at the Germany 2006 World Cup and win a place in Trinidad and Tobago’s sporting Hall of Fame.
Spicer does not have a North American passport. However, it is unlikely to be lost on the young man that Herdman’s faith in him is what led to his first senior international call-up in the first place.
A standout for St Mary’s College and St Augustine Secondary, Spicer has never represented Trinidad and Tobago at any level.
World Cup 2006 standout Russell Latapy invited Spicer to join his National Under-20 squad once. But the young man was preparing for his CXC exams and did not want to disrupt his studies.
In 2020, he trained with a local-based squad under Soca Warriors head coach Terry Fenwick. But, once he departed for Lipscomb University in 2021 to compete in the NCAA Division I, the interest in his services from the national team seemed to dry up.
Toronto’s evaluation of Spicer as the most desirable college athlete in the United States immediately brought fresh attention to the versatile attacker. And Eve said his summons for the Toronto player was actually his second request of this year.
Eve said he tried to select Tyrese Spicer for that friendly although it fell outside the Fifa international match window.
Photo: Daniel Prentice/ Wired868
It appears that Spicer might have to wait a bit longer to wear red, black and white for the first time, though.
Eve’s curious decision to announce a 39-member pool means he is not short of potential replacements, though.
In Trinidad and Tobago’s last competitive match, a 2-0 Copa America playoff loss to Canada, Eve started with one attacker, Levi Garcia, while Reon More and Real Gill came off the bench and Nathaniel James remained in reserve.
Photo: Daniel Prentice/ Wired868
The self-titled pragmatic coach is expected to be more adventurous against Grenada and The Bahamas and might add at least two more attackers to his travelling squad.
The remaining contenders for a spot in Eve’s frontline include the Canada-based duo of Ryan Telfer and Malcolm Shaw, Jamaica-based flanker Kaïlé Auvray, and the TTPFL pair of 22-year-old Point Fortin flanker Ezekiel Kesar and 37-year-old Morvant Caledonia United forward Kevon Woodley.
It is uncertain when Eve will announce his final squad for the upcoming match window, although the coach suggested he might wait until after this weekend’s games.
Photo: Daniel Prentice/ Wired868
“The [Fifa match] window starts on the third and we play [Grenada] on the fifth,” said Eve. “So, players have to travel on the third [and] on the first and the second, we have players still playing matches outside.
“[…] We still have to look and see who will come through those games unscathed.”
At least one member of Eve’s squad, 24-year-old Pacific FC midfielder Steffen Yeates, does not have a Trinidad and Tobago passport at the time of writing.
“We’ve been behind Steffen Yeates since last October [but] there were some administrative issues, if you could call it that,” said Eve. “We think that we are very close, so we wanted to bring him in the training squad—so just in case the documents do come through, he would already be in the squad.
“We’ve been having really good communications with him.”
Eve’s 39-member pool for opening World Cup qualifying assignments is as follows:
Photo: Daniel Prentice/ Wired868
Goalkeepers: Denzil Smith (Club Sando), Aaron Enill (Prison FC), Christopher Biggette (Defence Force), Adrian Foncette (Police FC);
Defenders: Aubrey David (CS Cartagines—Costa Rica), Alvin Jones, Robert Primus (both Police FC), Isaiah Garcia, Justin Garcia (both Defence Force), Josiah Trimmingham (Montego Bay Utd—Jamaica), Shannon Gomez (San Antonio FC—USA), Andre Raymond (unattached), Jesse Williams (Chattanooga FC—USA), Sheldon Bateau (SK Beveren—Belgium), Leland Archer (Charleston Battery—USA), Triston Hodge (Hartford Athletic—USA), Ross Russell (La Horquetta Rangers);
Photo: Daniel Prentice/ Wired868
Midfielders: Duane Muckette, Michel Poon-Angeron (both AC Port of Spain), Kevon Goddard (Defence Force), Andre Rampersad (HFX Wanderers—Canada), Kristian Lee Him (Eskilstuna—Sweden), Matthew Woo Ling (Defence Force), Noah Powder (Northern Colorado Hailstorm—USA), Dantaye Gilbert (Jong PSV—Netherlands), Steffen Yeates (Pacific FC—Canada), Molik Khan (Minnesota Utd II—USA), Daniel Phillips (St Johnstone FC—Scotland), Ajani Fortune (Atlanta United—USA);
Photo: Daniel Prentice/ Wired868
Attackers: Kaile Auvray, Nathaniel James (both Mount Pleasant FC—Jamaica), Real Gill (Northern Colorado Hailstorm—USA), Reon Moore (Pacific FC—Canada), Malcolm Shaw (Cavalry FC—Canada), Levi Garcia (AEK Athens—Greece), Tyrese Spicer (Toronto FC—Canada), Ezekiel Kesar (Point Fortin Civic), Kevon Woodley (Morvant Caledonia Utd), Ryan Telfer (HFX Wanderers—Canada).
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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.
