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Seventeen-year-old St Benedict’s College student Derrel “Zoom Zoom” Garcia is set to make his national senior international debut away to Jamaica next month, after being included in the Soca Warriors 24-man touring party by Men’s National Senior Team head coach Dwight Yorke.
Trinidad and Tobago face Jamaica on 6 February at the Montego Bay Sports Complex from 8.30pm TT time, while they square off again on 9 February at the Anthony Spaulding Sports Complex in Kingston from 9pm TT time.
Garcia, 17, has four TTPFL goals this season so far.
Photo: TTPFL.
Garcia is one of two schoolboys in Yorke’s squad, along with 18-year-old San Juan North Secondary student Lindell Sween.
Sween and Garcia both caught the eye while representing San Juan Jabloteh in the TT Premier Football League (TTPFL). The pair represented Trinidad and Tobago together at under-17 and under-20 level, while Sween managed two friendly senior caps against Guyana last year under ex-head coach Angus Eve.
Yorke declined the opportunity to offer an opinion on the quality of the TTPFL. However, he insisted that the local game still has appreciable talent—with Garcia and Sween being good examples of such.
“Those two players remind me of when I started playing football for the national team,” said Yorke, at a virtual press conference today. “[…] Obviously I started playing [senior football] earlier than (Garcia at 17 years old), but it reminds me that we do have talent. Sweenie [is also] a young talent that I like.
Photo: Daniel Prentice/ Wired868.
“[…] The experience of going to Jamaica and playing in difficult surroundings can only improve them. So, part of the journey [for the current national team] is to integrate these younger players [like Sween and Garcia].”
Yorke showed that he will not put off by age at either end of the spectrum, as he also recalled 40-year-old AC Port of Spain goalkeeper Marvin Phillip.
Phillip has not represented Trinidad and Tobago since the 2023 Concacaf Gold Cup, when he was part of a veteran base—including Kevin Molino and Joevin Jones—that appeared to lose the faith of then coach, Eve.
Molino and Jones are also in Yorke’s squad for Jamaica, which include 16 local-based players.
Photo: Daniel Prentice/ Wired868.
There were also call-ups for the Jamaica-based quartet of Mt Pleasant attacker Nathaniel James and goalkeeper Aaron Enill and defenders Darnell Hospedales and Josiah Trimmingham who all represent Montego Bay United.
In total, Yorke made 12 changes from the squad he carried to Saudi Arabia last month for his first game as national head coach, which finished in a 3-1 defeat.
Trinidad and Tobago players were not afraid to express themselves in Riyadh, despite being without their most illustrious foreign-based players and facing a superior opponent.
(via TTFA Media).
Was that a sign that the Soca Warriors are committed to attacking football under Yorke?
The former Manchester United star and 2006 World Cup captain suggested that it was a matter of balance.
“There are elements of the game in which you have to attack and create opportunities but ultimately you have to be doing [the job] defensively as well,” said Yorke. “So, I think my job is to make sure those two things are in sync… There are going to be spells in the game when Jamaica will have us on the back foot—that’s just how football is.
(via TTFA Media).
“You have to be resilient to make sure that we don’t concede when they are throwing everything at us… We have to be able to resist that and then come through that and then express ourselves going forward again [when the time comes].”
Sween and Garcia should be part of that offensive thrust in the short-term with silky 34-year-old Molino there to help guide them.
(Trinidad and Tobago team)
Goalkeepers: Marvin Phillip (AC Port of Spain), Aaron Enill (Montego Bay Utd—Jamaica), Jabari St Hillaire (Defence Force);
Defence Force defeated Police FC 2-1.
Photo: TTFA Media.
Defenders: Jesse Williams (unattached), Justin Garcia, Isaiah Garcia (both Defence Force), Jamal Jack (Club Sando FC), Darnell Hospedales, Josiah Trimmingham (both Montego Bay Utd—Jamaica);
Midfielders: Kevin Molino, Adriel George, Kaihim Thomas (all Defence Force), Joevin Jones (Police FC), Michel Poon-Angeron (Portland Hearts—USA), Noah Powder (Westchester FC—USA), Steffen Yeates (York United—Canada), Lindell Sween (San Juan Jabloteh);
Attackers: Isaiah Lee, Tyrese Bailey (both La Horquetta Rangers), Jariel Arthur (1976 FC Phoenix), Nathaniel James (Mt Pleasant FA—Jamaica), Derrel Garcia (San Juan Jabloteh), Brent Sam (Defence Force), John-Paul Rochford (Central FC).
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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.
