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The extracurricular activities of 16-year-old Shiva Boys Hindu College Form Five student Levi Garcia has become a national talking point in recent days.
Trinidad and Tobago national head team coach Stephen Hart, national under-20 coach Derek King, Central FC managing director and World Cup 2006 defender Brent Sancho and Shiva Boys head coach, former “Strike Squad” stand-out Dexter Francis and a few local and foreign agents each have an opinion with regards to the talented winger’s next move.
(Courtesy Allan V Crane/Wired868)
Once more, it was Shiva Boys and not Central that secured his services this weekend; and the result was another three points for the Penal-based school as Francis’ troops edged Presentation College (San Fernando) 1-0 to climb one spot to sixth place in the SSFL Premier Division competition.
Of course, the big news yesterday was at the St Anthony’s College ground where Naparima College tamed the “Westmoorings Tigers” with a stunning 5-1 rout. It was St Anthony’s first loss of the season although captain Mawasi Charles’ team remains two points clear of second placed Naparima.
St Anthony’s has a game in hand against San Juan North too although the Tigers shouldn’t start counting their chickens yet. The San Juan schoolboys again displayed their ability to surprise yesterday with a 2-0 win over St Mary’s College at Serpentine Road in St Clair.
Elsewhere, East Mucurapo Secondary finally registered its first win of the season with a 1-0 triumph over Carapichaima East Secondary while Chaguanas North similarly edged Arima North 1-0. And there were a pair of draws too as Fatima College and St Augustine played to a 1-1 tie while Trinity College East and St Benedict’s finished goalless in Trincity.
Whereas southern travellers Naparima and St Benedict’s might have felt varying degrees of satisfaction from their journeys up the Uriah Butler Highway, it was obvious that either Presentation or Shiva Boys would end the day in a sour mood.
And Shiva Boys had Garcia.
(Courtesy Allan V Crane/Wired868)
Not for the first time, the speedy attacker seemed to settle the match despite barely showing up. Like an employee who spends most of the day on Facebook and then solves all the office’s problems at 3.45 pm, Garcia seemed to operate on the periphery of the game for much of the afternoon but still set up Shiva captain Marvin Seuradge for the winner in the 30th minute.
Seuradge finished clinically with a low strike that went in off Presentation goalkeeper Ishmael Salaam’s right hand post.
Just as decisively, perhaps, was the dismissal of Presentation defender Ayandike Francis who received a red card from referee Dave Daniel in the 24th minute after he hauled back a goalward-bound Garcia.
Presentation, despite decent build-up play on a treacherous, uneven surface, never looked likely to score thereafter and striker Levon Bass was an isolated figure upfront.
This was the sort of game where supporters are forced to applaud perseverance and pace. What else is possible on a surface as dodgy as Life Sport’s un-tendered contracts?
But then why did 15-year-old Shiva midfielder Tyrel “Pappy” Emmanuel look so comfortable on the most uneven section of the field of all?
(Courtesy Allan V Crane/Wired868)
Garcia was the one who raised the pulses; an all-action commando in lime green boots who decides matches almost single-handedly with his pace and power. Emmanul was harder to spot, partly because he rarely kept possession for more than a second.
But it was Pappy, with his two-touch game, who dictated Shiva’s angles and lines of attacks. He spotted his passes early, knew instinctively when to release his wingers or when to coax his full backs forward; and rarely left his station in front the Shiva central defenders.
At the opposite end was 16-year-old Presentation playmaker Kareem Riley who is the captain of the national under-17 team and recently returned from a tour of Italy with W Connection.
Riley’s style was more modern. Pass and move; demand the ball again. Repeat.
Pappy walked upright and never sprinted more than five yards to beat his marker for the ball. Yet, he mastered central midfield.
Twice, Presentation midfielders got too close. He fitted the first with a sombrero and, later, flicked the ball nonchalantly around Riley before completing his play on each occasion.
They let Pappy get on with his business without too much harassment after that.
(Courtesy Allan V Crane/Wired868)
Salaam made some key saves for Seuradge and Garcia as Shiva settled for three points via a solitary goal. Garcia was instrumental once more; Seuradge was decisive.
And Pappy? After the final whistle, he was invited to try out for the Trinidad and Tobago national under-17 team by head coach Shawn Cooper, who is also a Presentation coach.
If Emmanuel’s elegant, languid style can adapt to the more brisk, muscular approach of the modern game, Shiva might be about to give the national youth team a new star-in-the-rough.
(Teams)
Shiva Boys HC (4-4-2): 24.Denzil Smith (GK); 7.Simeon De Bourgh, 5.Kadeem Ashford, 17.Kyle Sylvester, 16.Jerry Ramdeo; 14.Isaiah Garcia, 6.Tyrel Emmanuel, 20.Marvin Seuradge (captain), 11.Stefon Bain (80.Ronaldo Edwards 87); 10.Levi Garcia, 4.Rodney Quinn.
Unused substitutes: 1.Adrian McLaren (GK), 13.Judah Garcia, 19.Tyrell Baptiste, 21.Lyndon Bonnett, 22.Nicholson Gordon, 90.Deon Guevara.
Coach: Dexter Francis
Presentation College (San F’do) (4-4-1-1): 1.Ishmael Salaam (GK); 16.Shirwin Noel, 5.Ayandike Francis [Red Card], 3.Kori Cupid, 12.Darnell Hospedales; 7.Quintel John (19.Reinaldo Atwell), 11.Kareem Riley, 10.Kyle Moodie, 13.Jarod Gordon (14.Akiel Bridgeman); 18.Nate Brooks; 9.Levon Bass.
Unused substitutes: 31.Tyrek James (GK), 2.Akili Charles, 6.Anfernee Holder, 8.Terrell Williams, 17.Bradley Lee Foon.
Coach: Dunstan Williams
SSFL Premier Division results
(Sat Sep 27)
St Anthony’s 1 (Matthew Woo Ling 80), Naparima College 5 (Stephon Smith 40, Martieon Watson 69, Nicholas Dillon 72, Jabari Mitchell 41, 84) at St Anthony’s;
Fatima College 1, St Augustine Secondary 1 at Fatima;
Presentation College (S/F’do) 0, Shiva Boys HC 1 (Marvin Seuradge 30) at Lewis Street, San Fernando;
Chaguanas North 1 (Malik Campbell 9), Arima North 0 at Chaguanas;
East Mucurapo 1, Carapichaima East 0 at Trinity College grounds;
Trinity College East 0, St Benedict’s College 0 at Trincity;
St Mary’s College 0, San Juan North 2 (Jermell Britto, Brent Sam) at St Mary’s
Upcoming fixtures
(Wed Oct 1)
St Mary’s College v St Anthony’s College, 3.45 pm, St Mary’s;
Naparima College v Fatima College, 3.45 pm, Lewis St, San F’do;
San Juan North v Presentation (San F’do), 3.45 pm, San Juan;
St Augustine v Chaguanas North, 3.45 pm, St Augustine;
Shiva Boys HC v East Mucurapo, 3.45 pm, Guaracara Park;
Arima North v Trinity College East, 3.45 pm, Arima;
Carapichaima East v St Benedict’s, 3.45 pm, Carapichaima.
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say what..im just a rock n roll singer and guitar player…BUT i am from Trinidad and Tobago..and THAT I will defend…always.
anyone by any chance went to Corbin’s home and had a chat with the young man back then ??..its a child after all… maybe he had some problems ??..maybe ??…would like to know how that chat went …
oh…well excuse me then…i guess its my bad…thank god we stuck it out with dwight Yorke and Russell latapy when they missed numerous sessions…
Gary Hector, a member of the national under-17 team’s technical staff explained that Kadeem Corbin missed out too many sessions to have been considered for the team, two years ago, and might have buckled down more since then.
Also I was told that Pappy was on the radar for some time. So, this is his chance now.
Thanks a lot Lasana Liburd and Sean Lewis let’s take it one step at a time .
move on them pappy
Yes Sherdon Ifm Pierre.
Sean lewis u insane
Levi Garcia from u20 team??
Lol. Good luck Sean Lewis. I think Trinity is doing a real good job… Keep going Adrian Romain
Go Trinity East. Onward to our first Championship.
It worked brilliantly for us. All our great past players played in the North v South classics and so on. The question is: why was it disbanded?
It disappeared during Oliver Camps’ presidency.
Those clashes were always games to remember and fixtures should be revisit .
Kevin if that form of scouting works for most countries, why then as Lasana said it didn’t work for us maybe the question.
That was already done Kevin Harrison. That was the way things ran for years here. And, for whatever reason, the zonal teams died sometime in the 90s.
Brian, it’s simple enough, you know. Each school should submit their best U14, 15, 16 & 17’s to a zonal camp. The best from each zone progresses to a national camp. This is the logical way to approach scouting and is the format used in most countries. The problem here is that many school coaches don’t care about the national teams. They want their schools to win intercol and that’s all. Schools should be actively approaching Pro League clubs to introduce young talent. Done the correct way, the school will receive financial benefits if the player is sold later. And kids would want to attend a school that feeds, say., W.Connection, as they know they have a chance of playing outside. In my view, our young players are less than 75% developed when they reach the ProLeague and usually don’t reach their true potential.
I think the TTFA can do that itself easily. First, it can start with recognising those former players: http://wired868.com/2013/06/30/our-heroes-wired868-asks-ttfa-to-recognise-its-shortlist-of-tt-stars/
btw well done Travis and team 🙂
yeah i was waiting last night to see what game was going to get headlined too lol
Why haven’t the Ministry Of Sports initiate a scouting panel of possibly past players and coaches people who are knowledgeable in the sport? We need this as it’s done everywhere.
Lol. Travis Mulraine, I have to write about the match I covered. Naps got the headline on Wednesday when I watched you all play St Augustine.
Did you run the bench yesterday? I’m guessing Angus would have been with Stars right?
Apparently the last member of the Garcia clan, Judah Garcia, is future trouble. He is 13 and was on the bench. But he didn’t come on yesterday.
Gary Hector, you know us to have any systematic scouting at any level? For some reason, player identification is not taken as seriously as it should. But keep in mind that at some point money creeps into the equation because you have to have training sessions, camps etc. in order to properly evaluate potential candidates. Nevertheless, we can and should be doing better in this area.
I will ask his age. Maybe he has the age to play with the U-20s. Although that is a harder team to break into I think he still has a shot.
yea Seuradge actually look like 30…hahha…
Apparently Pappy from Santa Flora or somewhere and he isn’t attached to any mainstream club. His football education is very different to our conventional midfielders.
I liked his football intelligence. I haven’t covered school football in a long time but twice before I highlighted players who had never made a national team up to that point. One was Kerwin Jemmott and the other was Carlos Edwards.
Seuradge played midfield yesterday and then moved upfront. I think he is good too although he looked older. I liked a boy named Kyle Sylvester who played in the back as well.
what club Pappy attached to ??…now you have me wanting to see him…
also…is that the way the National U17 coach scouts players ??…when ever a team plays against Pres and Copper see a player ??…so if Pappy was injured or ill…thats it for him ??…same as how Kadeem Corbin cold not make the last U17 team…is that the test ??.”if you could look good vz Pres then you in ??”…
Lasana Liburd…good stuff…I saw Shiva first match vz Fatima…i think pappy came on late…saw some glimpses ..think its the same guy…but Sueradge impressed me that day…he played at Center Back…but i thought he looked like he could play up the pitch…maybe he was slotting in the back due to absentees etc…
Hmmn St Mary’s lost both games since I’ve been away…hopefully my return brings a return to winning ways on Wednesday’s “Battle of the Saints” 🙂 Thanks for the updates Lasana!
Seems strange not see the HEADLINE on wired 868 not about St Anthony’s??? And a little 4 line article on top of that??? Strange indeed!
Love this report
Reading about “Pappy” gave me goosebumps. T&T football (all things equal) is in good hands.
Marvin has been a revelation for Shiva Boys since his move out of defence. Naps route the Tigers. That competitive midweek clash that got cancelled could have contributed to the result…”could have”
Who knows. But Naparima has a really talented team. I guess they caught fire at the right time.
All them red cards catch up to them eh