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Former World Cup 2006 midfielder and England Premier League player, Carlos Edwards, will wear the armband tomorrow when Tom Saintfiet makes his bow as Trinidad and Tobago National Senior Team coach in a friendly away to Nicaragua.
The two nations kick off in Managua from at 8:30pm (TT time)—6:30pm in Nicaragua—on Tuesday 27 December and again on Friday 30 December.
(Courtesy Sean Morrison/Wired868)
The friendlies will serve as preparation for the Gold Cup campaigns of both nations. Trinidad and Tobago host Suriname and Haiti in playoff matches on 4 and 8 January respectively.
Edwards has not represented the Soca Warriors since 19 November 2013 when he featured in a 2-0 friendly win over Jamaica in Port of Spain. He told the TTFA Media that he was honoured to be given the armband and wanted to help make Trinidad and Tobago successful once more.
The 38-year-old Ma Pau Stars full back warned his younger teammates not to expect him to do it on his own, though.
“It’s a big privilege to wear the captain’s armband,” said Edwards. “Yes, I will have a bit of responsibility. I think he has chosen me because of the experience and to have me put my arms around the younger guys and lead them in the right direction.
“At the end of the day, everyone has to pull their weight. They just can’t look up to me and think I will orchestrate everything.
“I am here for one reason which is to make the country and the team successful once again.”
(Courtesy Allan V Crane/Wired868)
At present, Saintfiet has 20 players available in Managua while United States-based midfielder Kevan George should join the squad on Tuesday. Goalkeeper Marvin Phillip missed the tour through injury while defender Tristan Hodge was dropped for disciplinary reasons.
Edwards commended Saintfiet’s work in Trinidad so far.
“So far things have been really productive,” said Edwards. “We’ve been put through our paces. He’s started off on the right foot, making sure the players are fit and ready for the game and also to have a nice little bond.
“He called the camp in the right time so that the players can get to know each other.”
Saintfiet, who spent the bulk of his career coaching in Africa and was at Bangladesh before he got the Trinidad and Tobago job, said he is looking for “a decent result” in Nicaragua,
“It’s always special and it’s an honour to be national team coach of any country and Trinidad and Tobago is naturally a big football nation,” the Belgian coach told the TTFA Media. “So it’s now […] a fresh start and we are going to use these two matches against Nicaragua to prepare our team for the Gold Cup and later on for the World Cup qualifiers.
Looking on is new general secretary Justin Latapy-George (far left) and technical director Muhammad Isa.
(Courtesy Wired868)
“It won’t be easy matches. Nicaragua is also a strong football country. In the last games of the World Cup qualifiers they beat Jamaica at home 3-2 and in the last year they also won friendly matches against Cuba 5-0 and Panama 1-0…
“Naturally you want always a good result but I don’t think at the moment that’s the most important thing. We could win both matches against Nicaragua and lose in the qualifiers for the Gold Cup and World Cup. So I would prefer to win the World Cup qualifiers and, if possible, the Gold Cup qualifiers. But, on the other side, if you play a game, you play to win.”
Trinidad and Tobago have never lost to Nicaragua, although both teams played to a goalless draw in Port of Spain last year.
Nicaragua qualified for the CONCACAF Gold Cup seven years ago in 2009. However, before that, their last appearance in the confederation’s showpiece competition was in 1967.
At present, Nicaragua are ranked 124th in the world by FIFA—just four places above the Dominican Republic—while Trinidad and Tobago are 78th.
The “Soca Warriors” and Nicaragua played to a goalless draw.
(Courtesy TTFA Media)
Saintfiet said he will pay more attention to the performance than the result tomorrow.
“Most important for me is to see tomorrow a team which understands the tactical concept that I want,” said Saintfiet, “[and] can implement it on the pitch, play disciplined and have both offensive and defensive tasks of what I request.
“If that results in a good result I will be happy coach. And if that doesn’t result in a good result, I will be still satisfied if I see what we did in practice.”
Saintfiet took just four players to Nicaragua who featured in Trinidad and Tobago’s 3-1 World Cup qualifying loss to Honduras on 15 November 2016. Three of the four-man defence for former coach Stephen Hart’s last fixture—Daneil Cyrus, Carlyle Mitchell and Aubrey David—are all available tomorrow along with attacker Trevin Caesar.
Former captain Kenwyne Jones was dropped, goalkeeper Jan-Michael Williams was overlooked, back-up custodian Marvin Phillip is injured and Sheldon Bateau, Cordell Cato, Khaleem Hyland, Joevin Jones, Levi Garcia and Willis Plaza are all unavailable.
(Courtesy Allan V Crane/Wired868)
(Trinidad and Tobago 20-man squad for Nicaragua)
Goalkeepers: Adrian Foncette (Police FC), Glenroy Samuel (Ma Pau Stars);
Defenders: Carlos Edwards (Ma Paul Stars), Carlyle Mitchell (Seoul E-Land—Korea Republic), Radanfah Abu Bakr (Sillamae Kallen—Estonia), Daneil Cyrus, Maurice Ford (both W Connection), Aubrey David (Deportivo Saprissa—Costa Rica),
Midfielders: Curtis Gonzales (Defence Force), Alvin Jones, Hughtun Hector (both W Connection);
Attacking midfielders: Aikim Andrews (W Connection), Hashim Arcia (Defence Force), Jomal Williams (Murcielagos FC), Nathan Lewis, Tyrone Charles (both San Juan Jabloteh);
Forwards: Trevin Caesar (Orange County Blues—USA), Akeem Roach (Club Sando), Shahdon Winchester (Murcielagos FC—Mexico), Cornell Glen (Ozone FC Bengalaru—India).
(Courtesy Allan V Crane/Wired868)
Technical staff: Tom Saintfiet (head coach), Jamaal Shabazz (assistant coach), Lukas Wojciak (goalkeeper coach), Riedoh Berdien (trainer), Dr Terence Babwah (doctor), Dave Isaac (paramedic), Michael Williams (equipment manager), Shaun Fuentes (press officer), Azaad Khan (interim manager).
Late arrival: Kevan George (Jacksonville Armada—USA) will join the time in time for their second outing against Nicaragua on 30 December.
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It’s being reported that the link is geo restricted, so it not working for people in Trini. Try http://azulyblanco.co/cha?id=1
Nicaragua leading 1-0. Its the 15min right now
..Nope..
No link for the game
http://azulyblanco.co/cha?id=1 Nic lead 1-0 in the 4th min
..Thanks. Let’s try it..
it woking
Carlos legs tho…Jah! Can we lobby for shorter shorts for him? Armband length?
About time
if this side lose 2 nil dey lucky….
Trini Don, possible link for game: https://canal6.com.ni
Cool will try it later
Jan Michael being dropped is total madness
Who did they pic instead
good selection for skipper, Always exited to see my brothers in action despite whatever, but from here moving forward we need consistency and positive results.
Big shipping side
How good is Cornell Glen still?
We’ll find out soon
Hmmmmm Wasn’t the Assurance I was looking for.
Sorry lol.
OK He’s 36 and Carlos 38 both being Recalled.
I’m trying to understand his thought process.
Is either he thinks the Current Team Lacks Experience or Our Talent Reservoirs is at Critical Levels or Both?
I understand Carlos is still Formidable but Glen at 36 who was never that good at 30??
Glen wasn’t that good at 30? The last time both men played competitively for T&T was at the 2013 Gold Cup. And it was Carlos who was struggling a bit. Certainly not Glen. Glen helped us get to the quarterfinal with a top performance against Honduras.
Glen was never a clinical finisher as far back as I can remember, always had speed but Speed is not everything.
Barring him being injury prone his MLS years were pretty prolific
The Slow Stern John will always be remembered as valuable player because he was able to get the ball in the back of the net.
He even ended his Career as the Record Holder for T&T in Internationals.
was kenwyne ever a clynical finisher the word is never an i truely believe ceasar will be our starting striker not glen but experience is still needed an i believe that is why they are there , no fault of kenwyne but he isnt a leader at all
Antonio Serapio Bradshaw I never rated Jones, as a matter of Fact He’s probably the most overrated Footballer to Captain Trinidad and Tobago!!
He’s Shit!!
ah lil bit harsh lol but i agree with u
It’s not Harsh, He’s Shit!!
I always wondered what PL Managers saw in Him?
Probably his Height and Strength up front?
The Guy can’t dribble to save his life.
cant dribble poor work rate and always seemed uniterested
Cornell is far more than just an athlete. He didn’t rely on speed alone. He is a fine dribbler and very crafty. The last of his kind.
We would see how it works out, I wish him all the best.
My expectations aren’t high though.
TT Radios & TV stations only cares about their bank accounts…they do not give back to the citizens…period…
Such elderly players? .. what’s going on here?
Aye aye! And I bounce him up in El Pecos last week and told him “congratulations”! I guess I was prophetic 😉
thanks Nigel Myers..ent de President did say we go see all tnt matches live on TV ??…
Supposedly it will be streamed at http://www.canal6.com.ni/, but we wouldn’t know for sure until later.
yea…come on Nigel Myers
We need a captain that leads with hard work ethic
I’m hoping Nigel Myers can give us word on that. 🙂
Lasana Liburd any live feed ??
Carlos is a seriously underestimated player and leader
However, I would have liked seeing him operate from central mid field.
He never liked that position. Bertille St Clair tried to use him in that role before and he was very uncomfortable.
Will there be a live broadcast tonight?
when is the game it coming live
It”s about time for a capitan to guide the ship love it go carlos make t n t proud
Question – which would you prefer: scoring 3 goals but losing 3-4 or conceding none in a 0-0 draw?
Of course TT scoring while not conceding is the ultimate outcome with which we will all be happy.
Oops but then again we are all Trinbagonians – even if we win without conceding, we’ll find something else to be unhappy about lol.
Anyhow TT’s first problem is we are conceding too many soft goals. Our defensive mechanism (not merely the back four)needs to be more effectively coordinated. And our transitioning from defense to offense and vice versa needs to improve with a significant reduction in unforced errors. These in a nutshell are the technical challenges the coach needs to fix immediately.
Also, if TT are to be more potent in attack, our wingers (Cordel Cato and Joevin Jones, although not in squad for Nicaragua matches) need to alternate their one-dimensional runs down the flanks by also cutting in and employing more diagonal plays to add to their square crosses.
Indeed they need players to make attacking off-the-ball blind-side runs to meet the crosses. Because when a player or two attract attention down the centre, attackers running on to crosses on the far (blind) side usually presents more unchallenged opportunities at goal.
All in all, the team needs to be more sharp in transitioning to close down their opposition when the opponents are in possession.
That’s where fitness, awareness, timing and not losing individual and collective team shape comes into the picture.
If the coach, trainer and players can get it right on the field of play then bingo!
If everything click, and TT begin to consistently score 1 or 2 or 3 goals without conceding, i guess only a few might still be unhappy…
Good move coach.
..I was impressed with Carlos’ acceptance speech as captain..
We need to score goals..even if we lose 3-4…
Carlos still playing? That’s great new though. Loved him
Seriously I ain’t approve ???
Steups
interesting
As expected
All of this is water under the bridge (the interviews with players saying the vibes positive, new captain, the whole debacle with the new coach etc.)….all I want to see if results, then we can talk…
Good choice for captain.. just for some good results now
Agreed
Good choice
Carlos Edwards?????????????? Well ok, then!
#bringbackSanko
At 38?
..Who better in that group Terry?..
I don’t see a better available option …. tbh
#Veterans. Sure experience is nice but……
..Good choice of captain..
In more ways that one .. lol
I think Carlos doesnt only bring experience and depth to the team…but possesses the leadership qualities.
This coach continues to surprise me. Actually he’s changing my opinion about him.
Why?
It was obvious
Before Radanfah Abu Bakr …..smh
Point
Rasclat
No surprises there. He was the obvious pick.
Once Jan wasn’t selected… I agree.
Hey might recall Yorke and Denis Lawrence just now
Jadel Poon-lewis Adrian Tanto Constantine ????
???? I will take a call ups cus is only 2 keepers right now
lmao
?????
Hmmmm….good luck