Corneal back with young ‘Soca Warriors’Tuesday, June 30 2009
ANTON CORNEAL is back with the Under-20 Soca Warriors. He rejoined the squad he coached as an assistant to Yugoslav Zoran Vranes who along with another assistant Hudson “Barber” Charles are preparing the young Soca Warriors for the 2009 FIFA Under-20 World Championship in September.
The young Soca Warriors will kick off the championships taking on host nation Egypt in the opening game on September 24. The squad has been in five-days per week training sessions at the Ato Boldon and Marvin Lee Stadium.
And the squad has been boosted by the return of prolific ex-Under-17 striker Stephen Knox, who was injured out of the qualifying series earlier this year.
Knox topped all scorers at the Under-15 and Under-17 level and is now in full training with the young Soca Warriors.
He is a student at Boston University and finished the 2008 season with four assists and two goals. Also back in the squad is midfielder Chike Sullivan who played for TT at the Under-17 World Championship, but was denied time off from Colorado School of Mines to participate in the qualifiers.
Both he and another midfielder Sean De Silva have been appearing for Joe Public in the bmobile Super League, as they are not allowed to play for a local professional club because they are on scholarships in the US.
Meanwhile, English-born midfielder Jake Thomson has contacted the TT management confirming his interest in joining the young Soca Warriors. Team manager Chris De Silva said Thomson, who was a member of England’s Under-17 team in 2006, has a Trinidadian father. Thomson is a first team member of Southampton and was also on loan at Bournemouth in January. “It’s good news for us because after we inquired about his availability earlier this year, Jake has gotten back in contact with us and he wants to play for the country. “We will now make the necessary arrangements to have him join the team for training and possibly the training matches we have prior to the tournament,” De Silva said. The TTFF will finalise further international matches for the team. The previously announced tournament in Venezuela has been pushed back to a later date.
