Football is upon us! The Under 20 and National Team squads dropped over the last two days for the upcoming U20 Tournament and CONCACAF Nations League games.
Recent Minnesota United 2 signing, Molik Khan, is a player to watch in the midfield. Two La Horquetta Rangers young stars Real Gill and Kaihim Thomas, will feature on both squads, along with Khan. Angus Eve’s squad also features a number of players from youth clubs outside of Trinidad and Tobago. Such names include goalkeeper Jahiem Wickham from Toronto FC; defender Noah Roka from FC Stadieu in Austria; midfielder Dantaye Gilbert from FC Malaga City in Spain and forward Josiah Wilson from Cercle Brugge in Belgium.
I’m looking forward to the future of men’s football in Trinidad and Tobago in this upcoming tournament. We’ve seen what some of these guys could do locally in the Ascension and Tiger Tanks Tournament. There are also the overseas players that we can get a glimpse of in the U20 Tournament, see how training with foreign clubs have affected their development. It’s a tough group to get out of, but I’ll be personally looking forward to how they match up.
On the Senior Men’s team, some familiar faces from past games. Standout GK Marvin Phillip defensive stalwarts Aubrey David and Sheldon Bateau, and Levi Garcia who’s wrapping up a standout campaign from A.E.K. Athens over in Greece, all come back to rep the Red, White and Black once again.
Some names I’ll be looking forward to especially, as CONCACAF Nations League is about to get underway in a few days:
Shannon Gomez
Shannon Gomez, is having a really good season to start. He’s part of a back 4 at San Antonio FC that’s conceded the 2nd least goals in the league (9) and 2nd in the league in keeping clean sheets (6). What’s more impressive is his improvement in his game in the attacking third. In 11 appearances, he’s already created more chances (11) and tallied as many assists (3). Gomez now has that mix of defensive tenacity that could help out going forward. Look for him and Keston Julien to run the flanks during Nations League.
Marcus Joseph
Mohammedan SC striker Marcus Joseph is just the striker T&T needs in Angus Eve’s system. Over in the Hero I-League, he was voted the League’s MVP, leading the way with `15 goals in 18 matches. His eye for goal and striking prowess is what T&T have been lacking over recent matches. He’s not the big centre-forward T&T has been looking for, just standing at close to 5’10”. Despite this, he can still positively influence a game, and can relieve pressure off of Levi Garcia’s shoulders in the goals department.
Noah Powder
The Indy Eleven player is an interesting one. The former fullback has found new success further up the field in Indianapolis. As a left midfielder (or even attacking mid) he’s created 8 chances, including an absolute beauty of a ball against NY RedBulls II:
There are opportunities to showcase his adaptability in T&T’s upcoming games, whether it be as an attacking wide back, along the touchline in a 4-5-1 or even as the winger opposite Garcia in the attack. He could possibly get those opportunities in attacking roles with Ryan Telfer absent from the team this Nations League cycle. We’ll see how Angus Eve uses him and see if he could tap into Powder’s offensive potential.
Trinidad and Tobago plays in CONCACAF Nation’s League B and will compete with Nicaragua, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and the Bahamas for promotion into League A as well as direct pathway to Gold Cup ’23. Home games for T&T are on the 6th and 13th against SVG and the Bahamas respectively.