Carlos Edwards.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Six England-based Trinidad and Tobago players, who appeared at the FIFA 2006 World Cup Finals in Germany, are likely to be in the ‘Soca Warriors’ squad for their huge friendly against England next month.

 

Tickets are sold out for the June 1 friendly at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, which will be only the second meeting between the two countries.

 

Heading the list of expected call-ups by new T&T head coach Francisco Maturana are Sunderland’s duo Kenwyne Jones and Carlos Edwards, Stern John of Southampton, and defender Dennis Lawrence, of Swansea.

 

The other two players expected to get the call for the England encounter and who were on the Leo Beenhakker-coached T&T squad in Germany two years ago, are goalkeeper Clayton Ince of League Two club Walsall and the in-form Swansea striker Jason Scotland.

 

Jones, Edwards, Lawrence and John, the all-time leading scorer for T&T with 64 goals in 93 appearances, all played a part in the match against England in Nuremburg which T&T lost 0-2 via two late goals from Peter Crouch (85th) and Steven Gerrard (88th).

 

The quartet will be eager to avenge that defeat in front of their home crowd.

 

The match, dubbed ‘A Score To Settle”, is all part of the T&T Football Federation (TTFF) centennial year celebrations and comes two weeks before the Soca Warriors kick off their “Road to South Africa” World Cup 2010 second round CONCACAF qualifying series.

 

They will be at home to Bermuda.

 

The fixture is also being seen as a gesture by England as they seek to win the favour of FIFA vice-president and CONCACAF boss Austin Jack Warner ahead of the Federation’s voting for the 2014 World Cup venue.

 

Contacted on his return to T&T after a one-week trip to England where he and coach Maturana, had some dialogue with the England-based T&T players, assistant coach Anton Corneal explained that the technical staff still has not made up its mind on the final composition of the team for the upcoming matches.

 

“We have a game on Sunday against Barbados and this will provide the local players with another chance to stake their claim for places in the team for the matches against England (June 1), Jamaica (June 7), both friendlies and then the World Cup qualifiers, home-and-away ties with Bermuda on June 15 and 22.

 

Corneal added, “We have spoken to a few players in Stern John, Clayton Ince, Kenwyne Jones, Jason Scotland, Carlos Edwards and Dennis Lawrence, but we have not confirmed anything as yet.”

 

Corneal also explained that while some overseas players may not be called up for the upcoming matches, they are not out of the team picture.

 

“We have not forgotten players like Christopher Birchall, Silvio Spann and Collin Samuel, its just that they have not been playing on a regular basis for their clubs and we want to give the guys who have done relatively well both home and abroad that preference.”

 

Since taking charge of the T&T team, Maturana has given debuts to no fewer than nine players in his unbeaten four-match run of a two wins and two draws.

 

These players include US-based striker Randi Patterson, Akeem Adams, Jamal Gay, Marvin Oliver, Silas Spann, Atullah Guerra, Jerol Forces, Devon Jorsling and Kareem Smith, while his record so far reads a 0-0 draw with Guadeloupe, El Salvador (1-0), Jamaica (2-2) and Grenada (2-0).

 

For the match against Barbados on Sunday, Corneal stated that another player is expected to be added to the training as cover for San Juan Jabloteh winger Lester Peltier, who is currently in Puerto Rico with his club for Friday night’s CONCACAF Champions League play-off match against the Islanders.

 

CMC ns/lw/08