T&T pick mainly locals for Jamaica clash

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC):

Kendall Jagdeosingh and Keon Daniel are the only two overseas-based players named in a Trinidad & Tobago squad for an international friendly against Jamaica tomorrow.

Jagdeosingh and Daniel were part of the Puerto Rico Islanders side that knocked the United States Major League Soccer outfit Los Angeles Galaxy out of the CONCACAF Champions League last week.

Both sides are using the match as a tune-up for the Digicel Caribbean Cup, which starts later this year.

"Like I said before, we haven't seen Jamaica in a while, and I wanted to see where they are at the moment, and I'm pretty sure they will be hoping to do the same," Trinidad and Tobago's coach Russell Latapy said.

"It's going to give us another idea of where we are at right now in preparations for the Digicel Cup."

'Play our best'

He added: "The only point we have to prove is to play to the best of our ability. It's always interesting when T&T face Jamaica, and football is a game when you never stop learning."

The squad includes several high performers from the T&T Pro League, including top marksmen Kerry Baptiste, whose side Joe Public reached the group stage of the Champions League, when they toppled Brujas of Costa Rica.

Baptiste's teammates - mid-fielder Trent Noel and forward Hayden Tinto - are also in the squad.

Latapy is looking forward to matching wits with Jamaica coach Theodore Whitmore, after the two were central playmakers for the respective countries in their heydays.

"This is always one of the bigger games in Caribbean football," he said.

"It's just that as you're getting older, you end up coming up against players in a different capacity, and we're both at the helm of our countries' national teams."

Squad

Kerry Baptiste, Matthew Bartholomew, Kevon Carter, Kern Cupid, Keon Daniel, Aklie Edwards, Ataulla Guerra, Hughton Hector, Makan Hislop, Kendall Jagdeosingh, Devon Jamerson, Devon Jorsling, Jason Marcano, Carlyle Mitchell, Trent Noel, Marvin Philip, Hayden Tinto, Jan Michael Williams, Keston Williams, Shahdon Winchester