Aurtis Whitley to captain Trinidad & Tobago for England football friendly
T&T team will train from 9am to 11 today at the Larry Gomes Stadium, Malabar. STORY BY GUARDIAN SPORTS DESK
W Connection midfielder Aurtis Whitley is set to wear the captain’s band for the T&T squad against England on Sunday.
Whitley is one of only six members of the Soca Warriors squad that served on the T&T World Cup team in Germany. He had not played for T&T for close to a year under sacked coach Wim Rijsbergen made a return to the national team earlier this year in a 1-0 win over El Salvador in which he also wore the captain’s arm-band.
Since then he has led the team in matches against Jamaica and Grenada, only missing the Barbados match through injury.
However, he has fully recovered and despite the presence of England-based stars Clayton Ince and Stern John in the squad, coach Francisco Maturana has kept the faith in him.
Looking ahead to the match Maturana has played down the absence of invited player Dwight Yorke from the team as he readies his squad for the start of the 2010 South Africa World Concacaf Second Round Qualifiers against Bermuda on June 15 and 22.
Maturana felt it would be inappropriate to have Yorke in his squad as he is focusing on building and preparing a team for the World Cup Qualifiers and the Colombian has stated that he would like to stick to his current core of players.
“We see this as a very important preparation match against England and we want to use the players who will be part of the squad that will help us get to the next World Cup. This is not an exhibition match,” Maturana said. "I have a lot of respect for Dwight Yorke and Russell Latapy. I have seen them play and they are fantastic players but we are working towards the next World Cup," Maturana said.
The Colombian-born coach did say however that he would still consider Yorke for future matches if the Sunderland utility player would commit towards helping his country in the campaign towards qualifying for South Africa.
“With all due respect, the TTFF did invite both Dwight and Russell for this game because it’s an affair to mark a significant milestone in the country’s football history. But the coach had the final say and he wants to take a team into Sunday’s game that he can rely on for the qualifying campaign. And, unfortunately, he doesn’t have that confirmation from Yorke and we know Russell has hung up his international boots. The coach has said that he holds them in the highest regards and so does the Football Federation," said T&TFF spokesman Shaun Fuentes.



by Nigel Simon, Trinidad Guardian
by Philip Spooner
Responding to allegations by FIFA Vice President Jack Warner - who happens to be a Deputy Political Leader of this country's main opposition party - Trinidad and Tobago's Sports Minister Gary Hunt said the Government was not being unreasonable in requesting that the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation sign a "simple lease" document. Hunt denied that Government's demands for renting the Hasely Crawford stadium for the international friendly between the Soca Warriors and England's football team were too onerous.
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