Source: www.guardian.co.tt
By: Nigel Simon
T&T Under-23 footballers will kick off their quest to qualify for next year’s London Olympics when they face Grenada in the first match of a Group B Caribbean Football Union’s Olympic qualifying double-header from 5pm at Windsor Park, Dominica today. The T&T squad is an experienced one and includes eight players who have played at a FIFA Under-17 or Under-20 World Cup headed by US-based midfielder Kevin Molino of Orlando City Lions, who joined the squad on arrival in Dominica, yesterday.
The others are former Under-20 captain Sheldon Bateau, Sean De Silva, Marcus Joseph, Mikheil Williams, Aubrey David, Andre Marchan and Chike Sullivan while the USA-born pair of Cameron Roget and Phillip Borde are also in the squad.
In today’s other Group B match, two hours, host Dominica will entertain Netherlands Antilles with double-headers also set for Thursday and Saturday at the same venue. At the end of the four-team tournament, only the winner will advance to the second round group of qualifiers. Already Cuba has qualified for the second round four-team CFU Olympic qualifiers after topping its three-team Group C series with wins over Aruba (6-0) and Guyana (1-0) last month. The two other first round groups will see Suriname hosting Group A with Jamaica, St Vincent & The Grenadines and Cayman Islands from August 3 to 7, while St Kitts & Nevis entertains Group D with Haiti, Antigua & Barbuda and St Lucia, from July 21-25. From the second round tournament two will qualify for the eight-team Concacaf finals next year in the USA towards qualifying for the London 2012 Olympics.