T&T star Jones here for friendly series
ROSE HALL, St James — Kenwyne Jones, who starts for English Premier League team Stoke City, will lead Trinidad and Tobago’s attack against Jamaica in their friendly international at the Montego Bay Sports Complex tomorrow evening, starting at 8:30 pm.
Jones arrived in the island yesterday and was listed in the Trinidad team that was announced at a press conference held at the RIU Montego Bay Hotel in Rose Hall.
He is the top scorer this season so far with four goals for Stoke City, who are in 17th place in the EPL, just above the relegation zone, one of three teams with 10 points.
Jamaica, meanwhile, have included three teenagers in their team — schoolboys Isamnia Cohen of Manchester High and Khesanio Hall, who has scored 34 goals for St Elizabeth Technical in the daCosta Cup.
Seventeen-year-old striker Michael Seaton, who is from Spanish Town and was part of the 2012 Under-17 team and is now part of the DC United Academy, has also been called up by coach Winfried Schafer.
Meanwhile, Schafer also said they had invited Montego Bay United’s striker Dino Williams, but the player had to turn down the invitation as he was injured.
The Caribbean rivals will play two games during the FIFA break with the second game set for Trinidad on Tuesday, and the coaches for both teams think the games will be good for their respective programmes.
Schafer told the press conference that the games against Trinidad “are a very good test for us” and said the series of games planned will allow the young players to grow.
The games he said “will give the young players the chance to make mistakes so we can help them get better”.
The German, who is expected to sign a new four-year contract with the Jamaica Football Federation soon, said “this is the start of a new chapter where we can test players and see what we have”.
Steven Hart, who formerly coached the Canadian national senior men’s team, said this was “a rebuilding phase for our programme and we need to play against teams like Jamaica”, and also promised “entertaining football to give the fans what they pay for”.
Squads: Jamaica — Richard McCallum, Jermaine Anderson, Montrose Phinn, Kemar Lawrence, Brian Brown, Gariece McPherson, Keammar Daley, Darren Mattocks, Omar Daley, Alva Powell, Adrian Reid, Deshawn Brown, Jason Johnson, Michael Seaton, Je-Vaughn Watson, Decoy Williams, Upstan Edwards, Ricardo Morris, Jermaine Woozencroft, Andrew Vanzie, Isamnia Cohan, Khesanio Hall.
Trinidad and Tobago — John Michael Williams, Cleon Johns, Deneil Cyrus, Radanpha Abubaker, Carlyle Mitchell, Aubrey Davids, Curtis Gonzalves, Justin Hoyte, Kevon George, Denzil Theobalds, Jovain Jones, Atullah Guerre, Kenwyne Jones, Rudol Winchester, Andre Boucaud, Sheldon Bateau, Lester Peltier.