Stern John could tonight make his first start since the opening day of the season having impressed on his return at the weekend.
The Crystal Palace striker, who has been sidelined with a dislocated elbow, played in the final 15 minutes of the draw with Cardiff and twice came close to grabbing the winner.
Ahead of tonight's match at Leicester, the London Evening Standard reported that Palace assistant manager Mick Jones said: "He looked very good in the short time he had on the pitch. He looked sharp, which was good news. To be fair I thought he might have scored with the header. And if he had a bit more match time in recent weeks I think he would have. His timing was just a bit off."
The Cardiff game also saw Freddie Sears (above) return from an ankle injury. Sears, who is on loan from West Ham, came on as substitute and could start tonight.
It is a timely boost for manager Neil Warnock who saw Victor Moses and Darren Ambrose hobble out of the Cardiff game with injury. (Oct 20,2009)
Coca-Cola, and its partner Caribbean Bottlers T&T Ltd, have pledged more than $1 million over five years in a sponsorship deal with the Secondary Schools Football League (SSFL). This was announced at the ‘Coca Cola InterCol’ media launch at Crowne Plaza Hotel, Wrightson Road, Port-of-Spain yesterday.
Coca-Cola Caribbean Service Company Ltd’s senior market development manager Muhammad Abdullah noted that the company first began using football imagery in its advertising in 1917. It later became an official sponsor of the World Cup in 1974 and has been one of Fifa’s longest standing corporate sponsors. “No other sport unites the world and captures the fans’ passions like football,” he said. “This is why Coca-Cola has been associated with the sport for so many years.” He also promised that the tournament would attract attention from around the country. “Coca-Cola InterCol is a new experience and will be the talk of the town for the next few months,” he said. SSFL president Ewing Davis credited Coca-Cola with breathing new life into the annual event,the Guardian reported.
“The success of this competition will be due mainly to the civic mindedness and vision of our corporate partner,” he said. The Coca-Cola InterCol begins on October 28 with the first round of the zonal competition. After the zonal finals, there will be the Coca-Cola ‘Big 8’ , which will involve the champion and runner-up of the North, East and South zones and the winner of Central and Tobago. St Mary’s won the North Zone with St Augustine taking the East, Presentation copping the South, Carapichaima notching the Central and Mason Hall winning Tobago.
The company has also vowed to send a T&T Under 15 team to the Latin America Copa Coca-Cola tournament in Mexico in 2010. The Copa Coca-Cola programme consists of 10,000 teenage teams from Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas. Abdullah unveiled the tournament’s new logo, entitled The Kick Off. The logo is meant to signify the kick off of a new era in school football for T&T. (October 16,2009)
FIFA Vice President and Chairman of the FIFA Youth Committee Jack Warner says The FIFA U-20 World Cup in Egypt is poised to break a number of FIFA records.
Warner made the revelation at a press conference yesterday at the Conrad Hotel in Cairo.
Responding to questions about the tournament, Warner says he is very pleased with the manner in which the tournament has been organised
“This tournament has the potential to break a number of FIFA records. In 2007 Canada set the record for the highest number of spectators attending a youth tournament, today I am pleased to announce that Egypt will more than likely break that record, with three games to go you are very close to Canada’s number,” Warner said.
In 2007 Canada recorded an attendance figure of 1,195,239, Egypt after the Semi Final has recorded over 1,159,958 in attendance and there are three matches to go.
But Warner’s good news for the tournament didn’t stop there
“With two matches to go, the record of the number of goals scored in a U-20 tournament has already been equalled. So far we have seen 165 goals being scored in Egypt that is the same amount as the number scored in Malaysia in 1997,” he said.
Warner says his only disappointment really was the fact that his home country of Trinidad and Tobago didn’t move beyond the first round
“Really the tournament has been a success in all areas. If I had to point to a negative, I would say it’s the fact that Trinidad and Tobago didn’t make the move to the second round,” the VP said.
Warner’s home country was eliminated in the first round of competition.
But the VP says the FIFA U-20 in Egypt has shown him one thing “a brighter future, I have seen about ten players since this competition started, who I know will all make their mark on the sport, I look forward to seeing many of them if not in the 2010 World Cup definitely in 2014.”
The U-20 tournament has been labelled by FIFA as a tournament of surprises; Costa Rica have reached the semi finals for the first time in a FIFA competition; for Hungary it is the first time since 1972 they have advanced to the quarter final of a FIFIA youth competition.
Despite being a tournament of surprises it seems as though history has set a rematch. The last time a tournament was held in Egypt (FIFA U-17 World Cup in 1997) the final was Ghana – Brazil.
The final between Ghana and Brazil will be played tomorrow.
The Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation, teammates and staff mates of Dwight Yorke from the National Senior Team wishes to extend condolences to the ex-national captain and his family on the passing of his mother Grace.
She passed away on Wednesday night, a couple hours after T&T's 2-2 draw with Mexico. Dwight received the news while in the company of some members of the national team.
According to Dwight’s
adviser Tim Nafziger, Mrs Yorke formerly of Canaan Village, Tobago,
took ill and was being treated.
She was eventually transferred to the Medical Associates Hospital in
Trinidad on Tuesday night, but succumbed to an undisclosed illness,
even as Dwight was trying to source a specialist to come to the
country. She was 72 years old and was the mother of nine children,
Dwight, Brent, Clint, Garth, Gary, Juilet, Keith, Debra, and the late
Veline, with Dwight being the
second-to-last. (Oct 15,2009)
National Senior Team Head coach Russell Latapy, at the post game press conference after the 2-2 draw with Mexico, spoke of his contract coming to a close at the end of October and his intentions to stay on in his current position.
Latapy says he hopes to hold discussions with the TTFF on a possible future with National football.
Joe Public striker Kerry Baptiste also commented on his double which earned the "Soca Warriors" a deserved point from their final 2010 Qualifying encounter. click the video above for more.
