SOCA Warriors head coach Angus Eve reiterated that a player's age will not be a factor in selection for the national men's football team.
Eve has called up a 26-man squad for two friendlies against Guyana to be played on May 13 and 15 at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Mucurapo. Both matches kick-off at 7 pm.
Uncapped Caledonia striker Kevon Woodley, 37, has been chosen for the matches.
Woodley, a star with the national beach soccer team in the past, has been in prolific form in the TT Premier Football League this season, leading the league with 16 goals.
"I always say age is not an issue," Eve told the media following a friendly match between a Legends XI and a TT All-Star XI at Hasely Crawford Stadium on May 10.
"I have always maintained that...
"I used the examples of (Portuguese pair) Cristiano Ronaldo and Pepe and these guys. I have never said age is an issue. If players are performing, it does not matter if players are 26, 16 or 35 – they will be selected."
Ronaldo, 39, and Pepe, 41, are still playing professionally in Saudi Arabia and Portugal respectively.
The Soca Warriors are using the matches against Guyana as preparation for their 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers which begin on June 5. TT will play Grenada in their opener.
Speaking about the Guyana matches, Eve said, "Extremely important (matches for us). I have said before, every time we play in a (FIFA) window it is actually a competition match. We don't have opportunities to expose people inside of a window, so when we get these opportunities it is valuable for us to continue to widen the pool and give younger players the opportunity, which we are doing in this match."
Asked whom he is looking forward to see feature, Eve said, "We have Ezekiel Kesar, young (Lindell) Sween has been doing well – this is his first opportunity. We exposed Michael Chaves (before), so we want to give some of these national under-20 players the opportunity to play with the senior team.
"Also, we have seasoned guys whom we have not had around for a bit and we want to give them the opportunity to address us again, seeing that they are available...
"Woodley is also going to have an opportunity. He has been scoring a lot of goals in the league and we think he deserves an opportunity with the locally based group."
An experienced player in the team is defender Sheldon Bateau, 33, who will be captaining the team.
Eve said he wants his players to tighten up on specific areas moving forward.
"Defence has always been an area that we want to strengthen, especially in the centre-back position and (in) midfield we want to be faster, we want to be a little more expansive in midfield, so those two areas (we want to improve on).
"The spine of the team is a place we want to strengthen up on. We have some really good wing backs coming through now, so we are happy about that. Denzil (Smith) and the goalkeeping department, we are happy about that.
"Up front we have players who could score, so we just need to bridge the team and bridge that gap in the midfield."
