Wales to serve as assistant ref at Gold Cup

Caleb Wales (right) and Joseph Bertrand (left) with other oficials during an April 2018 international match between TT and Panama at the Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva.
Caleb Wales (right) and Joseph Bertrand (left) with other oficials during an April 2018 international match between TT and Panama at the Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva.

TT OFFICIAL Caleb Wales has been selected to serve an assistant referee at the 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup next month.

Wales was selected to attend the Gold Cup candidate course at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, United States this month and was subsequently chosen for the confederation’s premier event.

Wales will attend a referees’ seminar at the Gold Cup headquarters hotel in Texas on June 11-13 prior to the start of the competition on June 15.

Other Caribbean assistant referees appointed include Jamaican Nicholas Anderson, Helpys Feliz of Dominica, Kedlee Powell of Cayman Islands, Zachari Zeegelaar of Suriname.

Twenty-three assistant referees have been appointed including two from Qatar, Taleb Al Marri and Saoud Al Maqaleh, as part of the exchange programme between Concacaf and the Asian Football Confederation.

Two referees from the Caribbean were appointed among 16 referees – Jamaica’s Daneon Parchment and Cuba’s Yardel Martinez.

“It’s my first appointment to the biggest tournament in Concacaf and I am extremely honoured to be considered for a Gold Cup,” Wales said.

“My primary target was to be selected for the tournament, so I put in a lot of work and learnt many lessons along the way. I aim to utilise what I have learnt to the best of my ability,” he added.

Reflecting on the candidate course at IMG, he said, “For me, the course was excellent. It equipped us with the tools needed to be successful at the Gold Cup 2019 and I like that we were able to put these tools into immediate use at the Concacaf U-17 Championship.”

Wales officiated at four matches during the CONCACAF Men’s Under-17 Championship including the semi-final clash between United States and Canada. The tournament was won by Mexico on Thursday.

The 48 match officials were required to pass several assessments and fitness tests, to ensure they could be considered for Concacaf’s most prestigious national team competition.

“In preparing our elite referees for Concacaf’s premier competition for national teams, we have left no stone unturned. The team of selected officials represents our Confederation’s best in terms of football knowledge, technical ability as well as physical fitness preparation,” said Concacaf director of refereeing Brian Hall.

“We just completed a five-day pre-tournament training focused on our objective of preparing the referee team for excellence. We are confident that our officials will be prepared to deliver an outstanding performance when the competition kicks off on June 15 at Rose Bowl Stadium in Los Angeles, California.”

Comments

"Wales to serve as assistant ref at Gold Cup"

More in this section