TTFA in Miami for Copa draw; Ronaldinho, Aguero in Legends match

A TT Football Association (TTFA) five-man delegation along with Soca Warriors head coach Angus Eve arrived in Miami on Monday for the Conmebol three-day Copa America 2024 teams seminar and official draw at the James L Knight Entertainment and Convention Complex in Miami.

Accompanying Eve are senior team manager Richard Piper, head of the medical department and senior team doctor Akash Dhanai, director of media and communications Shaun Fuentes and head of security Maj Basil Thompson.

A TTFA media release said Conmebol invited officials from each member association holding the respective national team portfolios including the teams participating in the Play-In in Dallas in March. TT face Canada at the Toyota Stadium, Frisco on March 23.

All participating teams will have officials at the workshop, including defending champions Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia, USA, Mexico, Jamaica and Panama.

On Tuesday, a teams seminar will be facilitated by Conmebol’s director of competitions and operations Frederico Nantes and Concacaf’s chief football officer Carlos Fernandez.

Seminars will also be held on: security; medical services and anti-doping; marketing and commercial; broadcast/digital communications and press operations; transport and accommodation; team services; protocol, ethics and compliance. These seminars will be facilitated by the heads of the respective areas in Conmebol. There will also be a meeting of all head coaches on Wednesday.

This is the first teams' workshop and seminar for a major world competition that TT has appeared at since the 2006 World Cup teams workshop in Dusseldorf, Germany in March 2005.

There will be bilateral meetings, on Thursday morning, among member associations of each of the countries involved, followed by the official dinner and draw on Thursday night.

A highlight of the week's activities includes a Legends match at the DRV PNK Stadium on Tuesday night, which will involve some of the biggest past players from both confederations. The two teams will be led by head coaches, Jose Pekerman of Argentina and former Colombia and TT head coach Francisco Maturana.

Among the former stars set to play include Ronaldinho; Lucio; Dida of Brazil, Sergio Aguero; Maximiliano Rodriguez; Javier Zanetti and Gonzalo Higuain of Argentina, Mexico’s Jorge Campos and Luis Hernandez; Carlos Salcido, Uruguay’s Diego Forlán, Colombia’s Carlos Valderrama Chile’s duo of Ivan Zamorano and Marcelo Salas. Jamaican Olympic hero Usain Bolt will also appear.