Che Benny, Michel Poon-Angeron in TT futsal squad for Concacaf champs

TT have selected a 14-man squad to contest the Concacaf Futsal Championship in Managua, Nicaragua from April 13-20.

The team, which will be coached by Paul Decle, includes Soca Warriors midfielder Michel Poon-Angeron and his AC PoS teammates Sedale McLean, playmaker Che Benny, and flanker Jameel Neptune, who suffered a fractured leg in a TT Premier Football League (TTP FL) match against 1976 FC Phoenix last December.

Poon-Angeron, 22, has amassed over ten caps for the TT men’s football team since making his debut in 2021, and he played three matches in the Soca Warriors’ 2023/24 Concacaf Nations League A campaign, which saw the national team qualifying for the quarterfinals for the first time. Poon-Angeron also featured in friendly action for the Soca Warriors against Jamaica last month, but he didn’t make the final cut in the squad for the 2024 Copa America play-in versus Canada on March 23.

The squad also includes four players from reigning TTP FL tier one champions Defence Force, as the quartet of Jelani Felix, Dylon King, Darius Ollivierra, and Matthew Woo Ling have all made Decle’s squad. Veteran player and former Defence Force captain, Jerwyn Balthazar, 41, is also a member of the squad.

TT have been placed alongside Dominican Republic, Guatemala, and the US in group C, and they start their campaign against their American counterparts on April 13, before facing Guatemala and Dominican Republic on April 14 and 15 respectively.

The 12-team tournament features three groups of four, with the top two teams qualifying for the quarterfinals, along with the two best third-place teams.

The competition’s semifinalists will advance to the Fifa Futsal World Cup in Uzbekistan from September 14 to October 6, 2024.

All matches will be played at the Polideportivo Alexis Arguello in Managua. In the previous Concacaf Futsal Championship in 2021, Costa Rica captured their fourth title after defeating the US in the final, while the hosts Guatemala beat Panama to third spot.

The TT team will leave for Nicaragua on April 11. Decle will be assisted by former “Strike Squad” captain Clayton Morris.

TT futsal squad: Kelvin Henry (goalkeeper), Andre Marchan (goalkeeper), Jerwyn Balthazar, Che Benny, Jelani Felix, Shane Hospedales, Dylon King, Sedale McLean, Jameel Neptune, Darius Ollivierra, Kareem Perry, Michel Poon-Angeron, Adrian Welch, Matthew Woo Ling.