Veteran Kevon Woodley is poised to make his much-anticipated debut in the Concacaf Nations League for Trinidad and Tobago, as he was named to Derek King’s 23-man squad to tackle League A opponents Honduras and French Guiana.

King, who was appointed on an interim basis after Angus Eve’s dismissal, is now charged with moving the senior Soca Warriors program forward and his selections for the September 6 and 10 contests signals a commitment of continuity and team chemistry.

Having served as an assistant to Eve, King’s squad features a core of players who were part of the former tactician’s squad that drew with Grenada and defeated Bahamas in their World Cup qualifying fixtures in June.

King’s side, which is without Greece-based forward Levi Garcia and Ajani Fortune, who are both unavailable, will travel to Honduras for Friday’s engagement before returning home to host French Guiana at the Dwight Yorke Stadium four days later.

Despite the absence of Garcia and Fortune, King remains confident in the strength and depth of the squad, which, along with Woodley, includes the likes of forward Reon Moore, defender Andre Raymond, box-to-box midfielder Andre Rampersad and goalie Denzil Smith.

“The team we’ve selected is one that has shown great potential and cohesion over the past few months. As we begin our group-stage campaign, the selected players are fit, focused and ready to perform at their best and I have been in discussion with each player about their expectations and responsibilities,” King said in a TTFA media release.

Woodley, 38, earned his Nations League call-up three months after earning his first senior Soca Warriors cap, as he has enjoyed good form for local club Police FC, including scoring a delightful header in a 1-4 Concacaf Caribbean Cup loss to Jamaica's Cavalier FC on August 29.

King pointed out that professionalism and hard work were key components in his selections.

“While it is never easy to narrow down the squad, I believe the players chosen are the ones who will help us navigate these two important fixtures successfully,” King declared.

“We need to be professional and disciplined in our approach and recognise the challenge of playing away from home in our opening match. It will be important that we maintain a high level of professionalism and remain focused throughout,” he added.

The Soca Warriors will depart for Honduras on Tuesday with last year’s campaign, which ended at the quarterfinal, at the top of their minds as they seek to replicate or even better that feat.

Trinidad and Tobago Squad -Christopher Biggette (Defence Force); Aubrey David (Deportivo Municipal); Triston Hodge (Hartford Athletic); Isaiah Lee (La Horquetta Rangers); Leland Archer (Charleston Battery); Andre Raymond (St Johnstone FC); Ryan Telfer (Halifax Wanderers); Duane Muckette (AC Port of Spain); Nathaniel James (Mount Pleasant FA); Real Gill (Northern Colorado Hailstorm); Daniel Phillips (Stevenage); Steffen Yeates (Pacific FC), Reon Moore (Pacific FC); Shannon Gomez (San Antonio FC); Dantaye Gilbert (Jong PSV); Alvin Jones (Police FC); Justin Garcia (Defence Force); Andre Rampersad (Halifax Wanderers); Noah Powder (Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC);
Kaile Auvray (Cavalier FC), Aaron Enill (Montego Bay United); Denzil Smith (AC Port of Spain); Kevon Woodley (Police FC)

Having secured two positive results to get the Concacaf World Cup qualifiers going, Trinidad and Tobago’s Head coach Angus Eve welcomed the solid platform on which he hopes to build when the Soca Warriors next take the field as part of the campaign.

Eve’s side registered one of the biggest winning margins of the opening round of matches, as they thumped Bahamas 7-1 in Basseterre, St Kitts, on Saturday. That dominance performance followed a shaky showing against Grenada in which the Soca Warriors had to come from two goals down to secure a point in a 2-2 stalemate.

It is with that in mind why Eve expressed pleasure with his team’s character, as the performances ensured the twin island republic sits second in Group B on four points, two behind leaders and group favourites Costa Rica on six points. Grenada (one point) is third, while St Kitts and Nevis and Bahamas, who meet on Tuesday, are yet to get off the mark.

“The result was the most important thing for us. We wanted to win the game. We wanted to get three points and we did,” Eve said.

“I thought we were a little bit flat in the first game against Grenada, and we never got going until the second half. We wanted to right that wrong, and I think we did it. The passing...the fluency of the team was much better,” he added.

Trinidad and Tobago players celebrate a goal against Bahamas.

While critics argued that the 7-1 scoreline was due to the fact that Bahamas was a perceived lesser opponent, Eve rubbished the thought, as he reminded football enthusiasts that the Bahamians were responsible for Trinidad and Tobago’s demise during the last qualifying cycle.

“It doesn’t matter who we played. This team [Bahamas] threw us out of the World Cup last time around. I don’t think we could have scored on them back then. So it shows improvement, for us beating them by seven,” Eve declared.

“As the game went along, we believed we could have gotten more, we pushed for more, and it has taken us up to four points, which is most important,” he noted.

Obviously disappointed by the Grenada performance, the tactician made seven changes to his starting team, and the likes of Malcolm Shaw, Duane Muckette, Andre Rampersad, Alvin Jones, Steffen Yeates, Triston Hodge and Josiah Trimmingham repaid Eve’s faith in them. Shaw and Muckette both scored braces.

“I just wanted to freshen up the team. I have confidence in all of the guys that we brought here, so we believe that we could kind of change up the squad somewhat and get the desired result,” Eve said.

“I thought they did very well and we believe in all the players that we bring here, and we have no fear to change up the team,” he shared.

Meanwhile, having missed out on a Copa America berth, Eve will have to possible find a few friendly encounters to engage in to keep his Soca Warriors sharp ahead of the Nations League, which gets under way in September.

The World Cup qualifying campaign will resume next June. At that time, Trinidad and Tobago will host St Kitts and Nevis, before a possible top-of-the-table clash away to Costa Rica.

Only the top two teams from each group will progress to the final stage of the qualifiers.

“Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit.” Those famous words by American author Napoleon Hill, now serve as motivation for Trinidad and Tobago’s Head coach Angus Eve and his charges as they prepare to kick off their much-anticipated Concacaf World Cup qualifying campaign on Wednesday.

The Soca Warriors will go into their opening contest against Grenada with limited preparation as a collective unit, as the overseas-based members of Eve’s final 25-member squad had to fulfil club obligations upon until Sunday and only joined the camp on Monday. That somewhat hindered Eve’s plans where ironing out technical and tactical plans are concerned, but the tactician remains upbeat about the possibility of registering a win against the ‘Spice Isle’ at Hasely Crawford Stadium.

“We had some challenges with players playing up to June 2, the day the (FIFA) window actually started, and then travel. But we have dealt with these adversities before, and I think we’re going into the campaign, all things equal, with a good squad of players, with a good mindset and trying to make the country proud again,” Eve declared.

“This is the beginning of something very big for us. In the last couple of World Cup campaigns, we didn’t do as well as we think we should have done. We’re looking to right some of those wrongs and the guys are well motivated to play,” he added.

Along with some of the usual suspects – Levi Garcia, captain Aubrey David, Andre Rampersad, Reon Moore, Malcolm Shaw and Ryan Telfer –Eve’s final squad also includes veteran Morvant Caledonia FC striker Kevon ‘Showtime’ Woodley, Netherlands-based midfielder Dantaye Gilbert and Canadian-based Steffen Yeates.

Woodley, 37, received his first senior team call-up for two recent friendly internationals against Guyana, and scored in both matches which Trinidad and Tobago won 2-1 and 2-0.

Meanwhile, midfielder Gilbert, 19, who plies his trade with Jong PSV, is expected to bring a different but welcome dynamic to the setup, while Yeates, 24, represented Canada at previous youth tournaments but has committed his senior career to the Soca Warriors.

“Age (Woodley) is not a factor. Sometimes we move players and they get upset and say different things. But I’ve always said age is not a factor. Kevon, in the last two seasons, came second behind Nathaniel James in goal-scoring. In this season, he’s the top scorer in the league. He deserved an opportunity, we gave him that chance and he scored two in both matches we had, and was one of the best performers in the two games against a decent Guyana team. It warranted his selection to the group,” Eve shared.

That said, Eve explained the absence of Toronto FC’s Tyrese Spicer, Mount Pleasant Academy’s (Jamaica) Kaile Auvray, and seasoned Belgian-based defender Sheldon Bateau, from the final cast.