PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC– Trinidad and Tobago captain and striker Kenwyne Jones has been dropped from the squad preparing to face Nicaragua in two international friendlies later this month.
Newly appointed head coach Tom Saintfiet says Jones has not been included in a 28 man squad to play the Nicaraguans on December 27 and 31.
The Belgian coach says Jones was left out so that he can tweak the style of play of the Soca Warriors in time for next month’s Gold Cup playoff matches against Suriname and Haiti on January 4 and 8.
“I want a lot of speed upfront and space to run into on the counter attack. But I do not want to say too much because [the technical staff of] Suriname and Haiti can read what I say,” Saintfiet told Wired868.
“I had a personal meeting with Kenwyne last week and I discussed privately with him the reason why we took that decision. The criteria for the selection of players are our tactical ideas and choices we want to use against Suriname and Haiti”.
Jones is a former Sunderland and Stoke City forward who leaves for pre-season with new United States Major League Soccer (MLS) franchise, Atlanta United FC, January one.
He scored Central FC’s decisive second goal in a two-one win over W Connection on Monday and has scored 16 goals in 35 matches for T&T under former coach Stephen Hart.
However Jones has converted just two goals from eight games in the Russia 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign so far.
“Kenwyne is not out of the squad for good. I will follow up with how he performs [with Central FC] and how he performs with [his new MLS employers] Atlanta,” said Saintfiet.
“I have not yet an answer for the [identity of the] new captain. I want to talk better to the players…
We still have some doubts about availability of players [for the Gold Cup playoffs].”
The 28 players selected include 16 from the Trinidad and Tobago Pro League.