By Neto Baptiste
Striker Ronaldo Flowers who plies his trade with Finnish Football Club, Pepo Lappeenranta, and midfielder Conor Hadeed who is currently attending the Florida State University, have been included in a 35-member senior men’s training squad, as the Antigua and Barbuda Football Association (ABFA) jumpstarts preparations for it’s 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign.
They are joined by leading marksman in this season’s Premier, Old Road’s Raheem Deterville, who has 20 strikes. Veteran midfielder Quinton Griffth is also named in the training squad alongside Swetes FC strikers Karique Kight and Shalon Knight.
Technical Director Sowerby Gomes said the players were chosen by a selection panel which included England-based head coach Mikele Leigertwood who recently spent time in Antigua.
“He also watched the under-20s in the Concacaf qualifying games that we had and I am talking about Mikele Leigertwood. He was also here for two weeks and watched the Premier Division league, he also had a three-day training camp with a number of players that he saw during the Concacaf under-20 and from that we have the list of players that would have been put together,” the TD said.
The Antigua and Barbuda Benna Boys are set to open their Group A campaign against Bermuda here on June 5. The other teams in Group A are Honduras, Cuba and Cayman Islands. The top two teams will advance from the group.
Neil Coachrane, deputy chair of the ABFA’s local organising committee, said fans will have an opportunity to see the players in action ahead of the World Cup campaign.
“We have two friendlies that we are finalising, one for the 11th of May and one for the 29th of May. We are talking to St Lucia for the 29th and the BVI for the 11th of May. The BVI are supposed to have a training camp here in Antigua during which they will play Antigua in a friendly. These are not official FIFA friendlies so it means that we have capacity and we won’t have a limitation on the amount of people allowed to come in to watch the games and stuff like that so we will keep the public abreast of that,” he said.
Full training squad
Goalkeepers: Brent Parker – Grenades, FC, Zaieem Scott – Green City, Shahoi Dorsett – Villa FC, Jayden Martin – All Saints United.
Defenders: Vashami Allen – Grenades FC, Keiron Richards – Grenades FC, Roneba Cordice – All Saints United, Zafique Drew – All Saints United, Dorien Cole – All Saints United, Jahzime Bartley – Greenbay Hoppers FC, Timothy Sanasie – SAP FC, Tarek Charles – Garden Stars FC, Jayden Francis – Villa FC, Cardel Roberts – Villa FC.
Midfielders: Quinton Griffith – Grenades FC, Tarik Hughes – Villa Lions FC, Kwame Kirby – Villa Lions FC, Dajari Barthley – Villa Lions FC, Shavon Phillip – Old Road FC, Sean Tomlinson – All Saints United, Kenduka Challenger – All Saints United, Zaheim Green – Empire FC, Darryl Masicot – Jennings United, Conor Hadeed – Florida Southern College.
Forwards: Raheem Deterville – Old Road FC, Javorn Stevens – Greenbay Hoppers FC, Eugine Kirwan – Grenades FC, Tyrique Tongue – SAP FC, Ronaldo Flowers – Pepo Lappeenranta FC, D’andre Bishop – All Saints United, Eroy Gonsalves – Villa Lions FC, Karique Knight – Swetes FC, Shalon Knight – Swetes FC, Shafeeq Joseph – Swetes FC, Wilden Cornwall – Garden Stars FC.