Frank Yallop, manager of American MLS club San Jose Earthquakes, says his main hope for Cornell Glen is that the striker could be a fully fit starting player for the club all season. According to Yallop, if the ex-Jabloteh striker could avoid niggling injuries, then he could be a serious threat in the San Jose attack.
Glen has netted 35 goals in 69 MLS appearances which makes him a danger to opposing MLS club defences on any given day. But according to Yallop, there's always doubt over his fitness. "We want to get him fitter, so he doesn't get injured, but we don't want to push him too much," Yallop said. "That's the big issue. It's a tough one.
He unbalances defences," Yallop said. "I think he's done a nice job of running the line and being dangerous. He's always trying to get a breakaway. And he adds a different dimension to our team. It doesn't always equate to us winning, but it gives us a different look." Glen meantime, feels more matchtime will help his cause. "I'm probably 90 per cent," Glen said. "(The groin injury) is sore, but otherwise I'm doing ok. It's a matter of getting game time, match time and match fitness. Once I'm match fit, I think I can always perform well and help the team as best as I can. It's a matter of getting time in, week-in and week-out, and getting the body used to it."
Patterson signs for Aztex
United Soccer League's Division One club Austin Aztex has signed T&T US-born striker Randi Patterson from Crystal Palace Baltimore. Patterson was snapped up by the Texas-based club for an undisclosed transfer fee with his contract running through the rest of this season with an option for the 2011 season. The 25-year-old who made his debut for T&T in 2008, playing against El Salvador and also lined up in a 2-2 draw with Jamaica in Kingston that year, scored four goals in 17 matches for Baltimore. He joins fellow Trinidadians Yohance Marshall and Stephan Campbell at Aztex. He is a former player with Charleston Battery and New York Red Bulls.
Chile girls lose to Canada in World Cup warm up
Chile's under-17 women's footballers lost to Canada 2-0 in warm up match ahead of the Fifa Under-17 Women's World Cup on Sunday in Santiago. Canada, which drew 1-1 with T&T in March at the Manny Ramjohn Stadium, got their goals from Nicole Setterlund and Charlene Achille. Canada opened the scoring in the 26th minute when Setterlund, the team captain, headed a Chantale Campbell free kick into the Chilean net. Canada capped the scoring in the 79th minute. Substitute Ashley Lawrence made a run down the left flank and cut the ball back into the box, where Achille beat the Chilean goalkeeper. Canada was coming of a 1-1 draw with Chile on Thursday. The Chileans are preparing to face T&T in the tournament opener on September 5 at the Hasely Crawford Stadium. Soca Princesses love music before taking field. National Under-17 Women's team player Emma Abdul and Lauren Schmidt have contrasting ways of spending their time in the hours on the night before the kick-off of a football match. Both are recent additions to coach Even Pellerud's team and indicated they benefitted from the experience in Brazil which they think augurs well for the team ahead of the World Cup in September.
What does Emma do to get herself mentally ready for a kick off?
"The day before a game I normally write out all the things I should and shouldn't do on the field, and the day of the game I shut everything out and just listen to my iPod and focus," she said. Reflecting on the 1-1 draw with Brazil, she added : "The night before the game I think a few of us were nervous and anxious. For preparation, coach told us to be calm, composed and relaxed and focus on the game." Lauren usually goes into her "own world" with music coming through her headsets. "Personally I get really quiet and avoid conversations. I listen to a playlist of about 20 songs starting the day before the game. "If it finishes, I just restart it. I don't stop until right before I go out on the field. The music just pumps me up and gets me thinking about different aspects of my game. One of the last songs on the list is seven minutes of music without words. "This is the one where I really mentally prepare myself for the game. I also made sure to have everything I need to bring to the game out and ready to go the night before. This way in the morning I was able direct all of my thinking towards the game."
Maradonna to have Dwight impact
Reports in the Daily Telegraph and Fox Sports have likened the impact of Diego Maradona's arrival in Australia to what occurred when Dwight Yorke arrived in that country to join Sydney FC in 2005.
Yorke joined the club to help in its title ambitions and made a massive impact on their Australian A-League as match attendance numbers went up immediately and the ex-Manchester helped lift the profile of the country's football. "How about Diego Maradona as the next Socceroos coach?" the Telegraph stated. "Maradona transcends football, he transcends sport. As national coach, he would give us publicity that money can't buy.
Maradona coming here would be like what Sydney did with Dwight Yorke to kick off the A-League. Dwight put football in the social pages, gave the new competition a profile it hasn't enjoyed since. Maradona would be ten times bigger than that," the article added. In other news, Steve Bruce, once Yorke's manager at Birmingham City, is confident that another T&T striker, Kenwyne? Jones will be fit? for the start of the new Premiership season with Sunderland. "He's twisted his knee a little, but he'll be fine," Bruce said on Monday.
