PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, Dec 15, CMC – Kenwyne Jones said he had no ill-will towards new Trinidad & Tobago Soca Warriors head coach Tom Saintfiet, after his shocking omission from a 28-member squad to prepare for two international friendlies at the end of the month.
Saintfiet stunned the T&T football community when he failed to name Jones, the incumbent national captain, in a training squad ahead of matches against Nicaragua on December 27 and 30 in Managua.
“I wish the team all the best,” the 32-year-old striker told the T&T Newsday. “It is nothing surprising to me. I had a meeting with the coach and obviously that is not a squad that he picked, so at the end of the day, I wish the team all the best and I hope that they come out successful in the games coming up.”
Jones, who played for Southampton, Sunderland, Stoke City and Cardiff City in the World-renowned English Premier League, said he still harboured the desire to play for the Soca Warriors again.
“I don’t think that is a question,” he said. “I have represented T&T in good times and bad times. The hunger is always there to represent T&T. I don’t think that has ever changed.
“I don’t feel animosity to anybody. At the end of the day, everybody has their reasons for whatever selection and whatever process. He is the coach. Again, obviously, he is new here, so he is probably getting help picking the squad.”
Jones was a member of the Soca Warriors side that made history when they qualified for the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany.
He said he would not be drawn into being a distraction to the side and would focus on working his way back into the line-up.
“I mean a lot could be said about a lot of things and how people going about things, but at the end of the day, I am a footballer first,” he said. “As someone usually says, ‘It is what it is’.
“I am not going to say anything to make it seem as if I have a bad taste in my mouth or sour grapes. I have represented T&T in good times (and) in bad times to the best of my ability under good circumstances, under bad circumstances, so me talking about any ills or wrongdoings. . .now definitely is not the time for that.
“I am still a player and moreover I want to see the country do well. The time for that small talk will be at some point in time in life.”
The Soca Warriors are currently fifth in the final hexagonal of CONCACAF qualification for the 2018 World Cup.
CMC bb/16