PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC)

Blacklisted members of the Trinidad & Tobago men's national team have now been cleared for selection.

This follows a meeting between the T&T Football Federation and the Football Players' Association of T&T last week when it was decided that the dispute between the two sides over World Cup payments will be sent to arbitration.

"When the proposal was made we both agreed that it was the best thing not just for this case, but for T&T football," remarked T&T net-minder Shaka Hislop, the president of the Football Players' Association of T&T, in a statement.

"There is no telling how long this could have dragged on for had we gone to court. Going to arbitration means that there will be a quickest possible end to the matter. The best players are now available to the head coach and from the players' side we are very happy with this."

Hislop added that the blacklisted players were all keen to return to international football, since qualification for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa is the most important thing in all of their eyes.

"The players now being available is what we have asked for and it should always be entirely up to the head coach to decide his team and we are happy to hear this is how it will be from here on," the FPATT president said.

"We are happy with proceedings and look forward to the next step in the next few months."

Commenced efforts

Yesterday morning, Soca Warriors head coach Wim Rijsbergen was back on the training pitch at the Ato Boldon Stadium as he commenced efforts to get a team ready for the international friendly away to El Salvador on October 17.

Rijsbergen, after inviting 19 players for training, maintained that the list was not the actual squad for the international game, but simply a pool from which players would be considered. He was, however, thrilled about hearing that the blacklisted players were now available for selection.

"It's wonderful to hear of that agreement at the moment that everybody is eligible again and now it's up to the coaches to decide which ones to use and when to use them," Rijsbergen said.

He noted it would be difficult, however, to consider any of the players for next month's match because it was too short notice.

"We may not be able to get these players for the next game," he said. "But for the future, I think it's good and, of course, it has to be in the interest of the teams, the federation and coaches.

"We are, of course, still looking for a pool of local players and that's what we have been doing with the games. We will be looking to see if it's important to see if we can bring in the players and whether it's necessary at the time."