A 20-man Trinidad and Tobago national Under-20 team will leave this morning for Caracas, Venezuela, where they will play a series of warm-up matches as they continue preparations for the FIFA Under-20 World Championship in Egypt in September.

Head coach Zoran Vranes’s charges will come up against the national Under-20 teams of Brazil, Costa Rica, Paraguay and hosts Puerto La Cruz.

Egypt will also be taking part in the mini-tournament, called the Puerto La Cruz International U-20 Hexagonal, but they will not play T&T as both nations will face off in the opening match of the World Championship in Alexandria.

The tournament is being hosted by licensed FIFA match and player agents, World Eleven, who also assisted T&T in their build-up the 2006 World Cup Finals in Germany.

T&T’s Under-20s are also set to play several warm-up internationals, with a training camp in England scheduled for the coming weeks, as well as games against Tunisia, Malta and Australia.

In Venezuela, T&T will go into action tomorrow against Costa Rica and then face Brazil on Monday, followed by matches against Paraguay on Wednesday and Venezuela on Sunday July 26.

The schedule has coach Vranes excited.

’Well it’s a great chance for us to get some practice matches against very good opposition and this is what we need before we go to Egypt,’ Vranes told Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF) media officer Shaun Fuentes.

’Every player hopes for games like these and as coach I am also very mindful of how important it is to get these type of games. It is a big boost to our preparations because we need to see at what level we are at. The last tour was a good one and ended well for us with the 2-2 draw with Nigeria so we showed that we can compete. Now we know these games will not be easy, but we do our best to compete well and get the best out of the experience as we get ready for the tournament in Egypt,’ Vranes added.

Defender Akeem Adams, who made a second half appearance for the T&T senior team against St Kitts-Nevis last weekend, is in the squad, along with striker Trent Lougheed who also travelled and trained with coach Russell Latapy’s national team.

Back in the Under-20 line-up are striker Stephen Knox and Sheldon Bateau who did not make the last tour to Dubai, Nigeria and South Korea because of injury. Robert Primus and goalie Jesse Fullerton have also been selected for the trip to Venezuela.

Leston Paul, who goes off to the University of South Florida in January, is also in the mix, along with Qian Grosvenor and Sean De Silva, who are both also attached to the Joe Public Super League team.