Yorke has message for Cavalier’s Auvray

WHILE TONGUES have wagged about the snubbing of Cavalier’s Kaïlé Auvray from the almost all-local Trinidad and Tobago national squad for two friendlies in Jamaica, the coach Dwight Yorke has a message for the midfielder.

Yorke, who spoke to the media after a 0-1 loss to Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz on Thursday, said his scouting of the right players to improve his squad ahead of Gold Cup preliminaries and World Cup qualifiers later this year is ongoing and that no call now, doesn’t mean no call ever.

“Any player who thinks he has been overlooked; he’s not alone,” said Yorke.

Auvray’s Cavalier are fifth in the Jamaica Premier League standings on 37 points, one below Portmore United on 38.

The 20-year-old has been moving around the academy circuit for a few years, going from Lille’s academy in France to Minnesota United’s as an 18-year-old in 2022, before again moving to Sporting Kansas’ academy in the United States the following year.

In 2023, he played for Trinidad and Tobago in a 1-0 win against Jamaica and likely got onto the radar of club teams in the island. He had, in fact, moved from Minnesota to Mount Pleasant Academy in Jamaica just a few months before that friendly but by 2024, Cavalier had become his home.

Not one of the players who dominates the statistics at Cavalier, he’s only scored one goal in 21 games, but his value to the team’s ability to turn defence into attack from his left-wing play cannot be understated.

Those statistics may be the reason he isn’t in Yorke’s plans at the moment, but according to the T&T legend, he may not get his squad selections right all the time.

“If anybody needs to be blamed, I’ll take full responsibility for that. I’m in that position at the moment,” said Yorke.

“We’re not going to get all the decisions right,” he said.

While Yorke doesn’t seem to have had Auvray in his plans, he says the former France under-17 player, who also played for the United States at the age-group level, should not stop looking for his chances.

“My message is keep your head up. It is going to be a year’s journey,” said Yorke of Auvray, who also turned out for St Martin, the birthplace of his father in a 0-2 loss to guess who, Trinidad and Tobago.

“If you’re available and good enough and if [you] continue to do what [you have] been doing, there is only so much one can be overlooked,” said Yorke.

T&T play the second game of those friendlies tonight at the Anthony Spaulding Sports Complex at 8.