Young Soca Warriors touch down in Seoul.
By: Shaun Fuentes (TTFF).[/size]
Trinidad and Tobago’s National Under 17 team made a much awaited arrival into Seoul Korea for this month’s FIFA Under 17 World Championship just after 5pm (8am T&T Time) on Monday ahead of its opening Group E game against African giants Ghana a week from now.
The team, under head of delegation, manager Christopher Gouveia and head coach Anton Corneal was met by a small delegation in Seoul before being police escorted on its bus ride to Cheonan, a two hour drive from the airport. Cheonan will host T&T’s two games against Ghana and Colombia. The arrival which had little fanfare is expected to be the same for all teams with the real fireworks starting when hosts Korea play Peru in one of the opening day of games on Saturday in Suwon. Also expected to arrive later in the week is FIFA Vice President Jack Warner plus TTFF General Secretary Richard Groden as well as a local steel band, 21 parents of the team players and another group of supporters.
The 21 players and 11 staff members got a first sight of the German team which was making its way to training just as the young “Soca Warriors” arrived at the Onyang Hot Spring Hotel. Corneal did manage to get a 45-minute session which was taken charge of by trainer Gilbert Bateau at the Shin Jung-ho Park a short distance from the hotel which will be occupied by all four teams in T&Ts Group E.
“It’s been a long wait to be here after we qualified in Jamaica in early May and this is what we have waited for… just getting here and getting a feel of things as a team before we play our first game on Monday,” Corneal told TTFF Media.
“I think we are in the right frame of mind and being here will have some impact on the mood of the team and its focus over the next few days. It’s no time to relax and feel well Korea is still some time away. We are here now and we are days away from what is the biggest stage at this level of the game. This is where the future begins and players are made or broken and we will emphasize over the next few days.”
Cheonan itself has a population of just over 460,000 and has a lot of mountains which made the settings at Monday’s training park similar to one close to the Northern Range back home. And the food too was nothing strange to the team. The basic ingredients were there to ensure a balanced meal with rice, chicken, beef, steamed vegetables, pasta and a lot of fruits making up the menu.
Also on Monday evening, each member of the T&T staff headed by manager Gouveia and head coach Corneal also signed forms for FIFA with regards to non betting, proper ethics and fair play during the tournament.
This is the grand Under 17 stage and according to Argentina's 2006 FIFA World Cup coach Jose Pekerman, the FIFA U-17 World Cup provides youngsters with the ideal preparation for long and successful international careers. It is a sentiment shared by current Brazil tactician Dunga.
The statistics certainly support their belief. Sixty-seven of the participating players at the 2006 FIFA World Cup were graduates of the biennial youth event, including three who turned out for Italy's triumphant side in the final.
“The 504 teenagers set to showcase their talents in Korea will have doubtlessly fantasized about one day competing for the trophy that the Italian trident, Nigerians Nwankwo Kanu, Carlos Tevez (out of the 2001 Finals in Trinidad) along with Emmanuel Petit and Ronaldinho, have proudly raised aloft. For some, this opportunity is sure to come as early as South Africa 2010,” a FIFA.com report added.
Soccer parents off to World Cup.
By: Ian Prescott (Express).[/size]
"How many people get to say, 'I saw my son play football at a World Cup'. 'It's a hell of an opportunity. It's generally a feeling of pride for oneself and also Trinidad and Tobago. It has been three years we have been with the under-15's, during which time I have seen this team evolve. As parents, it has been a case of out-and-out full support for this team, and we hope the authorities would do the same."
Chris Da Silva is one of 21 parents of the players on the Trinidad and Tobago national under-17 football team-the "Young Warriors"- who leave today for South Korea to support the squad at the FIFA Under-17 World Cup which takes place from August 18-September 9.
Today, they head for JFK airport in New York city, where they will overnight before taking the 15-hour flight to South Korea tomorrow. After arriving in the capital Seoul, the group will also visit the cities of Cheonan and Changwon, where T&T's matches will be played.
They are likely to be joined by a T&T steelband which is being sent by a Government ministry, and possibly other nationals going to the matches on a local charter.
Chris' son, Sean Da Silva is a midfielder with the team. And conscious that the only other T&T youth football team to qualify for a World Cup did so 17 years ago (1990), he felt this might be a once-in-a lifetime opportunity. From the moment he realised that T&T would qualify, a decision was made that the family would be going to South Korea. So, he along with wife Lorraine, their children, and Sean's grandmother June Pollonais, father Sean will be there to support the "Young Warriors."
"I think a precedent was set by last year's World Cup in Germany. We love football. And, the Government has made it possible for a lot of us to be there....It would not have been possible for a lot of the parents to be there otherwise," the elder Da Silva said. "Even in Jamaica, where the team qualified, there were 14 of us. "
The parents head for South Korea confident that their boys can overcome the odds and be competitive in their preliminary games against Ghana (August 10), Colombia (August 23) and Germany (August 26). The results of a recent Holland tour during which the team was hammered 6-2, before bouncing back with a 5-0 win, have not daunted Da Silva's faith in the team.
"Most of us feel that the boys will get to the next round," he says.
"It was just this feeling that was there in Jamaica when the team qualified and is still there. We feel that they will compete. I think when went they went up there (Holland), the first game was an eye opener. From then on, I think they realised that the tournament standard would be very high and they adjusted to that in the second game they played. "
Da Silva says that the camaraderie built between parents, players and the team's technical staff is such, that a collaborative effort was made to get the team's assistant manager, Oswald Davis, to South Korea. Davis, aka, "Danny', has been the main person laising with the parents and players during the past few years. He even housed players at his home. But, Davis was not selected among the technical staff of the team which left for Holland on a pre-tournament tour on Sunday, August 4, because FIFA only paid the way for five officials. It was only this weekend, after last ditch efforts were made, that some of the $38,000 needed was raised to get the assistant manager to join the team.
"Danny will be going to the World Cup, but not because of the Trinidad and Tobago Football federation or the Government," Da Silva said.
"The boys and the technical staff put together their stipends so that Danny could be with the team in South Korea as well. It was announced that Danny and the teacher will be going along with the parents. Then they got cut off the list. Imagine that!! They don't understand how close Danny is to the team. Danny has been assistant manager with the team for two years. They don't understand what a close-knit family this team is. The boys were very upset. "
In Korea though, the entire T&T under-17 "family" will be reunited, come what may.
