Colombian coach not taking T&T lightly.
By: Shaun Fuentes (TTFF).[/size]
Colombia National Under 17 head coach Eduardo Lara has already warned his players not to underestimate Trinidad and Tobago as they look ahead to their clash next Thursday in Cheonan.
The Colombians are also based at the Onyang Hot Springs Hotel along with T&T, Germany and Ghana and speaking with fifa.com at their offices here, Lara said his team would be going all out to better it’s fourth spot finish at the 2003 Championship in Finland.
"Our goal is to finish on the podium and improve on what we did in 2003. The players are going into the tournament with that mindset and we'll all be striving to achieve that," Lara has said repeatedly. “The boys showed their maturity on that occasion, but they'll have to demonstrate it again at the World Cup if they want to go far.”
He did add that T&T’s athleticism is an aspect his team is cautious of.
“The Germans are a very European side - physically very strong with a lot of options in attack. With that being our first game, we can expect the usual opening-day nerves. The T&T players are more athletic and have brought on many aspects of their game, so we can't take anything for granted their either. As for the African sides, they always prove a handful in this category."
Meantime, T&T trained twice again on Wednesday and will be back on the training pitch on Thursday under what has been customary conditions for the players. The Germans meantime have complained about the high temperatures, arriving here straight from Germany. They whipped a local High School eleven 6-0 on Tuesday while T&T got past the senior team of local semi-professional club Kyung Shin Junsun by a 4-1 scoreline. There are some niggling players with a couple of the players but according to team doctor Mario John, it’s nothing serious enough to affect who is eligible for Anton Corneal’s starting eleven against Ghana on Monday.
And away from the field, the T&T contingent has also been catching up a bit on what Korea has to offer. A walk into one of the main streets in Cheonan was on the schedule for the team the previous morning which fell on a national holiday to celebrate the establishment of the independent Korean Government in 1948.
The first things that catch your eyes upon arrival are the countless neon crosses all over the city. The symbol of Christianity is so prevalent one might be confused if this is really a Far Eastern country. But don't be. Only around a fourth of the population are Christians, and more or less the same number of people are Buddhist.
And the members of the team also got a chance to try out one of the Korean national dishes at the Onyang Hotel. The famous Korean food, kimchi is a traditional fermented dish made of seasoned vegetables. There are various versions of kimchi, depending on what it is made of (cabbage, radish, or cucumber), and what kind of seasonings used (chilli pepper, salt, garlic, or even oysters). Some might say kimchi is too hot and spicy to swallow, but the Koreans cannot live without it and it’s certainly not too hot for the T&T boys. Saying “Annyong” is also a common saying for either hello or goodbye and the young “Soca Warriors” have said it throughout and while it goes along with a gentle bow of the head, Paul and company definitely will not stopping to any of their opponents from next week.
