T&T U-17s take centre stage.
...Game on with two time champions.
By: Shaun Fuentes (TTFF).[/size]
From 7am Trinidad and Tobago time on Monday, this country’s new generation of international footballers will sing the national anthem in front of a global audience and 26,000 fans at the Cheonan Sports Complex when it suits up to tackle two-time world champions Ghana in the second game of a double header at the FIFA Under 17 World Championship in Korea.
After booking a place in the Finals along with four other CONCACAF nations in early May, coach Anton Corneal’s team will walk on to the pitch knowing very well that the world will be watching as it recalls the lasting impressions of the “Soca Warriors” at Germany 2006 just over a year ago.
There will be butterflies around captain Leston Paul and his teammates but after Corneal completed a final training session on Sunday evening when he worked on finishing on goal and routine defensive drills, the former T&T national was far from feeling pressured before the 8pm (Korean time) kick off.
“We are under no pressure whatsoever and we must use this to our advantage,” Corneal told TTFF Media. “Of course it’s only natural to be anxious and for young boys I am quite sure they will preview the game when they go to bed tonight and there will be some form of nervousness but it’s nothing that we will not be able to handle. We will of course not take our opponents lightly by any means. Our message to Ghana will be welcome to Trinidad and Tobago and we will show them what we have to offer,” Corneal added.
Ghana head coach Sellas Tetteh, an assistant coach with Ghana’s senior team at the 2006 World Cup, said he will not underestimate the Caribbean boys. He took over the position from Fred Duodu just around six weeks ago and is hopeful of guiding the African nation to the success they tasted in 1991 and 1995. They have played in seven Under 17 World Championships dating back to 1989 while T&T appeared once in the past as hosts in 2001 where they scored two goals against Brazil and Croatia under ex-coach Rene Simoes. Nkosi Blackman and Jerol Forbes were the marksmen then.
“We are under pressure to perform because we were world champions two times and my people back home feel that we need to repeat that,” Tetteh told TTFF Media. “I certainly believe that any country that has qualified for the World Cup is a good team. We have seen information on the net and videos but we don’t think that will decide it. This is the group of death and we have to stay focused. Trinidad and Tobago is a team that people expect to be a surprise but I don’t see it that way… I think they will be contenders.”
Striker Kelvin Bossman of English Premiership club Reading is their key player but Tetteh said his entire team will going for a positive result. “I am not looking at him alone. It’s a collective effort. I don’t want to talk about any key player.”
And Tetteh, while knowing that T&T is a multi-ethnic nation, realizes that the majority of the team comprises of black players and he welcomed the opportunity to share the same playing field with them.
“I feel so good to see this. We have to look at it that we are both blacks. When I see them in the hotel I try to greet them and they do the same. It’s lovely to see us blacks coming to play together,” added Tetteh who added he expected T&T to play a similar style to Haiti.
T&T’s play will be organized by Paul in the middle of the park while strikers Stephen Knox and Daniel Joseph will need to deliver up front if T&T are to compete for a result. Daneil Cyrus, forward turned central stopper is expected to marshal the back line while goalie Glenroy Samuel will be hoping to continue his outstanding form from the qualifiers. Winger Micah Lewis and midfielder Chike Sullivan should also add some zest to the T&T attack with support from roving winger Jean Luc Rochford and Kevin Molino. Marcus Joseph is also a hustling attacker and could be called upon by Corneal to help T&T push forward.
Both camps have reported full fit teams for the encounter which will have FIFA Vice President Jack Warner among the dignitaries looking on from the inside.
In the earlier game of the double header, fellow Group F teams Germany and Colombia will clash three hours earlier.
Captain Paul: We will go all out.
By: Shaun Fuentes (TTFF). “This really is the biggest game of our lives.”That was the first response coming from National Under 17 football team captain Leston Paul when asked what his feelings were ahead of Monday’s opening Group F encounter against Ghana in Cheonan.
Paul will carry his team’s hopes as they tackle the two-time champions from 7am T&T Time and he did confess, like lead striker Stephen Knox, that the occasion was causing anxious moments for the young “Soca Warriors”.
He followed T&T’s exploits in last summer’s World Cup Germany, wondering what the experience would be like and today he is getting set to lead the country onto a similar stage.
And while defeating Jamaica in May would be his most memorable moment to date, he is keen to put another experience atop the list of memories.
“I’m just thinking about playing to the best of our ability and getting over the game. I think the worst result we can have is a draw. We know the situation with Ghana. They won the World Cup twice but we are just prepared to go out there tomorrow and play with all heart and come away with a win and if not, a draw for the least,” Paul told TTFF Media.
“Coach Corneal stepped up the training but we also stepped up our game and made a promise to give our all. This is the biggest game of our lives so we have to go all out. Most of the guys were nervous today but we have been joking around just to really get those butterflies away. I just want to say (to the fans back home) to believe in us because we will give of our best,” added the Mayaro- born midfielder.
Striker Knox had similar feelings. Goals win matches and Knox knows that fact all too well.
“I’m being cool and play to the best of my ability and take the chances when they come. Our session today was a relaxed one so I don’ think there should be any worries about not finishing well in the session. We don’t need to feel out any team… we need to run hard from the start of the game,” Knox added.
He added the big stage is putting some pressure on him with offers at stake.
“Yes of course but I’m more focused on doing well with the team so hopefully that will take care of any nervousness.”
Photos, compliments of Shaun Fuentes (TTFF).
