Warriors arrive in Nashville in search of more points.
By: Shaun Fuentes (TTFF).Trinidad and Tobago’s Senior Footballers inclusive of English-based duo Chris Birchall and goalkeeper Clayton Ince, both back from suspension, settled in Nashville after arriving there on Sunday night for the upcoming 2010 World Cup qualifier against the United States at 7:45pm (TT Time).
Captain Dwight Yorke also traveled with the squad and will take part in training despite his ineligibility for Wednesday’s encounter.
The team arrived in two batches after taking connecting flights out of Atlanta before checking in at the Hilton Hotel in Nashville. The players spent most of early Monday off their legs with Francisco Maturana carding a training session for 6:30pm (7:30pm TT Time) at the Trevecca College Ground in what has been relatively chilly conditions here.
T&T’s goalscorer in Saturday’s draw, Khaleem Hyland spoke about the team’s mood going into Wednesday’s clash at the LP Stadium, describing it as upbeat.
“I feel right now we are in a confident mood but at the same time we know how difficult it’s going to be because America never likes losing a game, especially at home,” Hyland told TTFF Media on Monday.
“But our team knows how important a good result will be. We have to be confident because we are away from home. Getting the point on Saturday was still good because remained unbeaten. I think we need to stay organized for as long as possible in Wednesday’s game and take our chances as they come. We also need to ensure we don’t give them too many easy opportunities,” added the Belgium-based player.
Brighton midfielder Chris Birchall is back in the squad following his one match suspension and he is eagerly awaiting the chance to have a go at the Americans.
“I haven’t had a chance really to have a go at them in World Cup qualifiers away from home so hopefully this opportunity will present itself and I can make something happen for us,” Birchall said.
“I’m really worked up for this one and I think if we can show that kind of fight that we did earlier in the campaign, especially as we did in our away matches then our chances of gaining something here in Nashville can be really good. Win, lose or draw the spirit in our team is always a good one so I don’t think it would be right to say that we are too disappointed with having not won against Honduras but at the same time we know how critical this game on Wednesday is for us and we need to be up for the challenge,” he added.
Currently there are no injury worries in the camp following Saturday’s draw with all players traveling including back up goalkeeper Marvin Phillip with only Glenroy Samuel and Ataullah Guerra being left home.
Meantime US National Team head coach Bob Bradley has added Chivas USA defender Jonathan Bornstein to the roster for the USA's World Cup qualifier against Trinidad & Tobago.
Bornstein has 14 career appearances for the full team, and was on the roster for the USA's 2-0 win against Mexico to open final round qualifying. He has one World Cup qualifying cap to his credit, a start in the 2-0 win against Guatemala on Nov. 19, 2008, to close out the semifinal round.
More than 17,000 tickets have been sold for USA-Trinidad & Tobago, presented by Dodge, on April 1 at LP Field in Nashville. Kickoff is set for 6:45 p.m CT live on ESPN2 and Galavision.
U.S. defender Oguchi Onyewu, who had started six of the USA’s nine qualifiers for 2010 so far, will missed their 2-2 draw with El Salvador because of a knee strain in training but is expected to be fit for Wednesday while goalie Tim Howard is back from a one game suspension.
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