Trinidad and Tobago’s senior footballers had a 45-minute run out on the Orange Bowl Stadium playing field on Monday after arriving in downtown Miami, checking in at the luxurious Intercontinental Hotel on Monday.
Head coach Leo Beenhakker was able to have a session with the “Warriors” on the field for the time which falls within the tournament’s stipulated rules and he will have a final day to rehearse at the University of Miami Ground on Wednesday ahead of the 9pm 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup opener against Honduras. The game will be the second of a double header with Panama facing Colombia in the earlier game which will also be witnessed by CONCACAF President Jack Warner who arrived in Miami on Sunday.
“Let’s get the job done,” Beenhakker said. “There are four teams in our group and everyone wants to win, so we must want it more and play for it.”
The 23-man squad enjoyed a relatively sunny day in Miami on Monday as the rest of the country enjoyed their Independence Day holiday. Only Carlos Edwards and Kenwyne Jones were being monitored for minor injuries which is not expected to affect them for matchday.
It’s also left to be seen whether Kelvin Jack will retain his place between the uprights from the two games against Panama and Mexico as it seems Beenhakker may not throw the returning Shaka Hislop into the starting team following his recent absence.
Nevertheless, Hislop continues to be an integral member in the team with his knowledge and experience and he sees the tournament as a “fantastic” form of preparation ahead of the remaining 2006 World Cup qualifiers.
“It’s been a good week and I have thoroughly enjoyed meeting up with the new coach and working with the guys again trying to get myself back into fitness and back into contention with the national team,” Hislop told TTFF Media as he settled in at the Intercontinental with roommate Jack.
“We are under two days before our first game and I am sure not the only one looking forward to it. Really it is a fantastic preparation for the World Cup qualifiers because our focus obviously has to be on qualifying for the World Cup. But you need to develop habits and winning is a habit and if we go out and do well in this tournament by winning our games and maybe even the tournament it will give us good habits. On the other hand, losing is a bad habit and being complacent is a bad habit. We have all know how hard it is to break a bad habit.”
Hislop also recalled his last appearance against Honduras which T&T won 1-0 in a World Cup qualifier following the death of teammate Mickey Trotman back in 2001.
“They were in pole position to qualify for the World Cup and up to that point we hadn’t won a game. We went there and surprised them even after Brent Rahim was sent off after 25 minutes combined with the untimely death of a good friend in Mickey (Trotman), seemed ready to galvanize the team. But we came out of that on a good note by putting together a performance that I felt we were always capable of but yet always came up short on the day. That shows why things have been disappointing and we have always been wanting to put things together and I think there is no better time than now to really get it right and demonstrate what we can do,” added the former West Ham United custodian who added that he has been linked with a lot of clubs and expects to sign a new deal before month end.