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Trinidad and Tobago’s had their final training session and their first at the Estadío Rommel Fernandez on Friday night and will be indoors at the Riande Aeropuerto Hotel for all of Saturday before taking the 20 minute drive to the venue from 6:15 pm for the crucial encounter against Panama from 8pm (9pm T&T time).


Head coach Leo Beenhakker and his men rested their legs for much of Friday which as expected took up pace on the eve of the weekend as the hotel lobby was occupied throughout with guests and the traffic on the roads increased from the past four days the “Warriors” have been in town.

The conditions dampened too as the rains came down from early Friday and lasted until about mid afternoon. It also rained around 8pm on Thursday night after the team returned from training at the National Stadium. Soon after dinner, the time was right for a few games of pool especially after Beenhakker left the breakfast time open until 10 am. Skipper Dwight Yorke, Russell Latapy and Stern John were the sharp shooters with Kelvin Jack and Shaka Hislop not doing too badly themselves. Yorke eventually finished with the most wins.

While the mood in camp has been an upbeat one, there has been no room for complacency and Beenhakker ensured this as was evident in Thursday evening’s training session.

Fielding what appeared to be his starting eleven, the Dutch-born coach was pumped up after observing perfect possession play and crisp passing. For the first time in the camp he had been raising his voice as if to say “Yes boys this is what I have been asking for all the while.”

In fact, in the middle of a water break, “This is how we must play the football,” Beenhakker shouted.

Midfield maestro Russell Latapy was also shaking his dreads saying “We go kill them” referring to the T&T players in the yellow bibs but also as if to say that the Panamanians would be in for a killing on Saturday night. The only possible change could be Densill Theobald coming in for Aurtis Whitley. There were no injury worries in the camp with only midfielder Chris Birchall receiving a knock on the instep earlier in the week but he was back in training by Wednesday evening without any discomfort.

The T&T presence will be further felt when the BWIA charter flight touches down about two hours before kick off with 150 odd fans backed by Angostura Woodbrook Playboys Steel Orchestra and Laventille Rhythm Section, all courtesy TSTT, Ministry of Sport and the 2006 Local Organizing Committee. And once things go as planned, the same plane will arrive at Piarco around 5:25 am Sunday full of smiling passengers including all members of  the T&T team. FIFA Vice President Jack Warner will also be among the T&T faithful as well as Honourable President George Maxwell Richards and other officials.

“Gentlemen we must want it more than ever and we must be ready from now,” Beenhakker said. “Don’t expect to get yourselves feeling ready on Friday or on the day of the match because you will never be able to give one hundred percent in the game. Think back at all our away matches and you will see that we have played only in the second half. But now  we must do it from the start and finish at the end. The bad news is that we have not done that so far but the good news is that we can still do it.”

Yorke was feeling good about a win on Saturday.

“Things have gone well so far. Aside from a couple little things that you will also get when you are playing away, everything else has been fine. It’s up to us to play the kind of football  and get the result that we all want to achieve. I don’t believe that anyone will go out there and not do what is needed to achieve this,” Yorke told TTFF Media. In the 2001 semi final round match up with Panama, Yorke scored  a hattrick in his first game as captain in the 6-0 win at the Queen’s Park Oval. Of course, Panama have come a good way since then but Beenhakker has also lifted the “Warriors” and the “Little Magician” was not on the field on that overcast day at the Oval due to suspension.

Derby City striker Stern John certainly will not mind scoring again following his first half strike in the 2-0 win in Port of Spain.

“Goals win matches and that’s what we need to do. Whether it’s me or one of the other players, the main thing is that we must do whatever it takes to get three points and once I can contribute to getting it then that’s what matters,” he said.
Panama’s coach Jose Hernandez is not backing down easily though.

“We will try to make a tough game for them. No team will want to lose and we intend to play a good game of football. T&T must earn a result and we are at home so we won’t just sit and let them get three points,” he said. Canadian Mauricio Navarro will carry the whistle on the night.