http://www.guardian.co.tt/sport/2011/11/09/warriors-arrive-georgetown-ready-cage-golden-jaguars‘Warriors’ arrive in Georgetown ready to cage Golden JaguarsPublished: Wed, 2011-11-09 18:57
T&T senior footballers will have their first feel of the playing surface at the Providence National Stadium this morning ahead of tomorrow’s all important 2014 World Cup Concacaf Group B Second Round qualifier against Guyana from 8 pm. This after the 20-man squad led by captain Kenwyne Jones of England’s Stoke City touched down at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport in Guyana, yesterday morning.
Soca Warriors’ coach Germany’s Otto Pfister later put his charges through a mid-evening training session at the nearby Police Grounds. Looking ahead to tomorrow’s encounter, which the Soca Warriors cannot afford to lose, Slovakia-based striker Lester Peltier, still brimming from his hat-trick in the previous 4-0 win over Barbados, said the host will prove to be a sterner test for the visiting team.
Peltier mesmerised the Guyanese defence in a 1-1 draw in a friendly back in September 2010 as T&T hit the wood-work three times but this time around the “Golden Jaguars” have changed up their ammunition and their attack is being plotted by T&T former women’s coach Jamaal Shabazz. “It’s different times now and the Guyana team has improved since the last time we played them so we have to be well prepared and ready to face a difficult challenge,” Peltier said.
“But I also believe that we have the drive and the belief to come here and do a job. We need a good result and then go back home and finish things off. Obviously they are at home in the first match and they hold that advantage but we’ve played outside before needing a good result and we have accomplished that. “I’d like to see us turn up with one of our better performances and play the football to get a positive finish,” added the AS Trencin player.
Soca Warriors assistant coach Anton Corneal scored a 68th minute goal to lead T&T to a 1-0 victory over Guyana at home while T&T won 4-0 Georgetown the last time the two countries met there in a World Cup qualifier in 1988 on the 1990 “Road to Italy” campaign.
Corneal believes that every player must be at 100 percent. “We have the potential to come here and get a result but we are also mindful of Guyana’s record and their capabilities. It’s a very big game for them and we need to avoid all forms of complacency. We also need to have every single member of our team to give it their all, give one hundred percent and dig deep when it becomes necessary during the match and that must go from the opening whistle,” Corneal said.
“In the past, we’ve had teams where a lot of people believed in and people also had little faith in. This team has a chance to prove that they must not be written off. “Our anniversary for the 2006 qualification is a few days away (November 16) and we had a team there that was led by a captain (Dwight Yorke) who led his team-mates by example, giving everything and enjoying one of his best spells in a national uniform and he got the rest of the team to give everything, especially when some may have expected them to falter.
“That kind of spirit and drive is what we need again and this match on Friday is the ideal time for us to show exactly the kind of mettle we are made of,” Corneal added.
T&T 20-man squad Marvin Phillip, Jan-Michael Williams, Carlyle Mitchell, Seon Power , Akeem Adams, Andrei Pacheco, Anthony Wolfe, Julius James, Keon Daniel , Osei Telesford, Hughtun Hector, Hayden Tinto, Khaleem Hyland, Lester Peltier, Carlos Edwards, Kendall Jagdeosingh, Kevin Molino,Chris Birchall , Stern John and Kenwyne Jones.