Warner: T&T U-20s best-prepared national team.
By: Mark Pouchet (T&T Express).
Members of the Trinidad and Tobago national Under-20 team, preparing for the FIFA U-20 World Cup which kicks off in Egypt on September 24, were presented with laptops and a cheque for $150,000 at a send-off function and dinner hosted by the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF) on Friday night at the Crowne Plaza, Wrightson Road, Port of Spain.
And TTFF special adviser Jack Warner announced that while grateful for the help from Government, he and his organisation had invested $11 million in the development of the current squad to have them prepared properly for the upcoming global event and to make the transition to the national senior team for the World Cups in 2014 and 2018.
The T&T U-20 squad depart today for a ten-day camp in England before heading to Turkey, then Cyprus to play against Australia and England, before landing in Egypt two days before the tournament's opening game against the hosts in Alexandria.
Minister of Sport and Youth Affairs Gary Hunt, one of many specially-invited guests at Friday's event, made the presentation of the lap tops to each of the members of the team and informed them that the Ministry would be disbursing a cheque for $150,000, originally intended for the national senior team, to the "Young Soca Warriors".
In a brief address, Hunt said the 2009 Under-20 World Cup was the start of an "odyssey" for the young footballers and praised them for their commitment to date, while advising the U-20 team to reflect their Warrior spirit in their performances.
Earlier, TTFF president Oliver Camps echoed those same sentiments in his speech.
In his turn at the microphone, Warner, the final speaker, revealed that this was the best prepared national team...ever.
"No other team in this country has been prepared the way this team has been...and this has been done and we have spent a little more than $11 million on them and that does not include the Minister's $150,000 and lap tops. I 'm saying when you add that you may get $12 million," he said to laughter from the audience.
Warner said the investment will bear fruit in better national senior teams.
"But the point I am making to you is we have invested this in them not for the now but for the hereafter because this is the team that will make us proud in 2014. And many a time we are accused, and Mr Camps and I take blows left, right and centre, I think he is lucky because sometimes he can say 'I'm on both sides of the fence', because the fact is we are accused of lack of planning possibly because we don't plan enough but for this team for 2014...for the 2018 World Cup that President Obama wants in the US, they can't accuse us of lack of planning," exclaimed the FIFA vice-president.
Warner said the send-off event was one of the proudest moments in his life because he had grown with the team for six years and the investment had been made in the Young Soca Warriors "all in an effort to become highly competitive".
Chairman of the FIFA Under-20 World Cup, Warner also advised that he and All Sport Promotions managing director Anthony Harford would sit down and come up with a plan to get more supporters, especially parents of members of the national squad, to Egypt, as well as attempt to secure sponsorship from local or foreign businesses for a school steelband to attend the tournament.
He also stated that the President of T&T or the Prime Minister would have a place, as would youngster Shaquille Frame, who earlier in the night was thanked for his special contribution to the team and who Warner said had to continue his influence with the Under-20s.
Warner also advised that the TTFF had taken the decision to release the patent on the "Soca Warrior" brand so that it can now be used with any national sports team.
In closing, Warner advised the young charges to forget their past accomplishments and focus on the task ahead.
"It is not how good you are, it is how good you want to be and the only way to tell how good you want to be is by how you play in Egypt," he concluded.
