Last goodbye for hero Yorke.
By: Ian Law (Sunderland Echo).[/size]
Trinidad & Tobago hope Sunderland midfielder Dwight Yorke will come out of international retirement so that his countrymen can give him a proper farewell. Yorke called time on his T&T career for a second time in March so that he could concentrate on helping Sunderland back to the Premiership.
The 35-year-old had previously retired in 2001, only to make a comeback and take part in last summer's World Cup finals.
Now Concacaf – the region's version of Uefa – hope to make a special award to Yorke, the most famous player in the history of Caribbean football.
T&T spokesman Shaun Fuentes told the Echo: "Concacaf want to honour Dwight for his contribution, not just to Trinidad but to his clubs and to all of football in this region.
"It was felt that we should ask Dwight to come back one last time and go out with a bang.
"The Concacaf president Mr Jack Warner has tried to make contact, but Dwight has not responded yet.
"It would be special if he could come back for a big farewell.
"Dwight is still a massive influence here, even though he made his decision to retire from international football."
Yorke won 59 official international caps but played in more than 100 T&T games that weren't recognised by Fifa as competitive matches.
He led a rebellion by T&T players over a row about World Cup payments and has not played for his country since the conflict blew up in October, when he scored in a 5-0 friendly win over St Vincent and the Grenadines.
The Soca Warriors host the inaugural Digicel Shield at the end of this month, also involving Cuba and Haiti and Mexico's Olympic team.
They then head for America to compete in the Concacaf Gold Cup from June 6, facing USA, El Salvador and Guatemala in the initial group stage.
"I am quite hopeful that Dwight will come back and appear in the Digicel Shield and perhaps the start of the Gold Cup," said Fuentes.
"Every young footballer in Trinidad dreams of following Dwight into the Premiership and he has made them believe their dreams can come true."
Sunderland winger Carlos Edwards is also in the Soca Warriors' squad for the Digicel Shield and Gold Cup.
He was troubled again by his shoulder injury in the Black Cats' rousing end to the season at Luton earlier this month, but Fuentes said: "Carlos has made himself available.
"The national team is already in training and Carlos has not reported yet, but we are sure he will soon be with us.
"It is great for Trinidad football to have Dwight, Carlos and Stern John back in the Premiership with Sunderland and we are all now following the club with special interest."
Meanwhile, Yorke has warned fans not to raise their hopes too high for next season. "It has been a magnificent first season for the gaffer and expectations are now very hight for next year.
"I think we all have to take a bit of a step back and just realise what the boss has managed to do in such a short space of time.
"We have to realise that promotion was achieved very quickly, so I hope that doesn't send expectations through the roof.
"We have a lot of building to do and, as the gaffer says, we have not achieved anything other than promotion so far.
"We want to be a force in the Premiership, but that will take time, hard work and a fair number of new faces.
"The boss has laid the foundations, now we have to build on them. Too many teams go into the Premiership then come back down straight away.
"We don't want to do that. We want to stay there and become a real force."