Yorke: Soca Warriors will play with a smile in Germany.
By: Shaun Fuentes.[/size]
National head coach Leo Beenhakker and the members of his World Cup squad met face to face with the media on Wednesday at Carden Park and the clear message being issued by the Dutchman and Dwight Yorke was that the main focus of the “Soca Warriors” was their next competitive match and as such the current issue is not how to play the English on June 15.
Beenhakker conducted a light session in the morning which allowed a vast number of media correspondents to view the team in motion and then a media conference transpired smoothly for about half hour before the entire squad was given the chance to be interviewed by several television stations such as ITV, BBC, Granada Sports, Daily Mail, News of the World and other UK companies. The “Soca Warriors” were easily hounded for no less than 90 minutes as Yorke was the last player to depart the mix zone area before heading back to his room.
Having already put a cap on the amount of open days for media related activities, Benhakker seemed undisturbed by the persistent reporters on hand.
“We are always focused on the next game. The most important match in their careers is always the next game. We will be professional and we will prepare for all of them. We will think about England after we play Sweden,” Beenhakker said when asked about how his team will prepare to play England in Nuremburg.
He also stressed that he will not take a T&T team into the World Cup that is under any pressure and while he has all intentions of ensuring they are totally focused and prepared, he will not prevent Yorke and company from enjoying the experience.
“In general I said you can’t play football if you don’t enjoy it. I don’t like to see players stressed. We played a lot of games with a lot of responsibility and pressure and you can see that in our last three matches (qualifiers). The amazing thing in football is that when you cannot handle the pressure, then you can’t handle the game at this level. It has to be a healthy kind of pressure and they have all assured me that they can handle it very well. We will talk a lot and prepare perfectly in everyway. My last message will be before they go on the pitch will be to enjoy it and have fun,” Beenhakker said.
He informed the audience of mostly English,Scottish, Welsh and Swedish media that the Caribbean mentality is one of trying to enjoy experiences to the max.
“It’s confirmed in the Caribbean because one of our biggest fans said before we left the Caribbean “Ole, ole, ole and that’s the way we are going to play. I am impressed and if you see Ronaldinho, he’s always laughing at the same time. He is fighting for his team but he hates losing and he stays relax,” the former Real Madrid boss said as he referred to the line from President George Maxwell Richards at the team’s farewell dinner at the Dr Joao Havelange Centre of Excellence last Friday, causing an eruption of laughter from the players. His closing statements ensured a bit of warm Caribbean feeling at what has been a chilly Carden Park experience this week.
Yorke: I have full faith in my players.
Yorke meantime, constantly asked how his team will cope on the big stage against their Group B opponents, held no feelings back as he gave them all a full vote of confidence. He also responded to the difference in experience between Manchester United’s treble win in 1999 and leading T&T to the World Cup.
“Being the champion was special but being the captain now able to lead my team out to the World Cup is extra special. Once again we will not get too ahead of ourselves because we are a very small nation but I have been fortunate to play against great teams and everything is not about what’s on paper. I will ask of my players that we go there and give a very good account of ourselves. We are working very hard behind closed doors to ensure that and to ensure we are a very hard team to beat.
“We all share our ideas and experiences. We have got experienced players as well. You have Shaka (Hislop) and Russell (Latapy) and then you go through the list and see men like Ian Cox and the big man sitting here next to me (Dennis Lawrence). We will take it one step at a time before the actual match and what matters for us is focusing the right way,” he added to TTFF Media.
“The camp we have now is a highly concentrated now. We want to present ourselves at a certain standard. We will be working extremely hard to ensure our standard is up to level, We have a very experienced manager and I totally believe in myself and in my teammates,” Yorke said.
The team will resume its usual training regime on Thursday behind closed gates and Glasgow Rangers defender Marvin Andrews who was allowed to rest his knee after a full three days of training thus far is expected back out on the pitch while Cornell Glen continues to make steady progress with his troubled hamstring.
