Mexican media rushes as fans cheer on 'Warriors'
By: Shaun Fuentes in Monterrey.Team skipper Dwight Yorke and his “Warriors” still had smiles on their faces as they arrived at the Sheraton Hotel, Monterrey at around 1am (12 midnight T&T time) following their flight from Port of Spain via Miami and Dallas on Monday.
The “Warriors” were delayed some two hours in Dallas but met an aggressive Mexican media contingent and voiceferous bunch of locals who surprising cheered the team on as they came out of the customs area on their way to the waiting team bus. Earlier on in Miami, the contingent got several good luck and congratulatory messages from Jamaicans and other Latinos while American Airline flight attendants made it their duty to let all know that the “Warriors” were on board and wished them well in Wednesday’s encounter.
T&T head coach Leo Beenhakker was mugged by several reporters and cameramen as he came through the doors and Yorke and Dennis Lawrence both had questions to answer from the Mexican media as the team attempted to hustle into the bus. Though not unexpected, the T&T contingent did not have the luxury of waiting Mexican officials to speed up the passage through the customs area and each player had to wait in line and then collect luggage contrary to the norm for visiting teams at least for international matches. Team administrator George Joseph who arrived previously, was on spot to ensure though that all was in place for the players to head straight to their rooms on arrival at The Sheraton which was followed by a quick dinner and lights out. Beenhakker spoke briefly to the players at dinner and the mood was an upbeat one despite the long day and a training session is scheduled for 9am.
“We’re just pleased to be here but the real deal is on Wednesday,” Yorke told reporters. “It’s been a good weekend for us with the win over Panama and the lads are all up for it and we could expect a pretty good match up on Wednesday.”
Beenhakker spoke of the importance of the win against Panama, stressing that there was new belief in the team. “The win was a wonderful one for us and our aim is to build on that and obviously that starts with our next game which is here on Wednesday against the Mexico National team.”
Twenty-man squad in Monterrey:Goalkeepers:Kelvin Jack (Dundee), Duarance Williams (CL Financial San Juan Jabloteh).
Defenders:Dennis Lawrence (Wrexham), Marvin Andrews (Glasgow Rangers), Anton Pierre (Defence Force), Marlon Rojas (Real Salt Lake), Avery John (New England Revolution), Atiba Charles (Vibe CT 105 W Connection).
Midfielders:Glenton Wolfe (National Quarries NE Stars), Carlos Edwards (Luton Town), Chris Birchall (Port Vale), Leslie Fitzpatrick (Real Salt Lake), Aurtis Whitley (CL Financial San Juan Jabloteh), Brent Rahim (unattached), Densill Theobald (Caledonia AIA Fire).
Forwards:Gary Glasgow (Unattached), Kenwyne Jones (Southampton), Stern John (Coventry City), Hector Sam (Wrexham), Dwight Yorke (Sydney FC).
Clayton Ince quits T&T says Warner.
By: Jovan Ravello.[/size]
T&T Football Federation special advisor Austin Jack Warner yesterday announced the resignation of T&T national goalkeeper Clayton Ince.
The resignation came on the heels of T&T’s impressive 2-0 win over Panama, in their World Cup qualifier on Saturday at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo, which Ince watched from the bench.
National coach Leo Beenhakker choose Kelvin Jack before Ince, a decision which surprised many, but which went well,as Jack brought off a couple of good saves to keep a clean sheet.
Ince, who plies his trade with Crewe Alexandra in the English football Coca-Cola Football League and has won 61 caps for the Warriors, felt slighted by his omission from the starting line up and on Sunday handed in his resignation, according to Warner.
Warner expressed disappointment with the action taken by Ince, especially since “he has been a role model on the team”
“I think he has been misguided” Warner said, as he referred to the latest development in the Warriors camp as “unfortunate,” stating: “I don’t think he has been given proper advice.”
Warner sought to remind all players interested in being a part of T&T football that whether they do it on the field, or on the bench, they are still representatives of the team.
According to both Warner and Beenhakker, Ince had been complaining of a back injury during the five-day camp that preceded Saturday’s match. With this in mind, Warner said Beenhakker was not prepared to take any chances with Ince in such a crucial match.
Ince felt that his complaint did not warrant him being left out of Saturday’s starting line-up and returned his ticket, passport and uniform to Warriors manager Bruce Aanensen.
Warner revealed that T&T captain, Dwight Yorke, was present and attempted to dissuade Ince from taking such drastic action, using his own experiences.
On June 28, 2001 Yorke and then captain Russell Latapy tendered their resignations on learning that they were dropped from T&T’s squad ahead of a World Cup qualifier against Jamaica. Earlier this year, Yorke mended his differences with the T&TFF and returned as team captain.
He sought to discourage Ince from leaving the team at this juncture in their World Cup qualifying campaign, but it appears that Ince had already made up his mind.
Keen to move on from this latest bump on the road to Germany, the T&TFF has called on CL Financial San Juan Jabloteh custodian Duarance Williams, who has made an immediate impression on the FIFA vice-president.
Warner revealed that Williams received his call up at midnight and joined the team promptly at 4am yesterday.
He commended Williams and praised his professional attitude.
Of Ince, Warner said: “I wish him well.”
The T&T team left for Monterrey, Mexico, where they will play the hosts and group leaders in the fifth round of matches in CONCACAF’s third qualifying stage on Wednesday. The Local Organising Committee Germany 2006 Ltd has advised that Wednesday’s match will be broadcast live from Monterrey on NCC TV-Channels 4 and 16 at 8pm local time.
LATE FLASH: Ince denies quitting:In response to Warner’s comments Ince has said that despite his disappointment at being excluded from Saturday’s game he has in fact not resigned but has only asked for a break from national duty. Ince said he had been suffering with back spasms and wanted time to take care of his ailment hence his request to not travel with the team to Mexico.
Full story in tomorrow’s Guardian.
News from the 6th of June 2005.Warriors revel then train in early morning.
By: Shaun Fuentes.[/size]
Less than a day after completing their first win of the CONCACAF 2006 Final qualifying round over Panama, Trinidad and Tobago’ senior footballers were back on the field for a training session ahead of their journey to Monterrey, Mexico.
Head coach Leo Beenhakker had captain Dwight Yorke and his men out on the Hasely Crawford Stadium pitch on Sunday morning for a light recovery session fresh from their 2-0 win over the Panamanians.
The mood was an obviously upbeat one as the players looked ahead to Wednesday’s match with Mexico for which they depart the Piarco International Airport on Monday morning.
“The result speaks for itself. The pressure was on because we all know how important it was to get a result and that’s why I’m even more proud of the players for the way they responded. The management staff deserve a lot of credit as well because they have come in and done a fantastic job in such short space of time,” Yorke told TTFF Media as the atmosphere in the dressing room after the match was certainly the most enchanting of any for the campaign thus far.
“It’s obviously important and the spirit is unbelievable right now. When you look around you see a lot of happy faces. Even the people in the streets are all buzzing and it’s been coming for a long time. Trinidad and Tobago needed something like this to happen and it’s definitely put us back in the groove. It’s a massive result and we now have a realistic chance of getting to the World Cup whereas after three games we looked almost buried to some people,” Yorke added.
Going on to Mexico, the Sydney FC man said the “Warriors” believed they could hold their own on the road once they maintained their form and positive approach.
“I am sure we can do good across there. Mexico has got a great record against us especially at home. But winning breeds confidence to and I think we can go there with good organization and a good result behind us which we have at the moment and get a good result. A point would be great for us.”
Accustomed to playing in front of partisan crowds, the ex-Manchester United marksman paid tribute to the fans who made their presence felt giving the team somewhat of a twelfth man for the first time in long while.
“Home crowd is always important and the Trinidad and Tobago public has played its role that we have asked them to. When we really needed them, they turned out in their numbers and all credit to them because they could have simply stayed away and look at the situation as a dead one for us. The support is most appreciated by the team,” Yorke mentioned.
The opening goalscorer in T&T’s win, Stern John said he had no better way of responding to those who had been having a go at him.
“There’s no better way to answer the critics than to score in what was a massive win for us. I had an assist for us and when I had the miss early on I thought “Stern this is not going to be another one of those days’ and I kept my head up and fought on,” John said.
“If you don’t take chances you can’t have a chance of winning the lotto and I wasn’t really worried about it. I’m just really happy for all the boys and I don’t think we have experienced this sort of feeling and we feel it can only get better for us from here.”
The team also spoke highly of coach Beenhakker and his staff.
“The coach knows what he’s doing and we have ‘nuff’ respect for him. He also gave me the confidence to go out and do it. When everyone else was talking about taking me off, he was the one who saw me everyday in training and stood by me. He knows the kind of players he has on his team,” John ended.
The team will depart with only one change being goalkeeper Duarance Williams coming in for Clayton Ince after the Crewe Alexandra custodian informed management that he would be opting to sit out the Mexico match.
Leo Beenhakker praises Warriors' teamwork.
By: Kern De Freitas (Express).With Trinidad and Tobago winning their first match of the final round World Cup qualifiers for Germany 2006, new coach Leo Beenhakker has praised the Warriors, attributing their 2-0 victory over Panama to playing as a team.
The vastly-experienced coach, who has seen success with his native Holland and Real Madrid, was almost casual as he responded when asked how it felt to have the win, following the match at the Hasely Crawford Stadium on Saturday night.
"Yeah. When you win it feels good. I think that's normal," the coach replied, in a totally relaxed tone as someone quite familiar with such results.
But he gave all the credit to the T&T team, who were seen as the underdogs coming into the match.
"I have to congratulate the players, the team," Beenhakker said, "because as I told before the match, we only had five days together, and we did a lot of preparations, and they did during the whole week a very good job. And that they showed this afternoon, that they played like a real team. And it's a great result for us, for the team, because it means that we're still in the race for third place for the moment."
He was also full of praise for Dennis Lawrence, the lanky defender who scored midway through the second half to extend T&T's lead after Stern John got the opener in the 34th minute.
"Well, at least my neighbour on the right (Lawrence) was thinking to leave his defence and go for it as a striker, and after all it was a good decision. Just once, but never more," the Dutchman joked.
Although Lawrence admitted he would probably never score such a goal again, he said once the opportunity arrived, he realised he had to take it.
"It's just getting the perfect ball," Lawrence explained. "In the end, like a footballer, you've got to take chances. Whether it be the first minute, or the last minute, but I took a chance, and like it paid off in the end. And in the end we were looking for the perfect goal, fortunately enough it came from me.
"For me as a defender, whoever is in the crowd, they are going to be expecting me to miss because I'm a defender, so I'm under no pressure to score the goal."
Beenhakker is also confident the Warriors will be going all out for a win when they play away to group leaders Mexico on Wednesday.
"Well, we still need (to improve on) a lot of things, but for the moment, we are very happy with the result, and we know within four days we have another match and a very difficult match. Mexico is without doubt the best of this group, but...well at least we showed that we can play very strong, so we can play with a lot of confidence, looking for a good result over there, too," Beenhakker said.
News from the 5th of June 2005.Warriors break duck on Beenhakker's debut.
By: Ian Prescott.[/size]
Trinidad and Tobago are firmly back in the 2006 World Cup qualifying picture after claiming a 2-0 victory over Panama at the Hasely Crawford Stadium yesterday, their first success in the final round.
The Warriors' maiden victory in the final round of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying means they leave here tomorrow in fourth place and with four points going into Wednesday's equally-important match against Mexico in Monterey.
A 34th minute strike by experienced forward Stern John and a second in the 71st minute from overlapping stopper Dennis Lawrence set up a fabulous win as the home team gave their best performance of the entire qualifying campaign.
Playing their first competitive game under Dutchman Leo Beenhakker, the T&T Warriors looked a significantly improved team against Panama, who themselves were quick, skilful and extremely dangerous on the counter-attack. The Warriors had marginally the better of the first half in what was a good game.
Struggling striker John might have had two goals in the first half alone when presented with excellent goal-scoring opportunities.
Carlos Edwards had an excellent game and was a constant threat down the Panamanian right where he breezed past Carlos Rivera-who later had to be substituted-at will.
Edwards set up John's first chance with a square pass on the platter in the 23rd minute after ghosting past Rivera, but John stabbed the excellent opportunity wide.
However, the Coventry City striker made amends 11 minutes later when scooping a low pass from striker partner Dwight Yorke past Panama keeper Donald Gonzales to give T&T their opening goal.
And a sea of red exploded into euphoria in a near-packed Hasely Crawford Stadium.
There was much to like about the Warriors' performance. Beenhakker had no surprises in his squad except including Kelvin Jack in goal at the expense of Clayton Ince, while Densil Theobald got the nod over Leslie Fitzpatrick at left midfield.
The Dutchman got a polished performance from all of his Warriors, who stroked the ball around the park like few in Trinidad and Tobago had seen in recent times. Panama always looked dangerous but credit must go to the T&T midfield and defence.
At the back, T&T battled doggedly, while Chris Birchall, Aurtis Whitley, Theobald and Edwards had excellent runs in midfield.
After a spell of second half pressure, a superb Trinidad and Tobago performance was sealed in the 71st minute with a second goal from lanky defender Lawrence.
The Wrexham player started the move in midfield and also finished it with aplomb.
Collecting in centre field, the overlapping stopper hit the ball wide to Yorke and then ran into space to collect the return pass atop the penalty area, where he eluded a retreating defender and stroked the ball low past keeper Gonzales. It completed a well-deserved victory for Trinidad and Tobago.
The road to 2006 FIFA World Cup™ in Germany will reach its midway point on Wednesday, 8 June 2005 as the CONCACAF Final Round continues with Match Day 5.
Panama will greet the USA at the Estadio Rommel Fernández in Ciudad de Panamá on Wednesday, while Guatemala visits Costa Rica at the Estadio Ricardo Saprissa in San José and Mexico host Trinidad & Tobago at the Estadio Universitario in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon.
Trinidad & Tobago:Kelvin Jack; Dennis Lawrence, Marvin Andrews, Avery John, David Atiba Charles; Carlos Edwards, Christopher Birchall, Aurtis Whitley, Densill Theobald; Dwight Yorke (capt), Stern John (Kenwyne Jones 71st).
Subs Not Used:Hector Sam, Leslie Fitzpatrick, Marlon Rojas, Brent Rahim, Clayton Ince, Anton Pierre.
Panama:Donaldo Gonzalez; Jose Anthony (capt), Luis Moreno, Joel Solanilla, Carlos Rivera (Joel Jiminez 72nd); Gabriel Gomez, Ricardo Phillips, Julio Medina, Alberto Blanco; Luis Tejada, Roberto Brown (Jose Garces 46th).
CONCACAF Results:T&T 2 (Stern John, Dennis Lawrence) v Panama 0.
USA 3 (Landon Donovan 2, Brian McBride) v Costa Rica 0.
Mexico 2 (Antonio Naelson, Pablo Melgar own goal) v Guatemala 0.
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