Lawrence & Yorke says Warriors will do it for all.
By: Shaun Fuentes.[/size]
The man whose goal headed Trinidad and Tobago forward to the 2006 World Cup will take the pitch a bit saddened that his close friend and playing partner Marvin Andrews will not be at his side. But in spite of this, defender Dennis Lawrence has vowed to give his everything along with the rest of the “Soca Warriors” as they come up against Sweden from 12 midday T&T time.
“Lawrence was among the players which had a one hour session at the match stadium under hot conditions as Leo Beenhakker had a final look at his team while Andrews did some recovery work indoors as he aims to better his strained knee ligament which has ruled him out of the opening match.
Lawrence is positive as he spoke after dinner and a team meeting at the Hilton Hotel in Dortmund. Before that, a host of T&T fans welcomed the team back at the hotel including Minister of Sport Roger Boynes.
“We are all excited and looking forward to it. We all understand how important the game bit just to us as players but to T&T on a whole. We have to be relaxed and focused on the job at hand,” Lawrence told TTFF Media.
The Wrexham favourite has been in the limelight since his winning header over Bahrain on November 16, 2005 and now less than twenty four hours before reality hits, he is feeling the real success of achieving the qualification milestone.
“Personally it’s a massive achievement for myself and I tend to enjoy it a lot more when the team and the country can be part of the success. It’s a huge milestone for me ad will be one the best days in my career and one I will maybe never forget. It’s just so much a chance for us to get a positive result.”
And undoubtedly, he will be missing Marvin as too will his other teammates.
“I played with Marvin regularly and obviously whoever the manager decides to play in his position will have to fit in. We have to play together as a team and if the player wasn’t good enough he would not be here. It’s sad for Marvin and it’s sad for me because you know Marvin is a close friend of mine At the end of the day he will be wanting the team to do well and whoever comes in will have to adapt to the job hand,” Lawrence said.
And he has realistic expectations.
“My expectations are for us to go out and give a good performance. Once we can do that and with a bit of luck, the result will be right for us. This is the stage of us to go out and represent Trinidad and Tobago and that’s all we want to do and we want to do in a positive way.”
Skipper Yorke maintained that a good start will get T&T’s momentum going for the rest of the Group stage.
“If we can get something from this first game, without a doubt it will be a big boost for us and it will set the momentum,” Yorke told TTFF Media. “This is the ultimate for all of us and we are all looking forward to it. We will enjoy it as the manager and that’s what I will say to the guys. We have to let everything happen naturally.”
“Everything on name or on paper doesn’t count for anything and I have a deep feeling that if we can stick to our game and we can play well then there’s a good reason we can come out of this game with something positive,” ended the skipper.
Earlier on in the day, Warriors arrived at the Hilton in Dortmund by bus shortly after 1pm on Friday ahead of their opening World Cup fixture against Sweden tomorrow from 6pm German time.
Skipper Dwight Yorke and company made their way off the bus in front of close to 50 T&T fans who had pulled up in a bus moments earlier to also check in at the same venue, having come on a charter and were fortunate to be booked in the same hotel with their team .
The excitement among them did cause a bit of a stir but the Warriors were quickly escorted to their rooms on the first floor which is under security and then off the dining room for lunch.
Among the bunch was Glasgow Rangers defender Marvin Andrews who was in high spirits in spite of his strained knee ligament suffered in training yesterday in Rotenburg. Andrews went off to hospital with Doctor Terence Babwah but has claimed that he is feeling fine but Beenhakker will not have him involved, having announced this at a media briefing at the stadium before the training has started.
Goalie Kelvin Jack came through training well on Thursday as well as Friday and has been deemed fit for selection.
On the way to Dortmund, there were crews of Swedish supporters making their way through in vehicles sporting their country's colours and it is expected that the T&T posse will represent just as well over the next 24 hours as they have kept the flag flying with top gear performances by Phase II as well as the other cultural performers who have made their presence felt in Dortmund.
"We are just delighted to be here in the match city," Hislop told TTFF Media. "I think everyone realises the importance of settling in and focusing on the game tomorrow. We've had a good week so far here and we intend to keep going in this light," he added.
Soca Warriors face dog fight.
By: Lasana Liburd (Express).[/size]
The 2006 Germany World Cup, thus far, has been dominated by medical bulletins and scans and the Trinidad and Tobago national football team camp is no different. In yesterday's training session, key Trinidad and Tobago defender Marvin "Dog" Andrews limped off the field complaining of pain in his knee and was immediately sent for a scan.
Andrews, who plays for famous Scottish club Glasgow Rangers and has 99 national starts, is now unlikely to complete his century in Dortmund tomorrow when the "Soca Warriors" makes an historic entrance into the World Cup Finals -the globe's biggest single sporting event.
Trinidad and Tobago is the smallest nation ever to reach the World Cup Finals which kicks off today.
National coach Leo Beenhakker started yesterday morning sweating over the fitness of first choice goalkeeper Kelvin Jack who pulled a calf muscle earlier in the week. The 36-year-old Shaka Hislop, the Caribbean's most celebrated custodian after spells with English Premiership teams like Newcastle, Portsmouth and West Ham, was poised to deputise for the 30-year-old Scotland based goalkeeper.
But Beenhakker, a former Netherlands and Real Madrid coach, now has much more to think about.
"It looks like Kelvin Jack is fit but Marvin (Andrews) isn't," Beenhakker told the Daily Express. "For the moment, (Andrews) is the one who I am unsure whether he will play."
A replacement for Andrews does not appear as clear cut as it did with Jack. The powerful defender missed two of four pre-World Cup international friendlies and Beenhakker selected Gillingham stopper Brent Sancho for one match and converted CL Financial San Juan Jabloteh Cyd Gray to central defence for the other.
The Dutch coach claimed to have a replacement in mind but declined to reveal it before the time stipulated by FIFA on the match day.
Andrews, a full-gospel pastor in Scotland, became a cult figure at Rangers last year after he refused surgery on his knee to correct cruciate ligament damage and helped steer his club to the Scottish Premier League crown. At the time, Andrews claimed that his faith in God had made him whole in a case that astounded British football and medical experts.
It will take a similarly miraculous recovery within the next 24 hours to ensure Andrews takes the field tomorrow for the biggest match in Trinidad and Tobago's history.
T&T is not the only nation worried by bleak medical reports.
Sweden is without first choice goalkeeper Andreas Isaksson tomorrow after the 25-year-old was struck in the face with a ball during training and suffered a concussion. France already lost striker Djibril Cisse to a broken leg while the star studded injury list, at present, includes England's Wayne Rooney, Germany's Michael Ballack and Brazil's Edmilson. Other household names like Brazilian striker Ronaldo, Argentine winger Lionel Messi and Italian playmaker Francesco Totti are also doubts.
Of course T&T, the smallest nation to appear at the World Cup Finals with a population of 1.3 million, has a smaller player pool to draw from than its bigger counterparts.
The Warriors leaves its Rothenberg training camp today for Dortmund where the team will practise at the match venue ahead of tomorrow's showdown. Whether or not Andrews will participate is between him, his God and, possibly, FIFA's medical staff.
