Soca Warriors out Gold Cup
New boys face Haiti test tomorrow
Ian Prescott iprescott@trinidadexpress.com
Trinidad Express
Sunday, May 27th 2007 GETTING READY: Trinidad and Tobago captain Densill Theobald, foreground, and teammate Kendall Jagdeosingh go through a stretching exercise as the national football team continued preparations for the Digicel Shield tournament on Friday morning at the Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva. The "Shield" kicks off tomorrow evening at the Hasely Crawford Stadium.
Trinidad and Tobago will not be represented by their 2006 World Cup players at the June 6-24 CONCACAF Gold Cup in the United States, even if the intervention of Sport Minister Roger Boynes leads to a quick resolution to the dispute between the T&T Football Federation (T&TFF) and the players over their share of revenue generated by qualifying for the World Cup.
The T&TFF had blacklisted the players after they had threatened to take legal action against the Federation. Since then, Boynes has said he is seeking a meeting with Federation president Oliver Camps to negotiate a speedy resolution to the dispute.
However, at the national squad's training session on Friday morning at the Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva, team manager Joseph "Sam" Phillip told the Sunday Express that the Soca Warriors were definately out, because the deadline to register them for the Gold Cup had passed."While we were looking to get some of the World Cup players in the team for the Gold Cup, we have to look beyond that now, because the registration date has passed," Phillip stated. "The date for that was yesterday (Thursday), so we have to look at the bigger picture and hope for the future."
Phillip said while the Warriors will not be involved in the Gold Cup, he hopes they can come to some agreement with the Federation soon, so that head coach Wim Rijsbergen can continue to develop a team in time for the 2010 World Cup qualifiers which kick off next year.
"We have to resolve this now because we have a lot of internationals on the calendar. And, when the matter is resolved, the (World Cup ) players will come back. For the good of the game we are hoping for it to be settled."
Phillip said that of the 24 players submitted on the provisional list for the Gold Cup, Trinidad and Tobago will leave on June 1 to go to the tournament with a squad of 21, while there will be two reserves.
Team management hope the young players will take the opportunity presented to them by the absence of the more experienced players to lift their game.
Phillip said should the "new boys" grab the opportunity, when the World Cup players return, coach Rijsbergen would have a difficult task choosing between the players.
Rijsbergen will have a look at what his current team can do tomorrow when they take on Caribbean champions Haiti in the second match of the Digicel Shield tournament from 7 p.m. at the Hasely Crawford Stadium.
The tournament 's opening match sees Mexico tackling St Vincent & the Grenadines two hours earlier.
With several of the well-known World Cup members missing, T&T skipper Densill Theobald, the only one with the experience of Germany, is still hoping that the team can step up to the challenge. Theobald and his teammates have been working hard to produce a good showing in the upcoming tournament.
"We know for sure and I think everyone knows that we may not have our best team, but at the same time I think all these guys have something to offer and have some form of quality in their own rights. We will try to get things rolling with a solid performance against the Haitians Monday," said Theobald.Â
"These players are all based locally, with the exception of Darryl (Roberts), and I think the coach would not have had them here if he didn't think something good of them. Right now we are at a time when they need all the encouragement possible because the team is representing Trinidad and Tobago at the end of the day. While the people may support some of the other players and might be right for wanting to see the best team out there, I think if they are to not give this current bunch the support as well they might as well stick to something else. I personally think we have a big task ahead of us, but it's going to be an experience that hopefully we can benefit from," he added.
DIGICEL SHIELD MATCHES:
TOMORROW
5 p.m.-Mexico vs St Vincent & Grenadines, Hasely Crawford Stadium
7 p.m.-Haiti vs Trinidad & Tobago, Hasely Crawford Stadium
WEDNESDAY
5 p.m.-Third-place playoff, Hasely Crawford Stadium
7 p.m.-Final, Hasely Crawford Stadium