Warriors up against it in Bermuda.
By: Ian Prescott Hamilton (Express).MAKE OR BREAKCarlos Edwards needs to finally come alive and show the tremedous player he can be, says Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation technical director Lincoln Phillips, who is confident that T&T's Soca Warriors can defeat Bermuda tonight and advance to the second round of qualifying for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
It's football fever here in tiny Bermuda, where a capacity crowd of 5,200 will pack the small Bermuda National Sports Centre ground in the capital, Hamilton, from 7.30 p.m. (6.30 T&T time).
A first batch of 4,500 tickets were completely sold out. However, the Bermuda Football Association (BFA) made available another 700 tickets at a cost of BER$20. Due to the big occasion, many die-hard Bermuda supporters are still complaining about being unable to get tickets, with the home team holding a favourable 2-1 advantage from the first leg, after shocking 2006 World Cup finalists T&T at the Marvin Lee Stadium, Macoya, a week ago.
Today's match has been given front page status in the Bermudan newspaper, with several pages dedicated to the game.
BFA president Larry Musseden has called for a sea of red-clad Bermuda fans and even Premier Eward Brown admitted to feeling butterflies in the lead up to the game, as Bermuda are in a place where almost no-one on the island truly believed might have been possible a month ago.
But, despite having to go into enemy territory, Phillips is confident of a turnround in the Soca Warriors' fortunes.
"We are the better team," Phillips insisted. "We played pretty badly in the first leg and, even so, we created so many goal-scoring opportunities.
"Carlos needs to come alive," he stated, adding that the Sunderland winger needs to do a job both defensively and in attack.
Phillips' comments came as he headed off to Tampa, Florida with the national Under-17 girls team. And he has no doubt that Trinidad and Tobago will win tonight's match.
Phillips, who once worked with the United States youth football progamme, felt that T&T lost all discipline and subsequently their shape in the opening minutes of the home leg.
"In a team you see a defence, a middle and an attack. We didn't see that from the Trinidad and Tobago team against Bermuda. What we saw was a lot of space between the front and the back, and Bermuda made full use of that."
Like Phillips, assistant coach Anton Corneal is confident the Soca Warriors will overturn the deficit, following yesterday's one-hour morning session at the match venue. Corneal explained that dropping Walsall keeper Clayton Ince and bringing Marvin Phillip into the squad was among a few technical changes which head coach Francisco Maturana had made.
He said the Warriors are aware what they have to do.
"The game carries such importance that we will be forced to take the game to them, but still not panic. We believe we are two, three goals better than them, and we just have to act and do it," said Corneal.
But technical director of the Bermudan team, Derek Broadly, was quoted in the Royal Gazette newspaper as stating their players had worked hard to get to this favourable position, despite the perception that Bermuda overachieved, while the Soca Warriors underachieved a week ago.
He instructed Bermudans not to expect Brazilian-like pretty football, because Bermuda were going to dig in and try to hold their advantage.
"I still believe that they have better individual players than us and it will take a huge effort for us to repeat that level of performance again," Broadly said.
Bermuda's technical director also believes the dispute between T&TFF special adviser Jack Warner and Minister of Sport Gary Hunt has spilled over to the T&T players.
"If Trinidad were to fail I believe there would be far greater implications and repercussions than if we fail. It's not a make or break situation for us, while it will probably take them about four years to bounce back if they get knocked out."
Big support for Soca Warriors.
By: Ian Prescott Hamilton (Express).[/size]
Defender Kareem Smith would have been as surprised as anyone when his father Carl Smith flew in from Boston, USA to watch tonight's 2010 World Cup qualifier between Trinidad and Tobago and Bermuda at the National Sports Centre in Hamilton.
Smith Senior is a die-hard T&T supporter.
"It was a secret," he said. "I support the country first, then the Soca Warriors, and then my son. I am happy he is on the team and want him to do the best he can. But, regardless, I support the team."
Smith's son, who plays for T&T Pro League leaders United Petrotrin, played in the 2-1 loss to Bermuda in last Sunday's first leg, but is only a reserve for tonight's return match.
The elder Smith is among 250 Trinidad and Tobago fans who will be in a special section of the stands to cheer on the Soca Warriors. Many of the T&T supporters live in the United States, the cities of New York, Boston and Miami being just about a two-hour flight away from Bermuda.
Despite protests from his wife, Carl Smith just couldn't stay away with the Soca Warriors playing so "close" to his Boston home. Bermuda is absolutely beautiful, but not cheap, and anyone of the patriots flying in for the match would have put out some cash.
But after three hours in line, trying to grab one of the final 700 tickets which went on sale yesterday, he was disappointed to learn there were no more when he reached the front of the line. "This is so disappointing," he said. "People I have spoken to said this has never happened in Bermuda for any sporting event. It the first time that people are rushing for an event so. All I could do now is go very early and hope there are scalpers with a ticket to sell."
Also among the Warrior supporters in Bermuda are Ken Henry, 71, a former Trinidad and Tobago national player and coach. Henry is predicting a 4-0 T&T victory.
And Gus Logie, a former West Indies player and coach, is on the island, where he has taken up the position of Bermuda's national cricket coach.
But back to Carl Smith, a plumber who has been living in Boston for 39 years.
Born in Woodbrook, Smith, a self-confessed All Stars man, admits to never missing a Trinidad and Tobago Carnival over the years.
Like his son Kareem, who played for Neal & Massy All Stars in this year's Panorama final, Carlton is also a pan man and has his own Barnacles steel band in Boston.
And he has always been an avid football fanatic, having played in the days of Sedley Joseph, when matches in front the grand stand at the Queen's Park Savannah were the big thing.
Carl left Trinidad in 1969 when injury forced him out of the game, giving him a self-confessed football tabanca. Now, near retirement, he has supported Trinidad and Tobago football from far away.
"We took a bus ride to Richmond, Virginia when the United States had a fella call Lalas, who used to mark Dwight Yorke. That was a long time ago. We always go and see the matches whenever Trinidad and Tobago came across to the States. We were in Connecticut for the Gold Cup two years ago when we lost 1-0 (against the USA)."
Recently, Carl was also in Trinidad, but had to return home before last Sunday's Bermuda match. He saw the England game on June 1, when he saw his son in action, and in the 1-1 draw against Jamaica on June 7.
"I didn't know he would be playing," he said. "I just came for the match."
His 23-year-old son Kareem played for T&T at youth level, but had been abroad at the University of South Carolina in the USA until returning home in January to try out for the national team.
"He didn't make it for the game against Puerto Rico and against my wishes he decided to remain in Trinidad, where he linked up with the Petrotrin team. I guess it all worked out well for him so far," said the older Smith.
Related NewsBermuda's goal-den chance.
