T&T face tougher Tigre test.
By: Shaun Fuentes (TTFF). Trinidad and Tobago will face possibly their sternest test in Argentina when they come up against Argentine Primera Division club Tigre at 9:30am (7:30am TT time) on Wednesday at the club’s home stadium.
Undefeated in two matches on tour so far, the “Soca Warriors” will face off with the hosts who finished second in the local League last year. At the end of the regular season they finished tied on 39 points with Boca Juniors and San Lorenzo which led to a three-team playoff eventually won by Boca.
Tigre has in its side midfielder Argentine-born midfielder Martin Morel who finished as the season’s third top scorer last year with 13 goals. In the Tigre team is Paraguayan international defender Nestor Ayala. The Apertura 2007 was Tigre's first season in the Argentine top flight, they were expected to struggle but instead they had a wonderful run. They won ten of their 19 games, including a famous 4-1 thrashing of Argentine giants River Plate.
T&T head coach Francisco Maturana is welcoming the challenge, eager to see how his improving bunch will perform against tougher opposition.
“It should be a good test for us. The first two games were competitive for us and allowed us to try certaing things with the players who I think have responded good so far. It is important for us to maintain a certain level but we also want to improve each time we take the field and stronger teams will provide with a tougher assignment,” Maturana told TTFF Media.
Joe Public defender Keyeno Thomas, who is captaining the team on the current tour, believes that the present squad has made rapid progress since the disappointment of the Digicel Caribbean Championship in Jamaica.
“It’s the coaches who see it best but I think when you compare how we are performing now and before in Jamaica, it’s two different teams in terms of the performance and the spirit in the camp. Now we also have some different players,a few younger ones who are working very hard to make an impression and they are performing well so far. You can see here that we have everything that is needed for good preparation and I think that is helping us a lot . We are preparing for a World Cup qualifier so I think that is going to bring out a different side in the players because it’s a lot of focusing and hard work,”Thomas said,
:”Latas (Russell Latapy) is doing a good job too because he is a great addition to the coach and the staff. He sees it as a player too so he knows how to deal with us and take things back to the coach when it is necessary. We are comfortable right now and that makes it a bit easier for us to settle down and get on with the job of working hard in the preparations,”Thomas added.
So far Maturana and Latapy have used the same start team,with only Keon Daniel coming in at the start iin the previous 3-0 win over Quilmes. Errol McFarlane has been the lone striker starting both games and five changes have been made at half time in each of the matches thus far with futher changes during the second half. Wednesday’s game will possibly see something different depending on the game’s progress.
T&T vs Quilmes highlightsT&T vs Juniors highlights
