Warriors to break Honduras jinx
TT Guardian
Nigel Simon | 9:01 pm
Published: March 27th, 2009
Magician at work...Soca Warriors assistant coach/player Russell Latapy attempts a pass to suspended T&T captain Dwight Yorke, right, as Stern John closes in during the team’s practice session at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo on Thursday night. T&T meets Honduras at the same venue tonight from 7 pm in a Concacaf Fina Round World Cup qualifier. Photo: Anthony Harris.
Nigel Simon | 9:01 pm
The Soca Warriors will look to break a three-match winless streak at home to Honduras when both teams face off on match day two of the 2010 South Africa World Cup Concacaf Final Round qualifier tonight from 7 pm at the Hasely Crawford Stadium. However, at Mucurapo, history will not be on the side of the hosts who have failed to muster a win in three home matches against the Central Americans, the last of which was a World Cup qualifier in 2002 which ended in a 4-2 defeat at Mucurapo. In the other two matches, T&T battled to 0-0 also in a World Cup qualifier back in 1990 at the Queen’s Park Oval, and a 1-1 draw in 1971.
Overall, T&T has only managed to beat the Hondurans twice, the last of which came via a Stern John strike in a 1-0 win away to end the host hopes of 2002 World Cup qualification while the last time both teams met Honduras won 3-1 in Honduras in a 2007 friendly. A win for T&T tonight will go a long way in helping on the road to South Africa, but the job will not be an easy one as the Soca Warriors go into match without suspended trio of captain, Dwight Yorke, Christopher Birchall and goalkeeper Clayton Ince.
Yorke was banned by Fifa for four matches for allegedly abusing Mexican referee Marc Rodriguez after the El Salvador match, but the ban has since been reduced to two matches while Birchall and Ince picked up yellows cards and will miss the match through suspension also. With the void left by Yorke and Birchall in the middle, coach Maturana will have to decide from Anthony Wolfe, Densill Theobald, Clyde Leon, Trent Noel, Russell Latapy and Khaleem Hyland to fill gap while goalkeepers Marvin Phillip and Jan-Michael Williams are in line to take Ince’s spot in goal.
The back four is expected to comprise Andrei Pacheco, Dennis Lawrence, Keyeno Thomas and a surprise role for Anthony Wolfe at right back. Yesterday, the T&T squad had its final training session at the match venue. Captain and coach Francisco Maturana revealed that the session was satisfactory. “To me the session was maybe one of the better ones for us and I am pleased with the way things looked. Now the important part is execution because what happens in the 90 minutes against Honduras matters most to all of us,” Maturana said. “Everyone must believe that we can get everything possible from this game.
At home you are under pressure to get all the points, but I think we need to use it to our advantage. We must play the game using everything to that we have in our hands and I think if we can minimise our mistakes and capitalise on our chances then we can be happy at the end of the night.” T&T and Sunderland FC striker Kenwyne Jones added “We’re at home and we want to get three points. I think Honduras are very similar to the teams we have played in the past. We just need to focus on the way we play and the things that we need to get what we want from this game,” Jones said.
“What would make us happy would be six points but moreso we’re not going to lose any matches,” Jones concluded. Honduras, who warmed up for the T&T match with a 2-0 win over American First Division club, Montreal Impact on Sunday will be without striker David Suazo, on loan to Portuguese club, Benfica from Italy’s Inter Milan, due to a serious knee injury.
With Suazo out injured Honduras’ Colombian coach Reynaldo Rueda will hope that in-form Italian Serie B striker Julio “Rambo” Cesar of Parma, midfielder and captain Amado Guevara, Necaxa striker Carlos Pavon and Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Wilson Palacios pick up the slack. Following tonight’s match the Soca Warriors depart tomorrow morning at 6am for Nashville, Tennesse where they meet USA in another qualifier on Wednesday night. In the other matches, Costa Rica 2-0 winners over Honduras on match day one travels to Mexico while El Salvador, who came from behind to draw 2-2 at home with T&T is at home again to USA, which won 2-0 at home to Mexico on February 11.
