One ambition - Three points
By: Shaun Fuentes (TTFF)
Trinidad and Tobago’s Senior Footballers will take the field at the Olympic Metropolitan Stadium in San Pedro Sula with one ambition: To come away with three points.
That was the message coming from the Russell Latapy coached team as the former FC Port midfielder did his final bit of tuning up for the crucial encounter expected to be played in front of 40,000 screaming Honduran fans from 7pm (9pm T&T Time). Tour agents here said they were expecting close to forty (40) T&T fans to come over for the game while there are correspondents from two radio stations 105 fm and I 95.5 fm here to carry live broadcast. The game will also be carried live on CNMG in Trinidad.
The T&T players spent most of Friday with their legs up before Latapy put them through one final session at the Francisco Morazan Stadium from 6pm. The match venue session took place on Thursday. The main streets outside the team’s hotel, the Hilton Princess, had several vendors lining it with Honduras memorabilia and shirts and there was the usual whistles and jeers as the players took their 15-minute walk around the hotel.
With the news breaking in England that Dwight Yorke had retired from playing the game, the ex-Manchester United star made it clear that he was still committed to playing a role in T&T’s football.
“Basically I’ve agreed to take up the role as assistant coach for the remainder of the campaign and then we’ll take it from there. I’m still very much involved in completing my coaching badges but I would like to stay involved in the game in some capacity,” Yorke told TTFF Media on Friday at the Hilton Princess Hotel.
“My aim is to build on all the experience and hopefully manage a team one day in England. At the moment I’m here to help Russell and Trinidad and Tobago football as best as I can and that’s where the situation is at the moment,” added the former Aston Villa man.
Head coach Latapy expects nothing less than a tough encounter but he added “The pressure is on Honduras… they are at home and they have to win in front of their home crowd. I believe that if we can get all our ingredients right then there’s no reason why we shouldn’t believe in our chances.
“It’s a stadium that both teams have to play on. We wanted to get out here and get acclimatized and we got that. Honduras are on ten points and they are thinking like any other team whereby if they win all their home games then they should quality. My worry is not about Honduras but about my national team players and getting them to play to their full potential. I think if we can do that like I said, we can match any team in the world,” Latapy said.
Concacaf President Jack Warner, TTFF General Secretary Richard Groden and an entourage from Trinidad will be at the Stadium for the match.
Fifa.com added “The inspiring play of Glen, Edwards and Kenwyne Jones, the dual-island nation has every reason to believe that it can mount a late charge.
"The victory against El Salvador was vital for us and I believe it could be the kick-start we need to push ourselves forward in this round," said Sunderland striker Jones. "The win has made us believe more that we are capable of turning our chances around and the fans were also happy with the result.
The important thing now is for us to maintain this momentum and take it into the next two matches," he said. "We need to try and win all our remaining games and that can only happen if we believe in ourselves and play to our full potential."
For the aspiring Soca Warriors, qualifying for their second consecutive FIFA World Cup is certainly not out of reach, but will require, at the very least, a healthy dose of togetherness.
The referee for the encounter is American Mark Geiger and his assistants are from USA and Jamaica.
