T&T continues Caribbean Cup journey against St Vincent.
By: Shaun Fuentes (TTFF).
Newly installed Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation President Raymond Tim Kee will witness his first international match involving the National Team since taking up his new position from 8pm on Wednesday night when the “Soca Warriors’ face off with St Vincent/Grenadines at the Dwight Yorke Stadium, Bacolet.
Tim Kee will arrive in the sister-isle on Wednesday ahead of the Caribbean Cup semi-final qualifying round which will see Cuba taking on Suriname in the opening clash from 6pm.
No stranger to these kinds of events, having held the Vice President portfolio in the past, Tim Kee is urging skipper Jan Michael Williams and his teammates to simply continue their valiant efforts of recent past which saw them come away with maximum nine points from their three previous Caribbean Cup matches in St Kitts/Nevis.
“As far as the future goes, it starts now and now meaning that road to the 2013 Concacaf Gold Cup,” Tim Kee said.
“This is the first international game I will witness as President and having not performed as well as would have liked in recent times following our 2006 World Cup appearance, I am looking forward the team performing in a way that will demonstrate their capabilities and our drive as a Federation to move our country’s football upwards to greater heights.
I truly believe that though we have been facing some challenges, we can now face up and overcome these from here on. We must do it collectively and with the right approach and succeed in our efforts in pursuing a spot in the Gold Cup, something which we have not accomplished since 2007,” Tim Kee added.
“I am definitely looking forward to these upcoming matches. I believe in the team’s ability and once we progress out of this stage then of course we will take steps to ensure that the team is sufficiently prepared to take on the more difficult challenges that lie ahead.”
Tim Kee also indicated that his meeting with Ministry of Sports Permanent Secretary Ashwin Creed on Monday was a cordial one.
“We had a very cordial meeting which lasted for two and half hours and I feel very comfortable with the exchanges that we had. This is hopefully the first of several good exchanges that will benefit our country’s football from here onwards,” Tim Kee stated
On the field of play, head coach Hutson Charles is scheduled to conduct his final session at the match venue from 8:45pm on Tuesday as he puts the final touches on his team’s approach for Wednesday’s affair. The conditions were pretty hot on Sunday and the field is in crisp condition ahead of Wednesday’s matches.
There is some uncertainty over the readiness of Caledonia AIA Striker Jamal Gay who received a blow to his knee in a recent Pro League clash with T&TEC FC. The rest of the team appears to be in good shape and skipper Williams is optimistic of a good start.
“We are as ready as can be,” Williams told TTFF Media.
“We came out of the last group with full points because we executed well and we carried that belief and desire on the pitch. This time it will be no different. We know that the teams here will pose a stronger challenge but that means that we will have to lift our game to suit this.
I am hoping our fans can come out and offer that support because we are in home territory now and it will be a great feeling to know that we have our people behind us in each of the these three matches,” Williams said.
St Vincent, coached by Cornelius Huggins, includes striker Shandel Samuel and is captained by former Irish-based defender Wesley Charles who is expecting his team to pose a stiff challenge for T&T.
“We did pretty well in the last tournament in St Lucia to get to this stage and we know we had to work harder and up our game in order to complete against Trinidad and Tobago, Cuba and Suriname. I think we’ve done that and now we are ready to give it our best shot and hopefully come away with the win tomorrow,” Charles said on Tuesday.
“It’s going to be great achievement for us if we can get to the Finals next month in Antigua.”
Two uncapped players in T&T squad for Caribbean Cup semi finals
National Senior team head coach Hutson Charles has included two uncapped home-based players in his final 20-man squad to contest the upcoming Caribbean Cup semi-final round which starts on Wednesday with T&T facing St Vincent/Grenadines from 8pm at the Dwight Yorke Stadium, Bacolet.
Charles has called up W Connection forward Hashim Arcia and Caledonia AIA midfielder Keyon Edwards. There are also recalls for W Connection defender Kern Cupid, Caledonia midfielder Ataullah Guerra while Caledonia defender Aubrey David, who was once in the Guyana national team has also earned a place in the T&T squad.
David has one cap for T&T in a friendly against Antigua/Barbuda earlier this year.
Also coming back into the T&T team is Thailand-based forward Kendall Jagdeosingh who is coming off a solid season for Chainat FC in the Thai Premier League.
Charles has to do without Ipswich Town captain Carlos Edwards as well as Turkish-based forward Darryl Roberts, Philiadelphia Union midfielder Keon Daniel and midfielder Kevin Molino who requested that he not be included as he is awaiting a visa before returning to Belgium to sign a new contract.
Kazakhstan-based defender Robert Primus, after arriving in T&T on the weekend, pulled out after complaining of discomfort in his knee. Added to that, Willis Plaza left on Monday to return to Vietnam while W Connection defender Daneil Cyrus is also off to Vietnam to pen a new contract.
While it appears to be a depleted T&T squad, Charles maintains that his squad has what it takes to pull off the required results to advance to the Caribbean Cup Finals in Antigua next month.
“It’s not ideal at the moment but this group of players are very hungry to achieve something,” Charles told TTFF Media on Monday prior to a training session at the Dwight Yorke Stadium training field. Charles’ squad is based at the Mt Irvine Bay Hotel.
“The situation hasn’t changed much since the previous round and I think the guys are aware of what is taking place and they know that winning results is possibly the only way out of some of the problems we are facing. We have some experienced players as well as some in form ones here with us and I believe once we execute our plan well on the day then we should be alright,” Charles added.
Looking at his opening opponents on Wednesday, Charles was already guarding against any form of complacency.
“We have seen that there is no way that we can take any of these teams for granted. St Vincent, Cuba and Suriname are all in this to try and achieve success. We have to go out there and show that we want it more than them,” said the former Defence Force player.
Jan Michael Williams is the team captain while Densill Theobald, Devorn Jorsling, Hughtun Hector, Clyde Leon and Vancouver Whitecaps defender Carlyle Mitchell are some of the faces Charles will be hoping can bring their A-game on matchday.
In Wednesday’s opening match Cuba takes on Suriname from 6pm .The top two teams will advance to next month’s finals. Tickets will be sold at the venue on matchday at $40 (covered) and $20 (uncovered).
