TT captain Jones: First game at Gold Cup will be crucial.
T&T Newsday Reports.
MEMBERS OF the senior national football team are as ready as can be for the Gold Cup, given the limitations of their preparation for the event; now, the pressure is on to ensure they produce their best from game one of the biennial CONCACAF championship.
That was the sentiment of team captain Kenwyne Jones, as the majority of the squad prepared to wind up their pre-tournament camp two nights ago.
The TT Warriors fly out today for the US, just eight days before their opening match against Guatemala in Chicago. Jones, who was also at the helm for the 2013 Gold Cup, sought to maintain a positive attitude as to where his team is in terms of readiness. “We’re just trying to fine tune to get back up to the levels that we were,” he told Newsday.
“I think going into the last Gold Cup we had just about the same preparation and funnily enough, we did have a pretty decent showing. But we were looking forward to having a better preparation this time, and it didn’t happen for various reasons. So we’re just going to do well as hard as possible to get the result that we need in the first match.”
The Cardiff City striker admitted that a lot could rest on the team’s first assignment, against Guatemala on July 9.
“ Our main focus right now is that first game, so we’re trying to work hard and well enough to build up to that,” he said.
“We still have about five people to join the squad; they will be joining us this week. So hopefully we could fine tune leading up to that game. It’s very important for us to get off to a good start. Last Gold Cup, we had a draw in the first game; so hopefully we could go one better and win the first game and kick on in the tournament.”
The squad, minus half-a-dozen players who will join them in the US, trained on Monday evening at the Hasely Crawford Stadium without head coach Stephen Hart, who was in Tobago on a personal matter.
Since re-assembling following the team’s recent 3-0 hammering at the hands of Jordan, the training was intensified, and Hart has said he now expects a much fitter and energetic group at the Gold Cup.
Jones said the training was “not any different to any team out there,” and he looked upon the defeat in Jordan as something that could work in TT’s favour.
“You can’t lose a game like that in the manner that we did and not learn from it,” he said. “I think for us, we weren’t prepared mentally as a unit and it showed in the match. I don’t think that we’re going to let anything like that happen again. Coming from that loss, we came back and we prepared well. We have a friendly match against Haiti on Friday, and then we forward on to the tournament.”
Another challenge facing TT was the unavailability of six members of Hart’s 23-man squad for the camp. Belgium-based Sheldon Bateau’s view was that it was simply another issue that they would have to surmount.
“If we only have a few days to gel, I guess we have to make it work,” said the former Fatima College and Jabloteh defender. “Because when the tournament starts, I don’t think the coach or the fans want to hear any excuses. So I think the guys are up for it, and like you said, we know each other for some time, so I don’t think it would be too difficult. And also the players coming in, they’re already in tournaments (competition), so I think it won’t be as difficult.”
In 2013, TT advanced from their group on a win, a draw and a loss, scoring four goals and conceding the same number. Asked where he believed his team’s strength would lie in the competition this time around, Jones avoided committing to any player or area of the field.
“Our strength will have to lie in teamwork, the way we move the ball together as a team, the way we defend as a team, the way we go forward as a team. Everyone of the 23 is going to be important. At some point in time everyone could possibly be used and we have to be up to the task to come in and play the role and play it well.” After the game against Haiti on Friday, TT will have just six days before their opening game Gold Cup match against Guatemala in Chicago.
