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Author Topic: Cafu to line up alongside ex-T&T stars at Laventille Nights exhibition match.  (Read 772 times)

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Offline Flex

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Cafu to line up alongside ex-T&T stars at Laventille Nights exhibition match on Monday.
TTFA Media.


Former Brazilian World Cup winning captain Cafu will join a host of past National Team standouts from the 2006 World Cup squad for an exhibition match at Soogrim Trace Recreation Ground in Laventille from 6pm on Monday.

Through an initiative led by Tony Lee and I95.5FM in conjunction with the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association, the event has been organised to demonstrate the possibilities of achievement through sport. It is hoped that by allowing the youngsters of the Laventille community to mix and play the game with some of these legends will empower them to follow in similar paths and take lifelong memories forward with them. Laventille has a representative team, Miscellaneous Laventille United that will campaign in the Northern Football Association Premier Division this year.

It is the tenth event in a series which began following the murders of two students some years ago and there have been several parts in a series entitled “Laventille Nights” which has seen appearances made by Olympic sprint medallist Ato Boldon, former national football captain and coach Russell Latapy and others.

Cafu, on his second visit to T&T after being here in 2007, will take the field alongside former Portugal international and Athletico Madrid midfielder Maniche as FIFA legends, teaming up with former Jamaican internationals Ian Goodison, Gregory Messam, Ricardo Gardner and ex-Grenada player Jason Roberts. Former T&T internationals, current head coach Dennis Lawrence, Brent Sancho, Cyd Gray, Russell Latapy, Stern John, Carlos Edwards, Dale Saunders and others will put on their boots for the exhibition match against a Laventille representative team.

Cafu has collection of medals from three different FIFA World Cup™ Finals – 1994, 1998 and 2002 – which is the envy of every other player who has participated in football’s greatest tournament.

He marked the occasion of winning the 2002 World Cup by climbing aloft a precarious looking plinth and paying homage to two of the great loves of his life. Printed on his shirt was a tribute to his Sao Paulo neighbourhood of Jardim Irene, while his wife was acknowledged with a cry of “Regina, eu te amo” (Regina, I love you), as he hoisted the Trophy for a second time.

“When I wrote ‘100% Jardim Irene’ on my shirt, and paid tribute to Regina, I hadn’t planned it. I had no idea all this would happen. Regina has been with me for over 30 years and I think it was fair that I paid tribute to her in that moment for everything we’d been through together. As for Jardim Irene, that’s the neighbourhood where I was born, grew up and now have my foundation. I wanted to show them that someone coming from a humble neighbourhood, with no prospects at all, could still become a great athlete and a good person,” Cafu stated.

« Last Edit: July 30, 2017, 02:40:52 AM by Flex »
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Offline royal

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From all accounts it was a great night with the young Laventille team winning 5 - 2  against the Veterans. Stern John and Dennis Lawrence scored for the Veterans

Offline Flex

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Cafu: Benefits to come from National Training Centre.
TTFA Media.


Former Brazilian World Cup captain Cafu believes that there will be benefits to be seen in years to come from the establishment of a National Training Centre in Trinidad and Tobago.

Cafu, the captain of Brazil’s 2002 World Cup winning squad, spent half day in Trinidad on Monday after arriving in the afternoon period to appear at an exhibition game  at Sogren Trace Recreation Ground, Laventille as part of the Laventille Nights programme put on by I95.5FM. Cafu’s appearance was arranged by the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association in a collaborated efforts with the FIFA Legends initiative.

Also here on Monday were Jamaicans Gregory Messam and Ricardo “Bibi” Gardner as they teamed up with the likes of former T&T 2006 World Cup players Dennis Lawrence and Stern John, current T&T midfielder Hashim Arcia, Earl Jean, Ross Russell and Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) George Busby. Lawrence and John netted but the boys of Laventille were triumphant on the night, coming away 6-2 winners in the 90-minute affair.

Speaking afterwards, Cafu touched on the matter of the current plans by the TTFA to begin construction of the Home of Football Training And Technical Centre at the Ato Boldon Stadium in Couva.

“It’s a great thing to have a national training centre. Every country needs something like this if you can get it. When I look around here (Laventille) it reminds me so much about where I came from in Brazil, the people, the ground, the poverty and the difficult life but it inspired me and it can inspire these people,” Cafu told TTFA Media.

“And with the training centre you can take players from here and give them better facilities which allows them to develop, to get to the next level and to help you produce better teams, better clubs and this now helps you to build stronger national teams. You will see the benefit of this in the future,” Cafu added.

Speaking about the match, Cafu who looked as fit as ever, playing the match in its entirety, stated “It was a joy. It is always a joy to play the game and now to be in a place like Laventille here in Trinidad and Tobago makes me a happy person. You can see the players were very eager in the match. And the result doesn’t always matter. More important is to bring joy and to play the game of football.”

Cafu also wished Dennis Lawrence and the T&T senior team best of luck in their upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Honduras and Panama on September 1st and 5th. “It’s always important to do well for the country and to try and qualify for the biggest tournaments like the World Cup. I wish Trinidad (and Tobago) well.”

The former AS Roma player mingled with the players and fans after the match, posing for photographs and signing autographs for those fortunate enough to get close to him at the venue.

The 47-year-old Cafu made 142 appearances for Brazil. He represented his nation in four FIFA World Cups between 1994 and 2006, and is the only player to have appeared in three consecutive World Cup finals, winning the 1994 and 2002 editions of the tournament, the latter as his team’s captain.

Cafu returned to Brazil at 5am on Tuesday. Also in attendance on Monday night was Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and Laventille West MP, Minister Fitzgerald Hinds along with TTFA President David John-Williams.

The real measure of a man's character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.

 

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