Soca Warriors look to clinch quarterfinal spot.
By Nigel Simon (T&T Guardian).
...meet Reggae Boyz in Missouri
T&T Soca Warriors will be aiming to be the first team to seal a spot in the quarterfinals of this year’s 16-team Concacaf Gold Cup when they clash with Caribbean rival, Jamaica in their second Group A match at City Park Stadium, Saint Louis, Missouri, USA from 7.30 pm Wednesday night.
Two hours later, defending champions and host USA entertains St Kitts and Nevis at the same venue.
Winners of their opener against another Caribbean nation, St Kitts and Nevis 3-0 on Sunday to stretch their unbeaten run in 2013 to seven matches, the Angus Eve-coached Soca Warriors will start the match as leaders of their four-team pool with three points, two ahead of the Jamaicans, and defending champion and host USA, who battled to a 1-1 draw in the tournament opener on Saturday at Soldier Field, Chicago.
T&T will also go into the match, the first meeting between both countries in the tournament history, unbeaten against the Reggae Boyz in their last two matches, having secured a 1-0 win back on March 11, and a 0-0 draw three days later, in two friendly matches played in Jamaica earlier this year.
That renewed a series that hasn’t been played often in recent years, with the last meeting in an official match coming nearly a decade ago when Jamaica beat T&T in a shootout after a scoreless draw in the 2014 Caribbean Cup final in Kingston.
Speaking at the pre-match press conference, T&T coach said he has studied the Jamaicans and as part of the preparation for the match as the intensity in training was really good and his players are looking forward to the encounter.
“We want to win the game. We came into the tournament with the mindset that we want to go onto the second phase of this tournament, which is coming out of the group.
“So the strategy that we have in mind would be about trying to win the game."
The 51-year-old T&T coach noted that win for T&T to book a second-round spot, saying, “It will be huge for us to qualify out of this group because it’s no secret the problems we had in our football being normalised by FIFA and all that kind of stuff."
He added, “Now we are getting our football back on track and we had a league for the first time in three years which was a huge success, and there are players in this squad who came out of that league and we continue to build.
“We have qualified for back-to-back Gold Cups, so I think we are back on the right track and this is another step in the right direction, but the end game for us is to qualify for the World Cup in 2026 in our region, and we want to put our best foot forward and try to be there in the end.”
For 11-Gold Cup participants T&T, coach Eve is expected to have his full squad to choose from as they look to build on the win over the Sugar Boyz, the biggest in tournament history with strikes from Alvin Jones, USA-born Ajani Fortune, and an own-goal from Jameel Ible.
The Reggae Boyz coached by Iceland’s Heimir Hallgrimsson have qualified to the Gold Cup 13-times, however, they are currently on an 11-match winless run with their last win coming against Suriname by a 3-1 margin on June 7 last year in the Concacaf Nations League.
Asked his thoughts on the Jamaican team which features a host of English-based players, compared to one he faced a few months back, Eve said, “They had about nine foreign-based players, but only about five of them are in these team along with players like Michail Antonio, Demarai Gray and to our credit we had a mostly locally-based team, so we didn’t have the guys that we now have also, warned Eve."
After tonight’s matches, Jamaica closes group play against St Kitts and Nevis, while T&T will square off with the USA on Sunday (July 2).
T&T Squad:
Goalkeepers:
Denzil Smith (W Connection), Nicklas Frenderup (Ranheim IL/Norway), Marvin Phillip (AC Port of Spain).
Defenders:
Alvin Jones (Club Sando), Shannon Gomez (San Antonio FC/USA), Joevin Jones (Police FC), Triston Hodge (Hartford Athletic/USA), Kareem Moses (FF Jaro/Finland), Leland Archer (Charleston Battery/USA), Sheldon Bateau (SK Beveren/Belgium), Aubrey David (SD Aucas/Ecuador);
Midfielders:
Molik Khan (Minnesota United/USA), Andre Rampersad (HFX Wanderers/Canada), Neveal Hackshaw (Oakland Roots SC/USA), Ajani Fortune (Atlanta United/USA), Luke Singh (Atletico Ottawa/Canada), Kaïlé Auvray (Sporting KC Academy/USA), Real Gill (Club Sando), Ryan Telfer (Miami FC/USA), Kevin Molino (Columbus Crew/USA),
Forwards:
Levi Garcia (AEK Athens FC/Greece), Kadeem Corbin (La Horquetta Rangers), Malcolm Shaw (Atletico Ottawa/Canada).
Jamaica Squad:
Goalkeepers:
Andre Blake (Philadelphia Union), Jamali Waite (Pittsburgh Riverhounds), Coniah Boyce-Clarke (Reading)
Defenders:
Amari’i Bell (Luton Town), Ethan Pinnock (Brentford), Di’shon Bernard, Adrian Mariappa (Salford City), Dexter Lembikisa (Wolves), Damion Lowe (Philadelphia Union), Javain Brown (Vancouver Whitecaps), Kemar Lawrence (Minnesota United)
Midfielders:
Kevon Lambert (Phoenix Rising, (Jonathan Russell (Barnsley), Joel Latibeaudiere (Swansea), Bobby Reid (Fulham), Daniel Johnson (Preston North End), Kaheem Parris (Dynamo Kyiv)
Forwards:
Michail Antonio (West Ham), Shamar Nicholson (Spartak Moscow), Leon Bailey (Aston Villa), Cory Burke (New York Red Bulls), Dujuan Richards (Phoenix Academy), Demarai Gray (Everton)
RELATED NEWS
Eve eyes victory over Reggae Boyz in Gold Cup.
By Stephon Nicholas (T&T Newsday).
Soca Warriors coach Angus Eve is eyeing three points against the Reggae Boyz in Wednesday's "Caribbean derby" in Group A of the Concacaf Gold Cup, at City Park, St Louis, Missouri. Kick-off is at 7.30pm.
A victory for T&T, after their opening 3-0 win vs St Kitts, will be enough for Eve's men to qualify for the quarter-finals, with one match to play. Prior to the tournament, Eve said T&T had a "good chance" of reaching the knock-out stage.
However, Jamaica will be desperate to get their first win of the tournament, after drawing with USA 1-1 in the Gold Cup opener.
At Tuesday's media conference, Eve said the "intensity and preparations have been really good," and he is looking forward to the match. He said all players are fit and available.
"We wanna win the game. We came in the tournament with the mindset that we wanna go to the second phase, which is coming out the group," he said.
Eve dismissed any relevance of the two friendlies against the Reggae Boyz in Jamaica earlier this year, which saw T&T win 1-0 and draw the second fixture 0-0.
The former national skipper said the composition of the Jamaica Gold Cup team is quite different from the friendlies, with both teams previously fielding primarily local-based players.
"The likes of Michail Antonio (West Ham), Demarai Gray (Everton), Bobby Reid (Fulham), (Ethan) Pinnock (Brentford), they wouldn't have been in that (Jamaica) squad at that time."
Eve said T&T is hoping to get its football back on track, after internal troubles with the TT Football Association falling under control of the FIFA normalisation committee and the lack of a domestic professional league for three years during the pandemic.
"We continue to build. We've qualified for two back-to-back Gold Cups proper. We're back on the right track; this is another step in the right direction. The end game is to qualify for World Cup 2026. It's in our region (US, Canada and Mexico) and we want to put our best foot forward and be there again."
France-born T&T midfielder Kaile Auvray, 19, who has enjoyed a bright start since making his debut this year said he is happy to be part of the T&T squad and learning from the veterans.
"It means a lot. It's truly a privilege to be here at such a young age and to be able to learn from certain veterans like Kevin Molino, Joevin Jones, to be able to acquire that experience."
