Soca Warriors attracting big guns
By Shaun Fuentes
This country’s senior team is now on the end of several invitations for international warm up matches from other countries as preparations for next year’s World Cup in Germany.
Since the 1-0 victory over Bahrain earlier this month in Manama to secure a spot in next year’s finals, T&T’s value has obviously increased and there has been an outpouring of interest from not just international teams for matches, but also from other organizations and media companies hoping to get a piece of the “Soca Warriors”. There have been countless offers, some worthy of taking note of and others simply not worth a second thought.
The top of the list so far has been an invitation to play Argentina’s full A-team in a friendly international in Buenos Aires in December. Unfortunately though, T&T may not be able to meet that request as head coach Leo Beenhakker realizes that the date proposed for the match may make it impossible for him to field a respectable T&T selection. An invitation has also come from Hungary but Beenhakker is hopeful of meeting them next year in Europe once the arrangements can be put in place.
There is also speculation about a match against Scotland at Upton Park in England but the TTFF cannot yet confirm whether it will be played.
World Eleven, a FIFA licensed match and agent is the company interested in arranging matches involving T&T. They recently put on the Costa Rica versus France match as well Saudi Arabia vs Paraguay and Portugal vs Lithuania.
Special Advisor to the TTFF Jack Warner, insisted that it was overwhelming for T&T to now be receiving such invitations and while all may not be readily acceptable, he is confident that the build up to the World Cup in June will be a well planned and thought out one for T&T.
“While time is not on our side, I am confident that we will have things in place and we will be able to make full use of the opportunities at our disposal,” Warner told TTFF Media on Wednesday.
So far, Beenhakker, in conjunction with the two FIFA dates for friendlies, has requested one match to be played at home in late March as a farewell affair for the team before the World Cup and an earlier one will be played in Europe on February 9.
Beenhakker will also be in Germany this week to have a better look at facilities and to decide the best location for T&T’s camp for the tournament.
So far only six countries have made bookings and FIFA has blocked up to 110 Hotels for teams to select for accommodation.
