As a long time soca warrior I a happy about the draw we received. It could have been worse, but that said, I have been reading all of the posts so far and I think that nuff men are getting carried away. All three teams that we will have to play have World Cup experience. They have been thru the circus of it before, the media and world exposure, while we are virtual newcomers. In case we forget, your off field obligations can often seriously derail a team's progress and means of preparation. And in this regard, we are far behind the others, who know what too expect and in essence, have been preparing for it since they qualified.
On the field is another matter. While we no doubt have the skill, the pressure of being on the world stage can prove to be daunting. The team suffered a slight case of stage fright during the home leg vs Bahrain and that episode can in no way compare t what we will face during the Cup. stage fright hjave a way of inhibiting a player's skills, they can become afraid to make a mistake, they could be starstruck or overwhelmed. It is not easy and any of you who have ever played any kind of sport in a highly competitive arena know that mental fortitude is crucial to one's success.
Paraguay may seem easy on paper but i am sure the Paraguayans are counting us as an easy 3 points. The Swedes may not possess an abundance of silky skills but their players are very professional in their approach, they are precise, possess a tremendous workrate and they will punish any team with their dead ball/set pieces skills.
England is arguably the class of the group and with the players at their disposal, I am sure that they expect to win the group.
I am not saying that we go in capitulating to anyone, but I think that we shouldn't get carried away either. The Cup will be a difficult journey for us but hopefully we can finally employ a top mental coach to work with the squad. Hopefully, the upcoming warm up games will help to prepare us to deal with playing away to hostile crowds...
Be happy but remember we are babies in this tournament!!! The World's grandest...