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29
Fri, Mar

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"It's fantastic.... I love it"


Right away came those words from National coach Leo Beenhakker about T&T's placing in Group B with the likes of England, Paraguay and first World Cup opponents Sweden.

Beenhakker was sitting next to assistant coach Wim Rijsbergen and manager Bruce Aanensen along with the rest of the T&T delegation in row four before the main stage when it was announced that T&T were placed in Group B at the Gala draw in Messe Leipzig.

A few sections to his left, a football lob away was Jack Warner, who instantly looked on with smiles as if to say "Yes, we get it". Interestingly, moments later as he hugged Beenhakker, he added "I told you so, ent I told you so. We shall play England and the others and we shall be the smallest nation with the biggest passion."

Another interesting note was Beenhakker saying on Friday that he wouldn't mind facing Sweden as it would suit his pre-tournament preparations fine in Austria as he could line up Scandanavian-like teams for matches.

"This draw is very good and we must go in there and do what we have to do. We could spoil it for them," Beehakker told TTFF Media. In the middle of this, he was answering questions from all directions, in Dutch, Spanish and of course from the English, the BBCs, the Sky Sports, the Daily Mails and others.

"I like what we got and I have a squad of players who will love it. We have to be professionals like we have been in the qualifying campaign and I have no doubt we can do this well. I love it," Beenhakker added.

He may now consider putting off a proposed England training camp and there is also the possibility that the team will be away for Carnival as FIFA announced that there will be only one FIFA international date before the Finals, on March 1 and T&T could end up in Wales at that time. Warner will confirm this in due course.

Beenhakker and managers Aanensen and George Joseph along with Rijsbergen wil visit the match sites from early as 8am on Saturday up until Tuesday before he he returns to Austria to check out another site there.