T&T's senior men's football team will depart for Fort-de-France, Martinique, at 1 pm this afternoon ahead of Tuesday's Scotiabank Caribbean Cup qualifying match against the hosts in their second match of Group 4 Third round action at the Stade Pierre-Aliker.
Coach Stephen Hart conducted his final training session at the Hasely Crawford Stadium on Saturday evening and later described the mood in the camp as upbeat, saying the team was aware of what was required of them.
"Yes everyone is in good spirits. We've had a couple of very good, intense training sessions since the match on Wednesday and of course this period is important to us as a squad because over the time we have been together, it gives us that opportunity to grow closer as a unit and of course we get to work on certain things on the training field before our upcoming matches. You have to remember that this period is not just about the matches against Martinique and Dominican Republic in focus, but moreso for our matches next month against Costa Rica and Honduras," Hart said.
Commenting on the Martinique team, Hart said: "They are a very nice team. They have about six or seven players with very good quality. They will be at home and will try to put us under pressure and keep the tempo very high. We have to be focused and ready to manage the game properly."
Hart touched a bit on the 4-0 win over Dominican Republic, saying "I think the team has a tendency to play to the so-called level of the opposition which is never a good quality because then when you get to games when you need to raise the level, then it becomes harder for you. So it is always good to see us break out of that habit and dominate the opposition."
He commented also on the contribution of Kenwyne Jones, saying "I don't think the fans understand it. You have to look at how he occupies the defence. Any other player or coach would have been congratulated for that sort of performance where he contributed to three of the goals and then defensively he also did some very good work, he pressed, he chased back and he cleared balls on corners.
There are times when strikers go into spells where they don't always score for their countries but then if he is contributing to someone else who scores... then who cares," Hart added.Dutch-based winger Levi Garcia who left the game on Wednesday with a thigh injury, has recovered and will travel with the team today.