Trinidad and Tobago will have to be at the top of their game when they come up against Martinique in the first of two semifinal matches at the Caribbean Cup Finals today from 5 pm.
The teams will kick off the action at the Antigua Recreation Ground in St John's with Haiti and Cuba doing battle from 7 pm to determine the other finalist for Sunday's final, which will be staged at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium.
All four countries have qualified for the 2013 Concacaf Gold Cup in the United States, but are still eyeing the Caribbean Cup top prize of US$100,000. Losing semifinalists will meet in the third place
play-offs at the same venue on Sunday. Runners-up will take home US $75,000, with third- and fourth-placed teams getting US$50,000 and US$30,000 respectively.
T&T captain Jan-Michael Williams and experienced midfielder Densill Theobald have carried the current team on their backs with their leadership on and off the pitch and their never-say-die attitude in all of the matches played so far.
Williams, of W Connection, believes T&T has some unfinished business to take care of. "We want to regain the title. That is a major goal for us," Williams said.
"We came to Antigua expecting it to be a rough challenge and it turned out that way because we lost to Antigua and then we had to go down to the wire to beat Dominican Republic but thankfully we did it and we made it to the Gold Cup. I don't think many persons expected us to even get to this stage.
"We put a lot of the critics to rest but we appreciate their lack of faith in us. I'm happy that we were able to prove some of them wrong, including past coaches and even past players who have been here before," he added.
Theobald, meantime, is banking on the team to keep improving leading up to July's Gold Cup. "Qualifying for the Gold Cup is one thing, but now we must strive to improve all round and ensure we can continue to taking the football up some levels.
"The journey has just begun for this team. I would love for us to win the Cup because it will bring some glory back to our football. Hopefully we can maintain our spirits and our fight tomorrow against Martinique and then in the final on Sunday," said the 2006 World Cup squad member.
Martinique won the Cup in 1993 and will be depending on their five France-based players as well as West Ham United's 34-year-old forward Frederic Piquionne to take them to the final.
Their captain Fabrice Reuperne expects a tough encounter today.
"We know Trinidad to be a tough team and they have won the titles many times before. We expect a good game. We also want to win the tournament," Reuperne said.
T&T defeated Martinique 1-0 in the 2010 final and will also recall their 7-2 thrashing of the same opponents in the 1994 final at the Queen's Park Oval, a game which was witnessed by the great Pele.
Current coach Charles scored a double on that day with Dean Pacheco netting a hat-trick, along with one each from Angus Eve and Alvin Thomas.
"Good memories as a player," Charles said. "But tomorrow it's a different ball game. We must go out there and show how much we want it."
T&T will be without defender Aubrey David, who is serving a one-match suspension due to carrying two yellow cards, while the CFU on Wednesday denied the TTFF's request to add two players to its roster as replacements for the injured Hughtun Hector and Lester Peltier.
Originally the TTFF submitted 20 players but did not include an additional three names as reserves and the CFU stated that Wednesday's request came too late.
