?Trinidad and Tobago's senior footballers caused a bit of a stir at Lakeside Park, Salt Lake City on Monday evening as they took part in their first training session ahead of Friday's international friendly against Mexico.
Over 150 fans comprising of US folks, Mexicans and other members of the Latin community turned up at Lakeside to observe the session and then later formed lines for the opportunity to take photographs and get signings from the players following the 90-minute session conducted by head coach Stephen Hart.
It was an appreciated welcome for the visitors who arrived in Salt Lake on Sunday evening.
"It's quite good to get the fans involved especially in places like this which is somewhat outside of the Caribbean or away from home," said English-based midfielder Andre Boucaud.
"It's special for the players because you feel that sense of what the fans like and appreciate. And we as players like to engage in these kind of activities. I think our performance against them (Mexico) in the Gold Cup had a really big impact and people are starting to follow the team. Hopefully we could get that back home as well and get the fans involved in our campaign. It brings everyone closer," the Dagenham and Redbridge midfielder added.
Hart himself saw something encouraging about the happenings in Salt Lake.
"It's good for the players to interact and get this kind of attention when it comes. Of course we are here to prepare for a game and nothing changes about that. We had our first session which was to get the legs going and then we get into it a bit more over the next couple of days. We still have a couple players to come in and we'll take it from there," Hart said.
Mexican-based defender Yohance Marshall, the scorer of the fourth and equalising goal in the 4-4 draw with Mexico at the Gold Cup, is patiently awaiting Friday's game.
"It's an exciting period for us but we have also got to keep out feet on the ground. There will be a lot of expectations for our team after the Gold Cup performance and particularly the game against Mexico. A lot of people will be looking to see what happens in this game. I think we need to be patient, prepare properly and go into the game making sure we do all the right things," Marshall said.
"For me personally I'm looking towards the game with a lot of anticipation but we see this game as preparation for a much bigger stage which is the World Cup qualification. These kind of games go a long way in helping us prepare for the campaign," he added.
Three more players joined the camp on Monday night including Khaleem Hyland, Jonathan Glenn and Mekeil Williams. San Jose Earthquakes attacker Cordell Cato will arrive on Tuesday evening.
Meantime, official correspondence has been sent by Concacaf to the TTFA that the Copa America playoff with Haiti will not take place in October but at a later date. This therefore means the TTFA can now proceed with arranging another international friendly during the Fifa window. T&T so far is scheduled to face Panama on October 8 in Panama City.