Members of this country's national senior team will assemble today and will engage in their first training session tomorrow morning ahead of Wednesday's Scotiabank Caribbean Football Union Cup qualifier against Dominican Republic at the Ato Boldon Stadium in Couva at 7 pm.
Head Coach Stephen Hart is expected to have his full compliment of players leaving him with two days of fine tuning before taking the field for the first of two games which includes a second outing versus Martinique in Stade-de-France on October 11th. Dominican Republic host Martinique on October 8.
At the end of the round-robin series, only the winner will be assured of a spot in the 2017 CFU Finals and Concacaf Gold Cup while three of the best second placed finishes will contest a playoff to determine the fifth CFU qualifier to the Gold Cup
"It's always a bit of a difficult situation where the players are in only two or three days before a match but we deal with it and we move on," Hart said.
He added: "Our players have been through it before and unfortunately it's the way the schedule is drawn up because of the dates and we simply deal with it accordingly."
Among those returning is US-based forward Trevin Caesar who is coming off is "Player of the Week" performance in the United Soccer League (USL) for Orange County. Caesar scored a double last Saturday to lead his club to a 4-0 win over Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC 4-0, and advance to the USL Cup Playoffs and is seeking to add some Caribbean success to his CV.
"It's been a pretty decent season for me with Orange County. I've been working my legs off and seeing results with the goals coming by and of course we are into the playoffs which is a great accomplishment for the club,'"Caesar said.
"Now with the focus back on the national team, I am hoping to maintain my form. I haven't tasted any success at the Caribbean Cup level for T&T so I am hoping to play a strong part in helping the team reach the finals and hopefully we can go a step further than we did last time," Caesar added.
The Tobago-born player has scored three goals in ten appearances for T&T at the senior level and is eying a first appearance at the Concacaf Gold Cup next year.
Tickets for Wednesday's match are now on sale at all Sports and Games, Kenny's Sports Shops, Ramsingh's Sportworld in Couva and Heritage Sports in Tobago. Tickets cost $200 (covered) and $100 (uncovered). Gates open at 4pm.