Coach Terry Fenwick will be hoping his team will execute against Puerto Rico in its second Concacaf World Cup Qualifying match on Sunday at the Estadio Jose Antonio Figueroa in Mayaquez. Kick off is 5 pm.
Fenwick told the media yesterday that his technical staff has studied their opponent and will be coming with a plan of action to counter their strengths. "We have seen the pace, the power, the quality they have got upfront. The team is very well organised under their new coach," the T&T English-born coach has said.
The Puerto Ricans have hired US coach Dave Sarachan for the qualifiers but they did not get the result they were hoping for against St Kitts/Nevis in their opening game, going down 0-1 on Wednesday night.
The Soca Warriors on the other hand jumped to the top of Group F with a convincing 3-0 win over Guyana on Thursday night in the Dominican Republic which was used as T&T's home ground for the contest. T&T captain and midfielder Khaleem Hyland said, "We know Puerto Rico is at home so we've got to fight until the last minute. We're just hoping for a good game and hopefully, we'll come out victorious."
Fenwick admitted that despite assessing their opponents' strengths and weaknesses to date, his team is guaranteed to face a tough team, come later today. "We know it's going to be a very tough game for T&T. Obviously we've been looking at you guys for a while now to see the strengths and weaknesses, to try and put our plan of action together, but we recognised that it's going to be a very tough game," Fenwick told the Puerto Rican media.
The T&T team produced a commanding performance against the Guyanese for the result, with striker Levi Garcia opening the scoring in the seventh minute, before goals by defender Sheldon Bateau and striker Ryan Telfer sealed maximum points for them.
Fenwick, a former World Cup players with England, fielded an all-overseas-based team against the Guyanese and yesterday he confirmed that defender Noah Powder, the Real Salt Lake player, who came on as a second-half substitute for Garcia, will not be on his roster for the match, after he returned to his American base on Friday.
However, the coach will have all of his players that started against Guyana at his disposal.
The T&T team need to win the group to progress to the second round of the qualifiers. The group comprises the Bahamas, St Kitts/Nevis, Puerto Rico and Guyana.
Should T&T emerge from the group the team will face the winner of Group A which consists of El Salvador, Montserrat, Grenada, Antigua/Barbuda and the US Virgin Islands.
T&TMen's Senior Team Squad
Goalkeepers: Adrian Foncett, Marvin Phillip, Nicklaus Frenderup, Denzil Smith
Defenders: Noah Powder, Leland Archer, Justin Garcia, Neval Hickshaw, Sheldon Bateau, Aubery David, Radanfah Abu Bakr, Robert Primus, Joevin Jones
Midfielders: Duane Muckette, Michael Poon Angeron, Andre Boucaud, Daniel Phillips, Judah Garcia, Khaleem Hyland, Marcus Joseph Jr
Forwards: Levi Garcia, Ryan Telfer, Willis Plaza, Sean Bonval, Jabari Mitchell, Brent Sam.