Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) senior men's football team will have to overcome Montserrat in order to proceed to the second preliminary qualifying round of the 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup. Both the preliminary round and main group stage draws took place last night in Miami with T&T as one of the six seeded teams, placed into Pot 1 based on the FIFA rankings as of August 2020.
Should they get past Montserrat, the Soca Warriors will go on to face either Cuba or French Guiana in the second preliminary round for a place in Group A of the main competition where champions Mexico, El Salvador and Curacao await. The preliminary round of the expanded 16-team tournament will be played between July 2 and 6 next year. The main group stage begins on July 10 following the draw which took place on Monday night in Miami, Florida, USA.
However, a cloud hangs over T&T’s participation at the 2021 Gold Cup preliminary given that the governing body for football in the region, CONCACAF, has given the country a deadline of December 18 to be reinstated by FIFA or be replaced by Antigua and Barbuda.
T&T was suspended by the global governing body on Thursday, September 24 “due to grave violations of the FIFA Statutes”. Reacting to the draw, T&T head coach Terry Fenwick couldn’t help but be side-tracked by the fact that T&T may not actually get on the field of the competition. He told Guardian Media Sports on Monday: “We need some positives in T&T football away from the politics that is being played out between the United TTFA and FIFA and I’m just hoping that we get a draw that we can plan ahead, prepare properly and the boys will look forward to playing.”
The former England international footballer admitted he doesn’t know too much about his opponents. Fenwick said, “I don’t know a great deal about them. I will have to check them out. I’ll have to go through the information, and I’ll have to research and then give you a more detailed answer to that but don’t take anybody lightly. Montserrat will probably see this a good draw for them given the mess we are in. We’ve got to make sure that we get it right.”
Fenwick was uncertain about the current mindset of his players given the very public fight between the TTFA and FIFA. “I’m dealing directly with players. I’m touching base with them across the board and trying to keep them positive. I’m trying to give them a lift but it’s difficult because they’re all reading the same rubbish we’ve all been reading for the last month."
Looking a bit closer at the draw, the preliminaries will see some other very interesting matchups. Haiti the top-seeded team in the round was drawn against tricky St Vincent and The Grenadines. The tie of the round though is certainly Guatemala's pending clash with Guyana. Guatemala has traditionally been strong at this level of competition but would be eager to reaffirm their dominance after missing both the 2017 and 2019 competitions due to FIFA suspension.
Guyana meanwhile is seen as a fast-rising nation in the CONCACAF region, participating in its maiden CONCACAF Gold Cup in 2019 alongside T&T and placing third in group D.
T&T ranked 93rd in the FIFA rankings and is among 12 teams including the Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Cuba, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Montserrat and St Vincent and the Grenadines, expected to do battle for the last three spots in the 16-team group stage of the Gold Cup.
T&T qualified for the preliminaries as the third-place finishers in Group C of League A when they failed to win any of their two matches.
TTFA has been in a tussle with the FIFA since March 17, when its elected executive was removed and ten days later replaced by a FIFA-appointment Normalisation Committee as the administrators of local football.
CONCACAF Gold Cup 2021 Preliminary Round 1:
Match 1: Haiti vs St Vincent and the Grenadines
Match 2: Guatemala vs Guyana
Match 3: T&T vs Montserrat
Match 4: Cuba vs French Guiana
Match 5: Guadeloupe vs Bahamas
Match 6: Bermuda vs Barbados
CONCACAF Gold Cup 2021 Preliminary Round 2:
Match 7: Winner 1 vs Winner 6
Match 8: Winner 2 vs Winner 5
Match 9: Winner 3 vs Winner 4