T&T’s Soca Warriors need just a point from a draw when they face Curacao tonight at the Ergilio Hato Stadium in Willemstad, Curacao to be assured of a place in the quarterfinals of the CONCACAF Nations League ‘A’ Division.
However, defensive midfielder Neveal Hackshaw said he wants maximum points from the encounter.
The ask may seem like a simple one for the Soca Warriors against a team slated second-from-bottom of the six-team standings without a point to show thus far, but coach Angus Eve said recently that he would be approaching each game as a final.
The team touched down in Curacao yesterday morning and had a session at the multi-purpose facility where the game will be played tonight at 9 pm.
Hackshaw, considered one of the steadiest players in the team, admitted that the Curacao men would be coming with everything for the encounter, but he noted also that they did not know what the Warriors would be coming with.
In the first game between the team on September 7 at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Mucurapo, Port-of-Spain, it took a late winner from Nathaniel James. Since then, the Warriors went on to beat El Salvador 3-2 and Guatemala by the same scoreline at the Stadium on Friday night after they trailed 2-0 in the encounter early.
Hackshaw said he was not worried in that match and gave a snippet of the character that made the team a strong one.
“Coming from behind against Guatemala was tough, we always believed we were going to come away with a victory and that’s what we did. The character in the team was great.
“We never argued with each other, we fought for each other and if someone made a mistake, we pushed them up and did not bring them down, and that’s leadership from everyone. It wasn’t only a senior thing, because the younger guys helped us and we helped them, so I think it was good,” Hackshaw explained.
Hackshaw, who plays for the Oakland Roots in the USL Championships, said the key to winning the game was just to stay grounded, trust the coach’s decisions and whatever tactics he brought, and then execute them on the field.
He noted that it was very important for them to top the group and qualify for the quarterfinal round of the competition because it is what they had been working towards.
“For me, no one believed that we would have been in this position, neither did the teams in the group believe it, but we came into the group and we proved them wrong. We showed them that we are a fighting team and anything is possible.”
After three wins, the Warriors are on nine points needing to be one of two teams advancing from the group. Their closest rival is Panama, which will be up against Guatemala, at the Estadio Rommel Fernandez in Panama.
