T&T’s senior footballers have very little room for error on Tuesday (September 9) when they face their regional nemesis, Jamaica, in game two of the final round qualifiers from 8 pm T&T time at the National Stadium in Kingston.
Last Friday’s goalless tie with Curacao at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Mucurapo, as caused some worries for the Soca Warriors, now facing Group B’s toughest opponent.
National coach Dwight Yorke said he has no fear for the Jamaicans, who have jumped to the top of the group with a convincing 4-0 thrashing of Bermuda, which took place on Friday night, while T&T’s goalless tie shoved the Warriors down the pecking order in the group.
Striker Nathaniel "Natty" James, who played just a short stint in the 0-0 result, is urging his players to remain focused, as he is aware of what to expect from the Jamaicans.
‘Natty’, as he is popularly known, played briefly in the Jamaican Premier League for the Mount Pleasant Football Academy, and following a training session at the game venue yesterday, had this advice for his team: ‘I’m very motivated to play. I know the country and how all the people are. I know what’s at stake, and, you know, I just want to go out and improve myself. Yeah, once we come out victorious, it’ll be good for bragging rights, and I just want it to happen.”
“I think we just need to remain focused, remain positive, and try not to dwell on outside noise or even focus on the negatives from the last game.
We just take the positives and move forward, and I think once we are brave enough to go out and begin the game like how we ended the last game, I think that we can do really well.”
Despite his tender age of 21, James has an accumulation of 16 appearances at the senior level for T&T and four at the under-20 level. “I think we just have to block it out, block out the noise. Being away is always a disadvantage in terms of the 12th man, the crowd. I think once we just do what we have to do and make them basically back down, I think the crowd will start to turn against them. It’ll be a lot of pressure on them, and then from that, I think that’s where we can strive and try to hit them,” James explained.
T&T need to win the group to assure themselves of automatic qualification. Otherwise, Yorke and his men will have to be one of the two best second-place teams to progress to an intercontinental play-off in March next year.
T&T last played against the Reggae Boyz in May at the Unity Cup in London, England, and finished on the losing end 3-2, despite a battling display to come from two goals down. The T&T loss came courtesy of a defensive blunder by Justin Garcia. Yesterday, however, Noah Powder, given the responsibility of holding down the left-back defensive position in the Curacao match by Yorke, said, “I think the key for us is to keep it clean at the back and give our players that trust and that faith to go and be creative in the final third, more free-flowing. Obviously, we have a lot of power in the final third, so just show what they can do.”
According to Powder, “I think we’re mentally very sharp, obviously strong on and off the ball. The second half is more of what we wanted to do throughout the game, and we kept it clean at the back. I think we’re ready for anything that Jamaica will come with.”
Meanwhile, Yorke quizzed on whether his team would be at full strength or if it faces suspensions to certain players, said there are certain things where they have to just follow the guidelines, particularly when it comes to the qualification, in terms of players being suspended.
Jamaican newspaper has expressed concerns with the team ahead of tonight’s match. “There is much cause for concern among local football coaches about missing regulars to the Reggae Boyz squad for their upcoming Concacaf World Cup qualifying games against Bermuda and now T&T,” was expressed in one of the daily newspapers.
The Reggae Boyz will be without reliable goalkeepers Andre Blake and Shaquan Davis; defenders Ethan Pinnock, Di’shon Bernard, and Amari’i Bell; midfielders Joel Latibeaudierre and Bobby Reid; and winger Leon Bailey. It is also understood that Demarai Grey is out of the Jamaica squad for the first two qualifiers due to injury.
T&T TEAM
22 Denzil Smith, 3 Kobi Henry, 5 Josiah Trimmingham, 8 Daniel Phillips, 10 Kevin Molino, 11 Levi Garcia, 13 Tyrese Spicer, 15 Dante Sealy, 18 Andre Rampersad, 19 Rio Cardines, 23 Noah Powder, 1 Marvin Phillip, 21 Jabari St Hillaire, 2 Darnell Hospedales, 4 Isaiah Garcia, 6 Jerrin Jackie, 7 Steffen Yeates, 9 Nathaniel James, 12 Ryan Telfer, 14 Wayne Frederick II, 16 Justin Obikwu, 17 Justin Garcia, 20 Kaile Auvray.
