Trinidad and Tobago’s originally scheduled opening match in Group A of the ongoing Pan American Games in Guadalajara against Uruguay was pushed back to October 25 due to the non-arrival of the Uruguayan team. Clouds of ash spewing from Chile's Puyehue volcano forced flights in Uruguay and Argentina to be grounded.
This means T&T will now go into their first game against hosts Mexico from 8pm (9pm T&T time) at the Estadio OmniLife on Friday. T&T head coach Angus Eve was not entirely disappointed with the change in schedule as it allowed his team more time to settle in after arriving in Guadalajara on Tuesday morning.
“It actually is not such a bad thing even though mentally we were getting ourselves ready for a game today against Uruguay. But now we would have at least three sessions under our belt whereby initially we would have trained only once had the Uruguay game been on as initially scheduled,” Eve told TTFF Media.
“It means the boys have had a couple extra days to acclimatize here for what definitely will be a huge opening game against the home team. We all know how passionate the Mexicans are at any level and especially playing at home they will be firing and their fans will be looking for a good showing.
“I think this kind of environment and competition only augers well for our boys as it gives some of them an early indication as to what it feels like to play these kind of teams away from home before they actually get the senior international stage,” Eve added.
Team manager Norris Ferguson said despite the challenges with getting the team settled in following their early morning arrival on Tuesday, all was well in the camp as certain conditions were now in place.
“We trained yesterday on a pretty decent Astroturf surface. The boys are in good spirits and looking forward to their first match against the home team. Some of them have already faced the Mexican players at the Under 20 and Under 17 age group so it’s just a matter of our players applying themselves well and attempting to gain everything possible from this outing at the Pan –Am Games.
We will also aspire for favourable results,” Ferguson stated.
The Mexicans meantime added goalkeeper Jose Antonio Rodriguez as a last minute inclusion to their final squad. Rodriguez, who plays for the Veracruz Red Sharks in the Mexican Second Division, started for the Under 17 Mexican National Team at the Nigeria 2009 Youth World Cup and the Under 20 Youth World Cup Colombia 2011.
All the players play professionally in the Mexican Leagues and includes the likes of Atlas midfielder Ricardo Bocanegra, Toluca forward Isaac Brizuela, Cruz Azul defender Nestor Araujo and Atlante forward Jeronimo Amione.
This is the first time Mexico is hosting the Pan American games since 1975 and they have gone all out with the organization, specifically with security as the athletes and officials are being guarded by infrared-equipped Black Hawk helicopters, hundreds of surveillance cameras and more than 11,000 police officers Guadalajara, a colonial-era city known as the birthplace of mariachi and tequila, is not among the main hot spots for drug violence.
But in the last two years, the number of killings has risen in the metropolitan region. And the huge media presence in Guadalajara could provide a means for traffickers to try to send a message to rivals.
Guadalajara residents and Mexican officials are hoping that the showcase sports event — the biggest in Mexico since the 1986 World Cup — is peaceful.
"Right now this is the safest city in Mexico and many other places in Latin America," Guadalajara Mayor Aristoteles Sandoval said this week in a welcome to arriving teams.
In related news, with a majority of the players tested at the 2011 Under-17 World Cup in Mexico having traces of clenbuterol in their bodies because they ate contaminated meat, Mexican authorities have acknowledged the country has issues with feeding banned steroids to livestock and all athletes at the current games have been advised to eat only in designated cafeterias.
FIFA medical officer Jiri Dvorak called the results "highly surprising" but insisted that teenage players were not cheating.
"It is not a problem of doping, but a problem of public health," Dvorak told reporters, adding that none of the players were harmed or put in any danger.
Mexican health official Mikel Arriola said authorities had begun a program of arresting farmers and shutting down slaughterhouses. "We are going to continue these inspections in order to avoid poisoning the general population and doping (athletes)," Arriola said.