Trinidad and Tobago head coach Leo Beenhakker is not hiding from the fact that Mexico is a stronger team than the “Warriors” but he is sticking by his belief that Dwight Yorke and his teammates will by no means be push overs in the Wednesday’s 2006 World Cup qualifying encounter which kicks off at 7pm (8pm T&T time) at the Estadio Universitario in Monterrey.
The T&T team trained for one hour at the match venue on Tuesday morning after arriving here at around midnight on Monday.
Beenhakker and his men reached the venue around 9.30 am and after taking the field, were then informed by home officials that they would have to leave as the custom session for the visiting team at the official venue was carded for later in the evening. After learning that they would then have to journey for another 40 minutes to get to the training pitch, Beenhakker kept his men there and carried on a one hour session prior to the arrival of the Mexican team which trained soon after the “Warriors” left.
The mood has been right up in the T&T camp at the Sheraton Hotel despite the fact that T&T will be going into the match without the services of striker Kenwyne Jones who picked up a yellow card in the 2-0 win over Panama after receiving a previous caution in the 5-1 beating of St Kitts/Nevis in the “semis” last year. His place is likely to be taken by Gary Glasgow. Yorke and his teammates also quickly dismissed talks of any differences between players or management following questions over the untimely walk out by goalie Clayton Ince.
The Mexicans, unbeaten in their previous 17 World Cup matches, will also be missing Salvador Carmona after he picked up a yellow in their last match against Guatemala and coach Ricardo La Volpe indicated that defender Rafael Marquez will also be out of the match due to a groin strain. Cuauhtemoc Blanco has also asked to be rested.
Accustomed to playing at high sea level venues, T&T will be breathing easier as Wednesday’s match will be played at the Stadium which is only 550 metres above sea level but the atmosphere is still expected to be an intimidating as they are expecting a close to sell out crowd at the 45,000 seater venue.
“We are a little more confident and operating better as team which is an advantage to us now,” Beenhakker told TTFF Media moments before a final run out on Tuesday evening.
“Mexico has a very strong team but it doesn’t always mean in football that the stronger team wins. We are going to play to win and if they are better then I can understand that but they will have to demonstrate that on the pitch. We have no reason to feel inferior to them. They think they are much better but we’ll see how we can handle them. The key will be us playing with more time on the ball. If we are nervous and we keep losing the ball then that’s where the problem will be,” the Dutchman added. There are no injuries in the team with Avery John back to full strength after receiving a blow to the calf last Saturday.