Kenwyne Jones makes it 22 now.
By: Shaun Fuentes.[/size]
Trinidad and Tobago head coach Leo Beenhakker will have his hands full come Monday after Southampton striker Kenwyne Jones was passed fit on Saturday and will be arriving to join the team camp for the weekend showdown with Bahrain at the Hasely Crawford Stadium.
It was only Friday when Southampton FC sent a fax to the TTFF advising that Jones was unfit to travel and partake in the preparations and match due to a hamstring injury which forced Beenhakker to omit him from the 21-man squad. The Dutchman then named Cornell Glen as his replacement on Saturday, only to learn later that evening that Jones had passed a fitness test.
Beenhakker has since decided to have both men in the camp and the squad will now comprise 22 players.
Jones arrives today (Sunday) with Dennis Lawrence and Chris Birchall while Glen also comes in with Scott Sealy and Avery John. Gillingham defender Brent Sancho arrived on Saturday night while the rest of overseas pros – Russell Latapy, Stern John, Carlos Edwards, Marvin Andrews, Kelvin Jack, Clayton Ince, Shaka Hislop, Silvio Spann, Jason Scotland and Ian Cox will come in on Monday to meet up with home-based pros Densill Theobald, Aurtis Whitley, Cyd Gray and Anthony Wolfe. Dwight Yorke comes in on Tuesday. All the players will report to camp at the Crowne Plaza on Monday evening with the first session carded for Tuesday morning.
Bahrain comes in on Monday.
By: Rami Hulayyel.[/size]
Bahrain's national soccer team professionals returned to the Kingdom from Doha last night ahead of their 2006 World Cup final playoff against Trinidad and Tobago scheduled on Saturday and November 16.
The eight professionals came back after playing their matches with the Qatari clubs in the Premier Division League.
Al Gharrafa's strikers Hussain Ali, Ala'a Hubail and Al Silia midfielder Mahmood Jalal returned last night while defenders Mohamemd Juma'a, Sayed Mohammed Adnan (Al Khor) and midfielders Mohammed Salmeen, Salman Isa (Al Arabi), Mohammed Hubail (Qatar Club) arrived earlier on Friday.
However, the players did not practice with the team last night as they were rested by coach Luka Peruzovic of Belgium.
Team manager Abdulrazzaq Mohammed said the professionals will be practicing today while the team is set to depart tomorrow at 2am and will reach Trinidad via London after a 16-hour journey.
Mohammed said the team will fly by Gulf Air to London and from there they will take a national Trinidad plane.
According to Mohammed, the team will return home in a private jet soon after the first-leg match at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Port of Spain while the second-leg match is scheduled four days later at the National Stadium in Riffa.
The delegation will be headed by Bahrain Football Association vice-president Shaikh Ali bin Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Khalifa and includes association member Yousef Hassan and 25 players.
The team will stay at the Hilton Hotel and will train three days at the Larry Gomes Stadium, one two-hour session per day and then on Friday at the match venue.