WITH Peru club champions Alianza Lima scheduled to arrive in the country today for Wednesday's friendly encounter at Hasely Crawford Stadium, Trinidad and Tobago's senior footballers could expect a trip to London for an appearance in the Unity Cup which will fall in line with their preparations for their 2006 World Cup qualifiers.
The "Warriors" have been invited to take part in the tournament along with Jamaica, Ghana and Nigeria . The event, which inaugurated in 2002, will be played at Upon Park, home of Premier League side West Ham United.
No dates have yet been confirmed for the matches, but the organizers had been trying to get T&T to confirm their participation for some time and TTFF special adviser Jack Warner did confirm so yesterday.
Chief executive of the tournament organisers OSMi, Rotimi Pedro was excited over the staging of the event which will run over 12 days with matches in between allowing T&T and the other teams involved in World Cup qualification to fit it into their hectic schedules.
"All arrangements are in place. We want this to be much better than whatever we put up in earlier years. I have been doing a lot of travelling lately, and I was in Ghana to see the federation chiefs and the coach of the Black Stars. There is excitement everywhere.
"By this weekend, I hope to have met and sorted out certain matters with the Nigeria Football Association chiefs, so that everything will move as planned. I tell you again this will be a big spectacle and will set a standard for other tournaments to follow in subsequent years," Pedro said.
The tournament kicked off with a Nigeria 1-0 win over Jamaica in 2002 just around the time of the World Cup.
"The Unity Cup unifies all cultures and communities. It is a tournament that many Africans and people from the Caribbean look forward to each year and we have come to realise the pride of place it occupies in the calendar of many people. It is not something we can toy with any longer," Pedro added.
New T&T national coach Leo Beenhakker meantime will commence a training camp today with a heap of this country's overseas-based pros along with 10 home-based pros. The game against Lima on Wednesday is billed to start at 6:30 p.m.
Players arriving home at the weekend included American-based Avery John, Cornell Glen, Marlon Rojas and Leslie Fitzpatrick, while Kenwyne Jones comes in today. Wrexham trio Carlos Edwards, Dennis Lawrence and Hector Sam also came in at the weekend. Already here is captain Dwight Yorke, Clayton Ince and Chris Birchall.
Fitzpatrick says he is feeling in the best shape so far this season.
"I had a slight injury recently but now I'm back to full fitness and I think the first few games in the MLS has really set the pace for me."