Trinidad and Tobago’s senior footballers will go into Wednesday’s opening 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup opener against Honduras without the services of right winger Carlos Edwards.
Head coach Leo Beenhakker realized on Tuesday that he would have to do without the services of the Luton Town signee after his thigh strain failed to show any improvement in the final training session before the game at the University of Miami ground on Tuesday morning. The former Defence Force midfielder picked up the strain during training last week in Fort Lauderdale. He received ultrasound treatment here in Miami on Tuesday and though being cautious, he is expected to make a recovery before the Group phase ends.
But there was better news for striker Kenwyne Jones who sat out a couple of the previous sessions including the one at the Orange Bowl Stadium on Monday evening. He however rejoined the training on Tuesday and is available for selection on Wednesday. A second session originally carded for Tuesday evening was put off as Beenakker thought it was fitting for the players to spend the evening at the Intercontinental Hotel with a short walk around the hotel surroundings also being part of the evening’s schedule.
Despite the hiccup with Edwards, Beenhakker remained positive going into the opening fixture which kicks off at 9pm at the Orange Bowl following the opening game between Panama and Colombia.
“We have prepared well over the last week and there is nothing to worry over because of a little problem. The boys all know how to play football and as a team we know what is necessary to play the game and to play this tournament in general,” Beenhakker told TTFF Media. “We always play for a winning result and it will be no different this time. Someone asked whether I think we can get through this opening phase and I replied ‘I don’t know’. Who knows? When the team plays the first game and when we see what the other teams play like then we can know how things will finish but that doesn’t mean we won’t be ready for the games,” he added.
Beenhakker also attended a Media Conference to signal the start of the tournament at the Orange Bowl on Tuesday afternoon. All other coaches from the Group A teams along with CONCACAF President Jack Warner were also positioned at the head table.
The Honduras Assistant Coach Richardson Smith was in attendance and he said they would be serious in their approach to the match against T&T as they are keen to prove a point having not survived in the 2006 World Cup qualification.
“We have done our work and we will be hoping to make a good start to the tournament. The Gold Cup has been a good tournament for us and we intend to make the best use of it. We won’t take anything for granted and we hope to start with a good result versus Trinidad,” Smith said.
The last time these two teams met, a Stern John winner gave T&T a 1-0 win in a 2002 World Cup qualifier, virtually killing the host team’s chances of qualifying. John and Jerren Nixon also shared the goals when T&T won 3-1 in a 1998 Gold Cup outing in Los Angeles. In between that however, Honduras ran away 4-2 winners in a 2002 World Cup qualifier at the Hasely Crawford Stadium. This time around, John is geared up again and has the likes of Cornell Glen, Jason Scotland and Kenwyne Jones as possible strike partners while Collin Samuel may just find his self in Beenhakker’s plans. Midfielders Chris Birchall, Silvio Spann and Aurtis Whitley will also be expected to deliver with Angus Eve and Densill Theobald likely to play a support role. And well with a toss up between Shaka Hislop and Kelvin Jack and a defense marshaled by Dennis Lawrence, Marvin Andrews, Avery John and Atiba Charles, Beenhakker will be hoping to keep the opposition out of the game. Speedy wingback Cyd Gray is also in contention for action.
Wilmer Vasquez and Milton Nunez are the experienced ones on the Honduras team and Francisco Ramirez is also coming off a goalscoring performance in Saturday’s friendly 2-1 win over Canada.
Warner meantime revealed that CONCACAF has joined in partnership with UNICEF to assist a wide variety of areas, including the development of the youth as he also stressed how important it was for the Gold Cup to be successfully staged as it is now a measuring point for the region on the world football map.
“The hopes and expectations are higher and therefore we must maintain our standard and perhaps even improve on it. Our organization, our teams and our players are vital in this aspect. The good work of the Gold Cup must be continued. We have a higher level of play,” Warner said referring to the level of Mexico’s performance in the recent Confederation’s Cup and the USA in the World Youth Championship, particularly in their matchup with Argentina.