National midfielder Densill Theobald will travel with Falkirk star Russell Latapy out of Scotland on Monday to meet up with the rest of the National team in Miami en route to Panam City for next weekend’s 2006 World Cup qualifying encounter.
Theobald, attached to local Pro League outfit Caledonia AIA Fire has been on trial at Scottish Premier League club Falkirk,through the efforts of Latapy and has reportedly held his own so far and will continue to be looked at by the Falkirk coaching staff. As a result of this, he will not return home to depart with the local contingent on Monday morning but rather leave with Latapy and meet up with the other UK-based pros in London ahead of their arrival in Miami on Monday afternoon.
Latapy has been in action for Falkirk, coming off a “Man of the Match” performance in a 2-1 loss to Celtic last week followed by another good showing in Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Kilmarnock. He is gearing up for Sunday’s clash with League leaders Celtic and is then switching all focus to T&T’s must win affair with Panama followed by the home date with Mexico on October 12
“It’s quite obvious that we have to get a winning result against Panama. That’s on the top of our minds since the last game (against Costa Rica). We know what we have to do when we go there. All I am asking is that the country continues to stick with us and we as players will have to go out and do what is necessary on the pitch,” Latapy told TTFF Media.
Sydney FC striker Dwight Yorke is engaged in club action on Saturday and will meet the team on Tuesday while the other pros including Shaka Hislop, Clayton Ince, Marvin Andrews, Chris Birchall, Brent Sancho, Stern John, Kelvin Jack, Dennis Lawrence, Silvio Spann, Scott Sealy and Avery John, Jason Scotland, Kenwyne Jones and Carlos Edwards. The locally-based pros in the team are Anton Pierre, Anthony Wolfe, Aurtis Whitley, Atiba Charles and Theobald.
Following the weekend action for their respective clubs, the main focus on Monday night onto Tuesday will be the recovery process, especially after the long travel of the players coming from the UK. According to team sports therapist Zephrinus Nicholas, the decision by head coach Leo Beenhakker to travel on the Monday and have at least five days in Panama before the game was ideal. And team assistant manager George Joseph is already there to ensure all arrangements are in place for the team’s arrival and stay.
“The preparation ahead of such a big game starts off on a perfect note with us reaching five days before kick off,” Nicholas said on Thursday. “It means that the guys can gel properly and we could also take care of any niggling injuries or muscle tightness. It also allows us to see the shortcomings of those who haven’t been playing full 90s for their clubs which means that we can raise the intensity of their training. We have more time to make physical and medical assessments and of course the coach has more time to do his thing with the guys,” Nicholas added.
Following the long travel, especially Yorke’s journey out of Sydney, Nicholas continued “The important thing is proper recovery because when they get there, their compression will be tight because of the traveling and we must get ensure there is good blood flow over the next day or so before the training intensifies. We simply have to keep our fingers crossed that every comes off the weekend matches injury free and after a couple days recovery training because of the extra time we have this time, the three days after can be used for full match preparation and we should then be firing for the action,” he ended.