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Fri, Mar

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National midfielder Russell Latapy wants Trinidad and Tobago to have the fun of playing the second leg of the 2006 World Cup qualification half slot playoff from being comfortably ahead after Saturday’s first leg with Bahrain at the Hasely Crawford Stadium.


The Falkirk star was saying that in order for this to be the case, he intends to put his best football forward in aim of trying to help the “Warriors” come through with a positive result on the weekend.

“My views are that if we can pull together as a team and a  country to get the result we did against a Mexico team ranked sixth in the world, then I see no reason why we can’t do it against a team ranked lower than us,” Latapy told TTFF Media.

“At the same time rankings don’t mean much but there’s a point we can draw from it and we must fancy ourselves against Bahrain at home. We have to be positive at home and if we can go on and get a couple goals and then go there and play from on top, which is more fun than coming from behind, then we should definitely should be able to pull it off,” he added.

The former FC Porto man said he felt the current team can definitely learn from the experience of 1989.

“As a team we have reach this far because we have done it together and hopefully we can realize our dreams as a nation, maybe not just in football terms but other things as well. Nothing is easy to achieve and no football game is easy. But we need all the support we can get if we are to do it as a nation.

“I’m in this position for a second time. Sixteen years ago we were in the World Cup before World Cup and we ended staying home. What I can say now is that for all of us and definitely myself coming out of retirement, it’s been a life long dream to qualify for a World Cup and this is our chance now.”

Both he and Yorke were hard at work with their teammates on Wednesday at the match venue and the former Manchester United crackerjack mentioned that he is in no way counting Bahrain out.

“We need to play to our maximum potential and surely then we can be in for a good time. Surely too we will expect a tough game. Like if we were playing England or Brazil, we would have to prepare and go into the game exactly the same,” Yorke said.

Meantime, Wrexham midfielder Carlos Edwards sat out the morning session on Wednesday after twisting his ankle the previous evening but he is expected to be ready again for full training by Thursday. All three goalkeepers, Kelvin Jack, Shaka Hislop and Clayton Ince were going through their work outs with goalkeeper coach Michael Maurice and appeared to be ready for the call.

Beenhakker used Monday’s sessions to concentrate on the tactical approach of his team and seemed in good spirits after the session.