The last time Trinidad and Tobago lost a match at the Hasely Crawford Stadium was a little more than two years ago, on September 8 2004 to be exact, 3-1 to Mexico in a 2006 semi final round World Cup qualifying encounter. And the last time the “Soca Warriors” lost any kind of senior international match at home was on February 9 2005, 2-1 to the United States at the Queen’s Park Oval.
Surely any team coming up against Wim Rijsbergen’s men would be mindful of those facts but it means nothing to Haitian head coach Luis Amelio Garcia, who said promptly on the eve of Tuesday’s Digicel Caribbean Cup final that his team has no fear of the hosts.
“We have nothing to fear. We will play our football and will play them without any fear,” he told TTFF Media via a translator.
“We will play with the best players we have. This is the final and we need that because we also needs to show T&T the respect and CONCACAF as well. Of course we expect this game to be the toughest. The final brings the best of the teams
“We are not worried. Football is a joy for us. We have a responsibility but we always enjoy this. We only have conviction because we will end up first,” the Cuban-born coach added. His team will join the contest for the winners prize of USD120,000 while the runners up take away USD70,000. All four teams in action on Tuesday have advanced to the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup in the USA in June.
The T&T team went through their usual routine on the training pitch on Monday but obviously a different goal would have been on the minds of the players and Rijsbergen’s approach will have something different to it, He is aware that Haiti will come with their best eleven in the final.
“We know this could be our toughest game of the tournament but we will play our game the we way plan it and hopefully it will be enough from the players to go all the way. I think we can definitely get the result we all want,” Rijsbergen told TTFF Media.
“We had a few things to work on and we know the people are anxious to see what happens. Everyone wants to see a good performance and a victory and we will of course try our best to achieve that We have reviewed the opposition and we have done our homework,” the Dutchman added.
It seems these days too that Densill Theobald is maybe the most consistent winning T&T captain these days but the Caledonia AIA skipper, who has a smile on his face quite a lot these days, is taking it all at a patient pace.
Theobald has three wins and a draw under his belt since leading T&T in the opening Digicel Cup encounter against Barbados and now he has no intentions of letting up against Haiti.
“You find I’m smiling a lot these days?” he says with a further smile with teeth visible from end to end. “But it shows I’m enjoying the football and the way the team has risen to the challenge. It hasn’t been easy for us but the boys deserve full credit. I have been through some rough times before and this was another test and we have risen to it so far,” added the ex-Falkirk man who has shown maturity both on and off the pitch.
“The coach has worked really hard with us and the whole staff has given a lot too and the players have responded… It will never be easy when you have a set of new guys in a team. It took character to get here… to make the final after a game against Cuba as well. They beat us last time,” he told TTFF Media. He also mentioned that it wasn’t easy being on the same pitch with opposing players spitting at them in frustration of having the result go against them.
“None of that is easy and especially for a young bunch like our team, it can break your focus and cause you to maybe react but we kept our cool and we are into the final without any red cards or anything like that.”
“But we want to win it out. We came a long way and we are one match away from the first prize,” he added.
T&T defender Osei Telesford was also smiling a bit after taking the Digicel "Man of the Match" award after the win over Cuba.
"It's been hard work but it's a little something to feel good about. The coach has done a lot of work with us and we have worked hard at the same time and it's nice to see the guys performing well as a team and coming away with the victory. We probably be back on the training field tomorrow instead of relaxing at the poolside but it's part of the job and we have to get it done if we want to win the final," said the ex-Joe Public defender
Kick off time is 7pm and the final will be preceded by the third place playoff between losing semi-finalists Cuba and Guadeloupe from 5pm.
CFU Executive Committee to view final
Caribbean Football Union President Jack Warner will have members of the Caribbean Football Union executive committee flying in to view Tuesday’s Digicel Caribbean Cup final between hosts T&T and Cuba.
Local songstress Destra is also expected to perform at the end of the final, as the Digicel Cup is presented to the winners,
“We expect this final to have the ingredients that it will make it a fitting end to what has been a tournament that exceeded expectations,” Warner said.
“It is important to note that viewers from all ends will be seeing the best two teams of the Caribbean on show and it is all hope that we will see an exciting and well contested final. This is the showpiece of Caribbean football,” he added.
For the third place playoff, T&T’s Neil Brizan is the referee with countrymen Joseph Taylor and Michael Ragoonath being the assistants. Javier Jauregui of Netherlands Antilles is the fourth official with El Salvador’s Carlos Ortiz is the referee’s assessor. For the final Panamanian Roberto Moreno is in charge with Jamaica’s Ricardo Morgan and Aruba’s Egbert Peasch carrying the flags. Jamaica’s Courtney Campbell is the fourth official and T&T’s Osmond Downer the referee’s assessor.
For the final, T&T will be in all red and Haiti in all white strips. If the final has even scores at the end of regulation time, then extra time will follow and possible penalty kicks to determine a winner. For the third place playoff however, if scores are even after 90 minutes then the game will go straight to penalty kicks to determine a winner.