Vaya para la victoria – Go for the victory
Those were the words of Head Coach Francisco Maturana on the eve of Wednesday’s 2010 World Cup qualifying match between Trinidad and Tobago and Cuba. Maturana will be hoping to secure his first win in charge of T&T with points at stake when the “Soca Warriors” face off with hosts at the Estadio Pedro Merrero from 8pm on Wednesday.
“The most important thing is the game… not the conditions of the training field or problems with players who couldn’t be here with us. I think to get three points away from home against Cuba will be a great way to start the round. We also have Guatemala and United States playing for points as well in our group and only the top two will advance in the qualification,” Maturana told TTFF Media.
“Cuba will not give us the points… we have to play and earn our points. I was happy to see how the team responded against El Salvador, playing with the right attitude and heart and of course the skill. I liked it and I can see us moving closer to another good result if we can repeat it.”
Midfielder Chris Birchall, who set up the two goals on his return to international football in T&T ‘s 2-0 win over Haiti in Trinidad, felt the team’s chances of starting the round on the right note was as good as any.
“Personally I think we have got the players capable of getting the job done in Cuba but as always in football it all comes down to how well you perform as a team on the day itself and also something special from a player or two can swing the game in your favour,” Birchall said.
“From what I’ve heard from the boys the team has been getting stronger over the past few games and what we have got to do is to make sure we start well and try to take the game to the Cubans and direct the pace of it. It’s never going to be easy but we’ve got to make things happen and go for the three points.”
Goalkeeper Marvin Phillip has protected the T&T goal well in recent times and its indefinite on who Maturana will start in goal, whether Phillip or Hungary-based goalie Jan Michael Williams who got the nod in T&T’s 2-0 win over Bermuda.
“I don’t think I’m a definite starter because Marvin has done very well in the past few games. Competition for places in the team is a very good thing especially for the preparations. Coach Maturana encourages that. He hasn’t singled out any players in the team to say whether they are favourites or sure starting men. We all have to work hard for our picks,” Williams said.
The team trained from 6pm on Tuesday at the match venue on which was generally a partly humid day. There were no injury worries in the T&T camp going into the affair with Osei Telesford’s arrival the day before the match due to club commitments being the only bit of concern.
Cuba will no doubt feel that they possess the capabilities of pulling one of on Maturana’s men. They will be trying to duplicate the performances of their Olympic team which knocked T&T out of the qualification earlier this year and their Under 17s which beat T&T 2-1 in the final of the CFU Youth Cup two weeks ago. Cuba’s Senior team also pulled off an upset 3-1 win over T&T in the qualification for the Concacaf Gold Cup in 2003. Only Dennis Lawrence, Avery John and Andre Toussaint from the current squad were among those who played in that loss. T&T reversed that result though in the semi final of the 2007 Digicel Caribbean Championship. Williams, Phillip,Telesford, Makan Hislop, Darryl Roberts, Kerry Baptiste, Densill Theobald were all part of that squad.
Cuba’s current coach Reinhold Fanz says his current side is a vastly improved one since beating Antigua 8-3 on aggregate in the second round.
”When I compare this team here in training camp in Germany with the one that beat Antigua in June, it couldn't be more different," Fanz said during his team’s training camp in Germany. They are without leading striker Lester More who defected to the USA to seek political asylum at last year's CONCACAF Gold Cup but will look towards 23-year-old striker Roberto Linares who scored three against Antigua.
"They (T&T) are very technical and physically very strong. But with the right preparation and analysis of our opponent, who knows what can happen?" Fanz said. Guatemala host the United States in the Group’s other contest on Wednesday. T&T’s encounter in Cuba will be broadcasted live on 105 FM.
T&T team from: Jan Michael Williams, Marvin Phillip, Keyeno Thomas, Dennis Lawrence, Cyd Gray, Makan Hislop, Avery John, Khaleem Hyland, Osei Telesford, Densill Theobald, Keon Daniel, Clyde Leon, Chris Birchall, Anthony Wolfe, Kerry Baptiste, Andre Toussaint, Cornell Glen, Darryl Roberts.