Trinidad and Tobago's national Under-20 footballers will attempt to shake off the disappointment of their two defeats to United Arab Emirates earlier this week by making full use of the opportunity presented to them by the Korean Football Association (KFA) for the next five days.
The Korean Football Center has six natural turf and one artificial training pitch, a state-of-the-art fitness centre and full accommodation and dining facilities. The two games will be played tomorrow and Monday, prior to the team's departure for Nigeria the following day.
Korean FA head of administration Hanjin Chun promised his association's fullest cooperation during T&T's stay, particularly in light of their relation with Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF) special adviser Jack Warner.
''It's a wonderful opportunity for us to get a chance to train at the facilities of the Korean Football Association and to get to play against their national teams. Korea has hosted a World Cup before so of course their facilities will be excellent. For me, personally, I will use these games to see just how well our players can raise their game to another level, especially after our last defeat to the UAE,'' head coach Zoran Vranes told TTFF media officer Shaun Fuentes before the team left Dubai.
They are scheduled to arrive in Seoul this morning.
Vranes would have been disappointed with the defeats in the UAE, particularly Wednesday's 5-0 loss, but while T&T captain Leston Paul and his teammates would have been upset, they may not have been aware that they were up against players of their same age group who take home as much as US$15,000 per month as professional players in their home country.
And for winning a recent Asia Cup tournament, each player was awarded a villa by the UAE Government and US$10,000 a player for qualifying for the 2009 FIFA Under-20 World Cup, the same tournament T&T will open against hosts Egypt in September.
One player on the current U-20 team who was a member of the U-17 squad which qualified for the 2007 FIFA Under-17 World Championship said he and his teammates were still awaiting laptops promised by the Goverment for qualifying for the Finals.
He added: ''We've forgotten about it really but it feels good when sometimes your country can recognise you for achieving something. At least they can help us with our preparations and make sure when we go out there to represent the country, we can do it to the fullest of our ability knowing fully well that our own people supported us. The Federation is trying its best and we are grateful for that right now."
Meantime, the T&T contingent didn't pass through London Heathrow without words of support as some other passengers and Airport officials recognised the boys in their Adidas apparel and were always quick to enquire about their purpose here and wished them well for the finals in Egypt.
''You guys come from where Dwight Yorke hails from... tell him hello for us,'' one airport official David Brunnock said. Another store clerk, who said she was an old Hibernian fan asked ''So is Latapy your manager now? Good luck to Trinidad.''
And with swine flu being the talk of the globe these days, the T&T management team realised that one box of Tamiflu which is used to treat symptoms of swine flu, was scarce in Dubai and cost as much as USD50 per box of ten pills.Tamiflu is a medicine to treat flu (infection caused by influenza virus) in adults and children aged 1 year and older, where the symptoms started within the last day or two. Tamiflu can also reduce the chance of getting the flu in certain circumstances. Though scarcely available in Dubai, some thirty boxes were made available and purchased by the T&T team to carry on for the remainder of its tour to South Korea and Nigerian going on until May 13. Currently there is no member of the 30-member T&T contingent with any type of flu symptoms.