Jack Warner is hoping there will be at least 200 Trinidad and Tobago flags among the spectators when the national Under-20 footballers play hosts Egypt in the opening match of the FIFA Under-20 World Cup on September 24.
Yesterday, at a media conference at Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, plans were announced to have a schools' steelband accompany the T&T U-20s to play the national anthem during preliminary matches.
Anthony Harford, managing director of tour organisers All Sport Promotions, also announced plans to have 200 supporters, consisting of fans, parents and both cultural and tourism contingents, accompany the national team to Egypt.
Warner, a FIFA vice-president and chairman of the Egypt tournament, stated that Trinidad and Tobago are playing in FIFA's second-highest competition and deserve local support. He said because the "Young Warriors" were playing the opening match, Trinidad and Tobago will be exposed to a worldwide audience.
"If you go to Egypt right now, in Cairo or Alexandra where the opening game will be played, all you are seeing is buses and flags and so on, and people talking about this match on the 24th. And they are asking where is Trinidad and Tobago? Nobody seems to know," Warner declared.
"We have to go there to do in Egypt and in Cairo what we did in Germany (for the 2006 World Cup). In Germany, we left memories which nobody will be able to replicate ever, with our music and our dances and our culture, and we must do the same in Cairo with our Under-20 team.
"They didn't qualify by accident. They qualified from the hardest group. The team is not going there merely to make up numbers. They leave in ten days' time to go to Venezuela to play in a four-nation competition with Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago. When that is finished, they go up to London to spend ten days in a camp there and to play against Malta and to play against two or three of the (English) clubs' junior teams, Arsenal being one.
"When that is finished, the team comes back home and, then, they leave to go and play in Tunisia for two matches. And then from Tunisia, they go to Cyprus to play two games against Australia and, then, two against the United States," said Warner. "Therefore, we are going to Egypt to be competitive."
Harford said that just as with similar tours to Bahrain and Germany with the T&T senior team, plans are in place for Trinidad and Tobago to leave a mark in Egypt as well.
He added that playing the opening match guarantees a worldwide television audience and brings with it an opportunity for Trinidad and Tobago to expose its people, its culture and its many talents outside the field of football.
"Our tour to Egypt will see us in that country for all of 12 days, and we will, in that period of time, watch Trinidad and Tobago in that opening game against Egypt, Trinidad and Tobago against Italy, and Trinidad and Tobago against Paraguay," said Harford. "Apart from that, those of our nationals who decide to go to Egypt will enjoy some of what that country has to offer. Apart from the three matches, we will do a tour of the city of Cairo, a tour to the Pyramids, and an unforgettable evening cruise on the river Nile, which includes dinner and some culture of that country, mixed, of course, we hope, with the culture of Trinidad and Tobago.
"The package is being sold for a reasonable $37,500, which includes a non-stop flight to Cairo, and All Sport will be assisting with visas into Cairo as part of the package. It will include ten nights' accommodation with breakfast, all the tours, all the transfers and the match tickets."