Prior to leaving for the Fifa Under-20 World Cup on Sunday, Fifa vice-president Jack Warner says he was still awaiting word from President George Maxwell Richards and Prime Minister Patrick Manning on whether they will be attending the tournament, which begins on Thursday in Egypt.
Host Egypt kicks off the 24-team team tournament against T&T’s Under-20 Soca Warriors at the 83,000 seater Egyptian Army Stadium, Alexandria on Thursday, Republic Day in T&T from 2.45 pm (T&T time).
In his capacity as Fifa vice-president and Chairman of the Organising Committee for the tournament, Warner had made an open invitation last month at a farewell function for the Under-20 footballers hosted by the T&T Football Federation at Crowne Plaza Hotel, Wrightson Road, for both President Richards and Prime Minister Manning to attend. However, contacted before leaving T&T for Egypt, Warner said,” Both the President and the Prime Minister have not responded to the invitation but they have until today to do so.
Warner also said that plans to carry the national school panorama champions were shelved because of a lack of financial support. “We were blanked by government and we also tried to get support from corporate T&T so that the national anthem would have been played before every T&T match by our national instrument but we got no response.” Asked if the players would feel let down by the lack of support in Egypt, Warner replied, “To be honest I don’t think the players expect to see a lot of T&T flags in the crowd, but they know they will be getting the support from back home.