Romanian head coach Victor Piturka says he will not take T&T lightly in tomorrow’s friendly international at the National Arena in Bucharest as his country tries to make full use of the warm up ahead of their remaining 2014 World Cup qualifying matches.
His sentiments would be welcomed news for T&T which arrived in Bucharest on Saturday. Co-head coaches Jamaal Shabazz and Hutson Charles say the game is a crucial part of preparations for the CONCACAF Gold Cup in July.
Piturka told reporters that he was hoping for a strong showing in spite of being forced to drop West Brom Albion defender Gabriel Tamas who was arrested last week in Bucharest for drunken behaviour. “Trinidad and Tobago will not be an easy opponent,” Piturka said.
Some of the other players in the Romania line up include Stuttgart midfielder Alexandru Maxim, West Ham United defender Razvan Rat, Schalke forward Ciprian Marica, AS Roma goalkeeper Bogdan Lobont and AC Chievo midfielder Adrian Stoian. Charles is hoping for a favourable performance. “This is a great opportunity for us to play against a European team that has a rich history.
I think they will give us the test we want. It is important for our players to understand the importance of delivering a good performance,” Charles said after an 80-minute training session under light rain and a temperature averaging 14 degrees Celcius at the Baza Sportiva in Buftea, 23 km north of Bucharest. The facility, which was used instead of the Dinamo training venue comprises two natural surface playfields, two artificial surfaces and one beach soccer ground along with state of the art indoor gym, dope testing and medical facilities.
Charles added that while the result is of interest, he was more concerned with the performance on Tuesday which kicks off at 1:4pm T&T time (8:45pm Romania time) “The result matters but I’m looking to see how the players react to our instructions and our approach in a match like this. More importantly, I want to see some sign of chemistry developing and good understanding between the players both on and off the field. That is the purpose of a trip like this one at the moment.”
Meantime, with Shahdon Winchester and Ataullah Guerra arriving today after playing in the Finnish Premier League yesterday, T&T will have to do without late call up Julius James. The former Columbus Crew defender was a late invitee on Thursday after Robert Primus opted out due to club related matters in Kazakhstan.
But despite persistent efforts to have James’ travel arrangements made, his itinerary required that he connect through Paris and a visa was not attainable in the short time frame. Another route through London was said to be over the travel budget according to team manager William Wallace who regrettably advised James of the situation yesterday.
VIDEOS:
Densill Theobald and Jan Michael Williams look ahead to Romania friendly
Justin Hoyte looks ahead to his international debut with Trinidad and Tobago