Trinidad and Tobago defender Robert Primus will go under the knife later this month to have a damaged meniscus on his right leg repaired, but the Kazakhstan-based defender intends to be present at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Port of Spain on October 15 to offer support for his long-time teammate Akeem Adams.
Primus played alongside Adams since national under-15 days back in 2004, and is urging local fans to support the Akeem Adams Heart of a Warrior fund set up by the TTFA.
“I hope a lot of persons can support the cause by buying the T-shirts and coming to the match. I think this will be a great evening when we play New Zealand,” Primus told TTFA Media.
“I’ve known Akeem for a very long time. We grew up playing the game as members of the national team at the under-15 level and it was really sad to see what happened to him. It could happen to anyone and it’s unfortunate that it occurred just as he was settling into his new club in Hungary.”
Midfielder Kevin Molino, who is currently back home, scored the winning goal against Jamaica in 2007 which qualified T&T for the FIFA Under-17 Men’s World Cup in South Korea that year. He too is praying for his teammate and friend.
“No one likes hearing about another person getting hit with a tragedy like that. And me and Akeem go back a long time. He has always been a very easy going and good friend and person. He had big ambitions like all of us did when we were coming up through the youth teams. Now he is in an unfortunate position and we have to be there for him,” Molino said.
“The game against New Zealand is the first one for us at home since the Gold Cup and hopefully the fans can turn out and full the stadium. We will do our best to put on a good show on the pitch and get a good result for everyone.”
T&T head coach Stephen Hart is expected to announce his squad tomorrow. Training sessions will begin later this week at the Larry Gomes Stadium, in Arima.
New Zealand, preparing for their World Cup qualifying playoffs in November, are scheduled to arrive in T&T next weekend.