Trinidad and Tobago’s latest English recruit Chris Birchall arrived in Ft Lauderdale on Monday evening to join the rest of the National team in preparations for the coming CONCACAF Gold Cup eager to put on a good show in an international competition while his club teammates were getting set for preseason training in England.
The 21-year-old Birchall took up the invitation from head coach Leo Beenhakker to join the team for the Gold Cup despite pleads from Port Vale manager Martin Foyle for him to sit it out in order to be fully energized for Vale in the upcoming season.
Foyle was earlier eager for Birchall to make his international debut leading up to the 2-0 win over Panama but is apparently not as pleased over his schedule with the “Warriors.”
“Chris has made his decision and decided to go, so there is no point getting angry about it. I hope he learns from the experience and can rest at the right time. I also hope they get knocked out of the Gold Cup early so he can come back,” Foyle said in the Sentinel newspaper on Monday.
Birchall however wasn’t the least fazed by the remarks from Foyle.
“It’s great to be back here with the boys because it’s like coming to a family again since I haven’t seen them since the game in Mexico. Coming out here is also a good experience for me because it’s the first time I’ll be playing out here in America and especially being involved in the Gold Cup is a big occasion for me,” Birchall told TTFF Media.
“We’re here to get things right again before the World Cup matches start back,” he added
Birchall arrived in Ft Lauderdale along with Silvio Spann, Brent Rahim, Marvin Andrews, Kelvin Jack and Dennis Lawrence while the rest of the team flew in from Trinidad earlier on Monday. Defender Brent Sancho was due in later in the evening while Luton Town midfielder Carlos Edwards arrives on Tuesday. Shaka Hislop arrives on Wednesday. Cornell Glen and Stern John also met the team at the hotel on Monday in time for the 5pm training session
Beenhakker conducted a session at the training pitch located within the Hilton compound which was merely one to get the players to shake off the three-hour flight out of Piarco and the camp is expected to increase pace from Tuesday.
The Dutch-born coach has already indicated that his experience will have an impact on the preparation of the team and he will not back down to managers who think they can convince players from representing T&T.
“He (Alex Mecleish knows it’s an official tournament, a FIFA competition. Of course he will complain about the rules like everybody does, but we just talked about the situation and there’s no problem at all,” Beenhakker told the Scottish Press, referring to calls concerns over Andrews’ physical state on playing in the Gold Cup
“We know exactly what we have to do with him and how we have to take care of him. I will do that, no problem at all. After the Mexico game the ones who play in Europe had a summer holiday. I have experience of 40 years so I’m not stupid. I know I have to work in two groups on Monday – the guys still in competition and the ones who had a rest.”
On the days of training ahead, Beenhakker added “We have all the players we requested and that shows how much they want to play and get it right as a team. There might be some who may not like it, but for us, doing the right thing and having everyone showing that commitment is what is a plus for us.”