T&T 2006 World Cup team player Carlos Edwards is back home for a few days and spent some time viewing the national team in training at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Port-of-Spain on Tuesday evening.
Edwards has been sidelined for ten months after reputing ligaments and tearing his hamstring last year. He has begun light training and has another four months before taking the field again.
The former Defence Force man, who has played in the Premiership with Sunderland, had some words of encouragement for the new faces in the T&T team for tomorrow’s friendly international against Panama at the Ato Boldon Stadium in Couva.
Edwards remembers playing in a World Cup qualifier for T&T against Panama at the Queen’s Park Oval in 2000. T&T won the match 6-0 with Dwight Yorke scoring a hat-trick. But times have changed and Panama have since emerged as one of the top teams in Concacaf, reaching two Gold Cup Finals and narrowly missing out on qualifying for the 2014 World Cup.
“Panama are different not but I remember that World Cup qualifier for me as though it were yesterday. I was much younger at the time but I was so excited and I knew this was the start of a long career for me. It’s the same for these new guys.
They have to grab the opportunity coach Hart has given them and launch their international careers with a bang. It’s natural to be nervous but they are at home and they are with their friends and teammates on the field of play. They must come together and put out the best. That’s all it takes at the end of the day,” said Edwards who has played 88 times for T&T.