National Senior Team captain Dwight Yorke showed no major effects of fatigue nor jet lag following his 20 hour journey from Sydney to Connecticut on Friday night as he met up with some members of the team ahead of Wednesday’s 2006 World Cup qualifier against the United States.
Yorke was the first to arrive at the Sheraton Hotel where he met with team administrator George Joseph as the contingent traveling out of Trinidad arrived at around 1am on Saturday.
Head coach Leo Beenhakker arrived long with local-based pros Cyd Gray, Aurtis Whitley, Atiba Charles and Densill Theobald while Silvio Spann, Brent Sancho and Chris Birchall also met up with them in Miami.
T&T's journey from Miami had a slight delay as the American Airlines had a mechanical problem as well as there was a large traffic pile up at the arrival gates when the first flight touched down in Miami which almost caused Beenhakker and his men to miss the connecting flight. But Beenhakker kept his men together and eventually they were on.
"It's our first day here and it's going to be an important one because obviously we have not been together much since the Gold Cup and we have an important match in less than a week. We also won't have Marvin with us until Monday because his club has held on to him but we will work through this," Beenhakker said.
A one hour session took place at the nearby Irving Robbins Middle School training ground in humid conditions as the players worked under sports physio Zeph Nicholas to get their bodies loosened again after the traveling. Beenhakker then went through his drills, spending most of the session on ball movement. A second session was also carded for late on Saturday.
“It’s been a long trip but it’s not something that I’m unaccustomed to or can’t handle,” said Yorke. “A lot of these players know what it is to travel a long way to play for the country. The main thing is that we are all here and the other guy will come over tomorrow to get things a little more organized as a team for what is obviously a very important match for us against America on Wednesday,” added Yorke who had a little more than normal hair on his head but was rock solid in appearance. He laughed as he tried to explain to teammates that a lack of good barbers in Sydney was the reason for not having a customary clean cut.
Birchall appeared a much fitter one than his previous appearance for T&T at the Gold Cup as the effects of preseason training was evident and so too did Spann and Sancho.
Midfielder Carlos Edwards appeared in the 85th minute in Luton Town’s 0-0 draw with Leeds United while Kenwyne Jones netted the winner in Southampton’s 1-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday. Stern John also appeared in Coventry City’s 4-0 loss to Burnley while Kelvin Jack and Dennis Lawrence also played for Dundee and Wrexham and came out injury free. These players will arrive on Sunday along with Shaka Hislop. Collin Samuel’s Dundee United and Marvin Andrews’ Glasgow Rangers will play on Sunday.
Also scheduled to arrive on Saturday evening was Brent Rahim while Avery John and Scott Sealy too will join the camp on Sunday.
“It’s good news for Kenwyne and we saw that Carlos made his debut for his club so hopefully he can come over here without any bad effects. We will make the most of the next couple days before the game,” Beenhakker added.