Trinidad and Tobago’s senior footballers resumed preparations on home soil for Tuesday’s 2018 World Cup qualifier against St Vincent and the Grenadines with two training session at the Hasely Crawford Stadium on Tuesday.
A win on Tuesday remains a priority particularly as it could get to a situation where T&T will need at least a point from its remaining two games against Guatemala (in Port of Spain) and United States (away) in September, to seal its place in the CONCACAF Final round.
Stephen Hart, head coach of the team, reiterated the fact that skipper Kenwyne Jones and his men must collect full points on Tuesday.
“We’ve sort of finished thinking about the win on Friday and now the focus moves solely to Tuesday’s game and getting three points. We spoken about the game and the players realize that it wasn’t one of our better performances but we accept that the result was the most important thing,” Hart said.
“And now when you look at the other result with Guatemala and the USA, it sort of throws the group wide open. We don’t want to look ahead too far but we know that as a team we have to stay focused and ensure that we keep improving in every aspect,” he added.
Skipper Jones, in summing up the team’s present situation, said his team will look to raise its performance on Tuesday.
“It was one of those games when we weren’t at our best. We had to depend a bit on individual brilliance. I don’t think the team was at any point in in danger in not winning the game. But I think we were just off the pace mentally but I don’t think we will be having that problems in this game. It was our hurdle which we had to cross and we crossed it and now we are looking to playing at home and getting back that style and identity that we had.
Looking at the group at the moment, he added “The result (in Guatemala) doesn’t change our focus. We know what we set out to do regardless of what happens in front of us or behind us. We still have our personal goals and we are going to go out on Tuesday and get a step closer,” Jones told TTFA Media.
He commented on the debut performance of 18-year-old Levi Garcia.
“He did well. I don’t want the public to put too much pressure n him. He is being well coached where he is and I am happy for the start that he had and hopefully he can go on and become a very integral part of the team. At the same time he still has a lot to learn and I do hope he takes those lessons well and go on and fulfill his potential,” Jones stated.
The former Stokey City man also made an appeal for the T&T faithful to turn out in their numbers to support the team on Tuesday.
“Just like how we are going through the paces of this qualification, it’s important that we have the public coming out and showing their support. We are going to need them in the next round once we get there and we’d like to have them supporting us from the get go to make the journey even sweeter.
We want to change the script from how it was in 2004, 2005 and 2006. I believe that this team has a lot of potential and we have a goal in mind to go to the World Cup. We are asking the public to come out again in their numbers to give us that moral and physical support,” Jones ended.
Tickets Are on Sale at All advertised outlets straight into Tuesday and will also be on sale from Tuesday morning at the Match Venue from 9am. Tickets cost $300 (covered) and $150 (uncovered). All Patrons including children must have a ticket to enter the stadium.