Trinidad and Tobago Head Coach Stephen Hart hasn’t put much thought to the schedule of the CONCACAF Final Round of 2018 World Cup qualification which was determined at the official draw on Friday in Miami.
For Hart, his feelings shortly after T&T’s 6-0 victory over St Vincent and the Grenadines in the team’s last World Cup qualifier in March, remains the same today. And that is T&T still has a final hurdle to get over before reaching the Hexagonal phase.
“We haven’t achieved anything yet. We are still in the same position as we were in March. We are not yet in the Hex. We have two difficult games left and that is our main objective at this time, getting the result that will take us there (Final round),” Hart told TTFA Media following the draw.
“Once you’re into the Hex, you have the best teams in the region and you have to face everyone at some point. There is where the real toss up begins because you are looking at playing home and away with everything at stake over a rigorous schedule. Thinking about what our possible games could look like when it starts in November and ends next year is not a focus at the moment. We have to take care of business in our next two games first and foremost,” he added.
The T&T senior team is expected to regroup in late August for a training camp ahead of the all-important World Cup qualifier against Guatemala at the Hasely Crawford Stadium on September 2nd, before meeting the United States on September 6th in Jacksonville, Florida.
T&T currently leads its semi-final group with ten points, three more than second placed USA, followed by Guatemala (six points) and St Vincent/Grenadines in the bottom spot without a point. A draw against Guatemala will do it for T&T but Guatemala needs to win to stay alive before their final game at home to St Vincent, and if they do, T&T will find themselves in a position of needing to defeat the US in order to advance to the “Hex”.
T&T also have Caribbean Cup and Gold Cup qualifying matches on October 3rd and 9th against Martinique and Dominican Republic before the start of the CONCACAF Final phase November 7th-15th.
So far, Mexico is assured of first place in Group A from the fourth round, but no other hex position has been solidified with two games left to play in September. The upcoming Hexagonal will run, for the first time in its history, outside of one calendar year. The competition, which boasts CONCACAF’s top teams and stars, kicks off in November 2016 and concludes in October 2017, sending three sides directly to Russia 2018 with the fourth entering a playoff with an Asian team.