SPECIAL Advisor to the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF) Jack Warner is expecting no less than a victory for the national team against Panama in tonight’s CONCACAF World Cup Final Round Qualifier at Panama City.
Trinidad and Tobago will host Mexico in the final CONCACAF qualifier at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo on Wednesday as they seek to overtake Guatemala for the fourth spot, and a playoff berth with either Bahrain or Uzbekistan, for a place in the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
"What we have done, by allowing the players to go to Panama from Monday and have almost a week of training, augurs well for the performance on the field," said the FIFA vice-president and CONCACAF boss.
"But, more importantly, we have at the moment, except for Brent Sancho, all our players are fit and ready," he added. "We have all our players available at this stage and we can now put almost our best team on the field."
Describing today’s match as being of paramount importance is ex-England defender and coach of CL Financial San Juan Jabloteh, Terry Fenwick.
"It’s a definite three points because we’ve all seen how good the Mexican team are, and it’ll be a difficult game here in Trinidad," he noted. "So I see the Panama game as a must-win in order for Trinidad to reach to the World Cup."
Asked what he will do if he was in the shoes of coach Leo Beenhakker, Fenwick praised the Dutch-born coach for improving the team’s defence.
"But this is a match that we need to win."
"You don’t win matches unless you can score goals. So we need a bit of pace and power in the team. That, I’m sure, will be Beenhakker’s focus at the moment," he said.
Joe Public coach Michael McComie stated that he is very confident that the team will do well. "Based on the performances before and the preparation of the team and the technical staff as well," he said.
The ex-national goalkeeper described Beenhakker as "a tremendous coach."
Concerning tonight’s fixture, McComie said: "I think the players, once they adapt themselves and come out to play, should get a victory. Saying so, it’s not going to be an easy game," he continued. "The atmosphere in Panama will be very hostile."
"As a player going there (in the past) with the national team, it’s always been difficult. And it will be no difficult (today) than any other time," McComie added. "But I think we have the correct mixture, the correct talent, the youth and the experience within the national team to get a victory (today)."
From a coach’s perspective, McComie pointed out that "the most important thing is that Beenhakker does what he thinks is right and do what he thinks will work for him.
"I think, as an experienced coach, he will make the right decisions and select the strongest team possible."
Speaking in his role as chief executive officer of the T&T Pro League, Dexter Skeene expressed best wishes to the team. "As long as the team bands together and each and every one does his part, I see us as being successful.
"And that’ll be the fillip needed going into Wednesday’s match against Mexico and being able to qualify for the fourth-placed spot," he added.
Skeene, a member of the Strike Squad team that failed in their bid for the 1990 World Cup in Italy, noted: "I think each player will have his own ambitions to qualify.
"However, you have players like (captain) Dwight Yorke and Russell Latapy who were involved in the 1989 squad," Skeene added. "And they’ll have it in the back of their minds and the younger players will know the history. So they’ll have that impetus to improve the performance of the team.
"They’ll know that, having learnt the lessons of 1989, they’ll be better prepared to go out, give a better performance and be experienced in all areas, so that the country will be better served," he said.