With 2019 calendar promising to be an event-filled one for Trinidad and Tobago on the international football stage, National Senior Men’s team captain Khaleem Hyland is heading into the new year with an intense anticipation which he hopes will transform possibility into reality.
On the agenda is the CONCACAF Gold Cup in the United States in June to be followed by the Nations League later in the year and before that, T&T will travel to Racecourse Ground in Wrexham to face Wales on March 11th.
Hyland wants T&T to stake a claim at the confederation’s showpiece event after missing out in 2017.
“I hope we can continue to get good games in 2019 as we did in 2018 and we can give our best for the upcoming Gold Cup,” Hyland told TTFA Media on Monday.
“The Gold Cup is a great competition. We made it to the quarter finals consecutively in 2013 and 2015 and we all know this competition gives us the chance to come up against teams like Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama and USA and therefore it will be important for us to have good preparation with games and camps in order to be ready for the tournament,” added the Saudi Arabia-based midfielder.
“I hope we can put Trinidad and Tobago back on the map football wise and I think by doing well in the Gold Cup and striving to even win it will do a lot for us but we need our people to support us like other countries do and bring back the love in the country through sport especially football. We have what it takes but we need everyone on board,” Hyland said.
Reflecting on 2018 during which T&T earned victories over United Arab Emirates and Guadeloupe in two of its six international friendlies which includes classes with Iran, Panama and Thailand, Hyland said “2018 was good with both country and club as a player. I picked up a few more things in my career and developed more as a player both for Al Faisaly and the national team as captain. We the ‘Warriors’ played a lot of good countries in 2018 and we took a lot on board from those games.
“Any player’s dream is to represent for there country and once we are called upon we will do what it takes to be the best at it,” Hyland concluded.