TRINIDAD and Tobago will play at least four friendly internationals before meeting Sweden in their opening World Cup Group B match in Dortmund, Germany next June, but none of the matches will be at home.
The match against Wales takes place in London at either the ground of Queen's Park Rangers or Tottenham Hotspur on the same day Group B opponents England will be playing further north.
Yesterday, at a Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (T&TFF) news conference, special adviser Jack Austin Warner revealed that a proposed match against Brazil on March 29 in Trinidad had to be cancelled due to a change in the international match calendar by FIFA, the sport's governing body.
Bowing to pressure from some of the world's top football clubs, FIFA reduced their official international match schedule to one international day.
Warner admitted crying on realising that the Brazil game was off.
Gate prices were set at $300 and $500 (Covered stands) and Warner estimates that the cancellation cost the T&TFF some $4 million in potential revenue.
He said Brazil were set to come with their top players such as Ronaldinho, Ronaldo and Roberto Carlos, and a Johannesburg-based company had already been contracted to handle ticketing arrangements.
"This is the only team who qualified for the World Cup, who will not see their players in a home match before the World Cup begins, " Warner said, adding it was unprecedented, but because 17 of Trinidad and Tobago's players are based abroad, there was no getting around it.
Most of the Warriors' preparation for the World Cup takes place from May 6-22. A training camp in Austria has been confirmed and during that time T&T will play additional warm-up matches against the Czech Republic, Norway and Hungary.
Trinidad and Tobago coach Leo Beenhakker is said to be looking to take on European teams which play similar styles to Group B opponents Sweden and England, but has not asked for matches against any South Americans teams, their third Group B opponent being Paraguay.
After his final three warm-up matches, Beenhakker breaks camp in Austria and moves the Warriors to their base in Germany.
"For some strange reason, Mr Beenhakker does not seem to be worried about Paraguay," Warner said. "He seems almost dismissive of Paraguay."
Warner said the T&TFF have already spent $2.4 million to organise team camps and hotel arrangements, but he warned that costs were escalating and the final cost of preparing and playing in the World Cup will be eye-catching.
"It will not be cheap," he cautioned, "and will only be possible with the collective effort of all of us."
Warner also said that former German star Franz Beckenbauer will be in Trinidad and Tobago twice next year in the month of February when the official World Cup trophy comes here.