A lanky, elegant and combative central midfielder, Halifax Wanderers captain Andre Rampersad has had to wait his turn to don the red, white and black of his homeland at the international level.
Rampersad, 28, made his T&T debut in March in a 2022/23 Concacaf Nations League B fixture away to the Bahamas. The former FC Santa Rosa player put in a solid shift in his "box-to-box" role on that day, as T&T got a 3-0 win, and he hasn't looked back.
Rampersad has made six more appearances for coach Angus Eve's T&T team since his March debut, with each game coming in competitive action for the Soca Warriors.
Rampersad has been patient on his football journey, though. And when he received his T&T senior team call-up in March, he told the T&T Football Association (TTFA) media: "It's definitely a great feeling for me (to be selected for the national team). Timing is everything and it's definitely the time for me to shine.
"Keep working hard, you never know who is looking. These are the principles I live by. I try to put my best foot forward all the time."
Rampersad was indeed recognised for the hard yards he put in over the years, as he inked his first professional contract in 2019, when he was signed by the Canadian Premier League team Halifax.
Before that, he spent most of his career with Santa Rosa, a club he joined from the under-12 age group. He steadily went through the youth ranks at Santa Rosa and made his senior team debut for the club in 2012, alongside fellow Soca Warriors midfielder Duane Muckette. Rampersad became a prominent figure in the middle of the park by the time Rosa clinched the T&T Super League title in 2016 and 2018.
Rosa president Keith Look Loy and former Rosa coach Derek King both helped Rampersad's development, with the latter opening the door for him to make the transfer to Halifax in 2019. At the time, King served as assistant to former T&T head coach Stephen Hart in the Halifax setup. Another Rosa player, Akeem Garcia, was also signed by Halifax, along with the T&T duo of Elton John and former standout goalkeeper Jan-Michael Williams, who made over 75 appearances for T&T at the senior level.
Rampersad grew from strength to strength with Halifax, as he was named team captain in 2020.
This year has been a fruitful one for Rampersad, as he reached the 100-game landmark with the Canadian club on April 22 – a month after his long-awaited T&T debut on March 24.
Just four days after his debut, the La Horquetta-born midfielder played in a 1-1 draw for T&T against Nicaragua at the Dwight Yorke Stadium in Tobago as the hosts closed off their 22/23 Nations League campaign in a must-win encounter.
Seeking to get promotion for the 2023/24 Nations League A campaign, T&T were effectively given a lifeline as Nicaragua were punished by Concacaf for their illegal use of Uruguayan-born player Richard Rodriguez for the 2022/23 campaign. As a result, T&T received an automatic spot in the 2023 Concacaf Gold Cup. They were also promoted to the Nations League A for its 2023/24 cycle – a gateway tournament for the prestigious 2024 Copa America competition.
Rampersad played all three matches for T&T at this year's Gold Cup tournament. In T&T's second group-stage match against their Caribbean rivals Jamaica on June 28, he notched his first international in only his fourth cap. Making a dart towards the six-yard box, Rampersad met a low Levi Garcia cross with a cheeky flick at the near post to beat Jamaican captain and goalkeeper Andre Blake.
T&T eventually fell 4-1 to their Caribbean counterparts before making a group-stage exit, but Rampersad certainly made his presence felt.
He has now made himself a fixture in Eve's team, as he has started both games in T&T's ongoing Nations League A campaign to date. T&T sit atop their Nations League group with a maximum six points after wins against Curacao (1-0) and El Salvador (3-2).
On Friday, Rampersad will join his La Horquetta-born teammates Muckette, Nathaniel James and Neveal Hackshaw when T&T hunt a third consecutive Nations League win in their encounter with Guatemala at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Mucurapo.
SOURCE: T&T Newsday