NO one anticipated that the journey would have been so strenuous as to force Wim Rijsbergen, Trinidad and Tobago national football coach, to forgo yesterday's planned morning practice session following the Soca Warriors' arrival in Panama City.
The T&T players only had a "walk" yesterday morning and were due to have a full session at 7.30 last night, before meeting the Panama national team in tonight's international friendly, which will be played at 9 p.m. (T&T time) at the Rommel Fernandez Stadium.
When last the teams met there two years ago, Trinidad and Tobago came away with a 1-0 victory which eventually put the Warriors on the road to qualifying for their first World Cup, while ending Panama's hopes.
By the time the T&T players got to Panama City at 6.40 p.m. (7.40 p.m. T&T time) Monday night, everyone just wanted to sleep and sleep a little more in the morning.
"We will have a good session in the afternoon (last night)," Rijsbergen said. "But after the tough journey, a morning stretch would be all that is possible. Just to get their legs ready to play football again."
The journey began Monday with a 7.30 a.m. departure on Aeropostal for the hour and 20-minute journey to the international airport in Caracas, Venezuela.
As they had been active for the last month, Rijsbergen chose to carry only his Digicel Caribbean Cup players to Panama, leaving out the likes of Aurtis Whitley, Andre Toussaint, Andre Pacheco and Cyd Gray, who would have been available after playing Sunday's Caribbean Club Championship Final for San Juan Jabloteh and W Connection, taking only Nigel Daniel, who represented Jabloteh.
Captain Densill Theobald is again the most experienced player, while the likes of Scott Sealy, Kerwin Jemmott, keeper Jan Michael Williams, Kerry Baptiste, Nigel Daniel and Gary Glasgow all have limited international experience.
The early part of the journey to Panama was eventful enough, with midfielder Jemmott entertaining the boys with some Jamaican chanting and even coach Rijsbergen and manager Sam Phillip dropping a joke or two.
Compared to his stoic predecessor Leo Beenhakker, Rijsbergen is a cool guy. Although very serious about his football, he is also a bit of a joker at times.
"This must be the part of the airport done by those guys who are locked up in jail," Rijsbergen quipped, as the aircraft bounced over a very bumpy section at Piarco International Airport. "Roller derby". Of course, he was referring to the guys from Birk Hillman, who pleaded guilty to a US grand jury in the Piarco scandal.
It was one of many moments of gaiety from the national coach, who could be seen joking with Leslie "Tiger" Fitzpatrick and other players during the journey. That is as good as it got. Once the team touched down in Venezuela, the tedium began, with no where to go and almost nothing to do for close to nine hours, until departing for Panama near 6 p.m. (T&T time).
It was like slowly pulling a tooth. It also didn't help that Venezuelan authorities shifted more than 100 people from one section of the airport to the next on several occasions.
Trinidad and Tobago might not have gotten in much work, but Panama have been hard in training under coach Guimares for the match, which they are using as preparation for a February 6 CONCACAF Gold Cup qualifier against Honduras.
Panama are convinced that Trinidad and Tobago have a "hex" on them, since they have never beaten the eight-time Caribbean champions.
Yesterday's big headline in the Critica newspaper read: "Soca Warriors quiere mantenar Hegemonia."
Translated it means "Soca Warriors want to maintain hex".
The Soca Warriors were featured in a full-colour open first page to begin the sport section, similar to that of the Express. There, T&T skipper Theobald was captured in a race for the ball with Panama star striker Luis Tejada.
But Panamanians are convinced tonight could be the end of Trinidad and Tobago's dominance.