Trinidad and Tobago head coach Francisco Maturana is hoping for yet another victory as the “Soca Warriors” continues its fine tuning for the commencement of the Concacaf Semi-final Round of 2010 World Cup qualification with a friendly against Haiti on Wednesday at the Marvin Lee Stadium.
Maturana is expecting a tougher assignment from Haiti which were sought after by the TTFF following Panama’s failure to get here on time due to flight problems.
“It’s good because Haiti are a good team and I hope or I expect that they will give us a tough match at this stage. It is what we need because the next World Cup round will not have any easy games. We have to prepare for the harder games and I think Haiti will give us a good game,” Maturana told TTFF Media.
“So far we have seen our players in several matches and it’s good but the assessment will continue in all our matches. The next few weeks will be important and we are also looking at a few more players. This should give us a better idea of what we have to work with for the composition of the team for the qualification matches. Winning results are always good but our structure and performance is very important,” Maturana added.
Miami FC defender Avery John, one of the surviving members of the 2006 World Cup team arrived on Monday and will train on Tuesday ahead of the match the following day. Midfielder Keon Daniel is doubtful with an injury while Clyde Leon is also out with an ankle injury. Forward Cornell Glen continues to make steady progress since his return to the team.
“I’m feeling better every session and with the two games so far I think I’m getting back to where I want to be. I need to be scoring goals as well. That’s the two main things at this time for me, my fitness and scoring.
So far the team is working hard towards getting that combination that will make it difficult for teams to beat us but winning matches is also a major part of our ambitions. Everyone definitely wants to play a role towards winning performances,” the former LA Galaxy striker added. T&T’s next World Cup qualifier is away to Cuba on August 20.