The Trinidad and Tobago national football squad planned to make their first step towards the 2010 South Africa World Cup at 6.30 p.m. today in a friendly fixture against St Vincent and The Grenadines at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Port of Spain.
The national players, led by team captain and Sunderland attacker Dwight Yorke, declared their intention to retire from international duty after their next two friendly fixtures as a result of an alleged breach of contract by the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (T&TFF).
The players appeared in good spirits at yesterday's training session and several players, including the Coventry City duo of Stern John and Chris Birchall, stayed late into the dusk for extra shooting practise.
But national coach Wim Rijsbergen was not happy.
"This does not help our preparation," Rijsbergen told the Express. "I do not think I should say any more at this time. So many things are being said already."
Today's fixture is the Warriors' first home game since their historic 2006 World Cup campaign and pits them against an ambitious Vincentian team with several familiar faces in their ranks.
Coach Zoran Vranes, an ex-Yugoslav international, led Trinidad and Tobago in their unsuccessful 1998 World Cup qualifying campaign and, ten years ago, gave striker Stern John-the country's record goal scorer-his first cap.
Versatile lanky defender Wesley John and the pacy, diminutive Kendall Velox have also won hundreds of Trinidad and Tobago fans after being introduced to the local football scene by Caledonia AIA.
St Vincent are a late replacement for Central American outfit, Nicaragua, but enjoy a good run after recently eliminating Jamaica-minus their foreign players-from the CONCACAF Gold Cup qualifying series.
St Vincent are ranked at 129th in the world by FIFA, which is 73 places below the Warriors although still ahead of the 165th placed Nicaragua. The Caribbean team should be an enthusiastic but ultimately outclassed opponent.
Yet it is unlikely that Rijbergen's squad cared much for a scouting report on Velox yesterday.
Yorke and his men targeted a more formidable opponent.
The 2005 T&TFF Player of the Year discouraged questions after yesterday's press conference and the players were vague as to exactly what "contractual obligation" they felt their employers had breached.
However, Yorke's explanation that the T&TFF's stand was "confusing and ultimately disappointing", since the Government promised to reimburse the organisation for "expenses incurred during this historic achievement", suggested that money was at the root of the fall out.
The T&TFF admitted as much in a release that defended its distribution of sponsorship money even before the players publicly accused them of anything unethical.
T&TFF general secretary Richard Groden issued T&TFF's release in such haste, in fact, that he was embarrassingly short on facts, even as he berated the players.
Groden, who anticipated a strike from the players, warned of the "deleterious effects" of this "delinquent" move. He further gave the Warriors a deadline of noon today to "renege on their current confrontational posture" and take the field against St Vincent.
The irony of the T&TFF's inability to assess the current situation would not be lost on players who argued that their faith in the local body was so eroded they felt promises from the Federation "are not worth the paper they are written on".
In fact, the players have decided against confrontation entirely.
They confirmed that they would play in both matches. The players worked at an upbeat tempo on the training ground yesterday and gave no indication that they will lack commitment today or on Wednesday.
After Wednesday night, they will presumably leave the country's football affairs up to the T&TFF, unless they are convinced of a drastic change in attitude.
The future looks bleak for Rijsbergen who, barely a month ago, declared an unwillingness to field a team without his best foreign-based players.
It is likely to be an uneasy weekend between players, coach and administrators.