Nothing to lose. That’s the frame of mind which the T&T Soca Warriors will be taking onto the field when they battle the USA in their Concacaf World Cup Qualifier from 7.11 pm at the Hasely Crawford Stadium tonight.
Currently last of the six teams in the series, and with very little chance of making it to the World Cup Finals in South Africa next year, coach Russell Latapy yesterday dismissed all notion that the visitors will have things their way in their bid for the three points which could ensure their ticket to the finals next year. “The Soca Warriors will not go down without a fight,” Latapy said yesterday, “They have nothing to lose, and will be going all out for a win.”
Despite their 4-1 loss to Honduras on Saturday, Latapy believes his players will be able to rebound in front of the home fans. The “Little Magician” conceded his team had little chance of reaching South Africa but promised his players will be going all out to maintain their pride and represent the country with honour. “In order to qualify or get to the playoffs, we must win all three remaining games, and hope that the other results go in our favour.
“But it is going to be difficult.” T&T lost 0-3 to the visitors in their final round first leg away match earlier this year but memories of a 2-1 win at home in the semifinals, should provide some inspiration and Latapy believes his charges could repeat the feat. He said even the best teams suffer setbacks.
“The Warriors are definitely not one of the best teams. Rather we are on a journey to achieving that and hence there will be a lot of hard knocks. What we have to do is to learn from our experiences, and once we do that, we would get closer to what we want to achieve.” With the USA match being the last throw of the dice, many would have thought that they would see Latapy on the field. However, he dismissed all talks of that taking place:
“I’m not physically prepared to play. In order for me to play, I would have to train and get myself into a good physical condition, and that can not happen in two days.” The Warriors are expected to get a boost in defence as senior campaigner Dennis Lawrence, who missed the Honduras match will lead the team.
The Americans are heavily favored to pick up three points after defeating visiting El Salvador 2-1 on Saturday. “I don’t think anybody gives up, but obviously it’s deflating for them,” said US goalkeeper Tim Howard, speaking about T&T. “It’s still a home game and you wonder how their crowd will react. Will they get on their backs or will they give them a lift? It’s tough to say,” he said.
Defender Oguchi Onyewu will return for the US after sitting out a one-game suspension on Saturday. Defender Jay DeMerit also missed the match with a strained groin. “It’s hard to know what to expect,” US forward Landon Donovan said. “But we can’t really worry about that.”
Warriors ready to battle USA.
By: Ian Prescot (T&T Express).
NO SURRENDER
There will be no surrender tonight. If the United States want three points from their 2010 World Cup qualifying match against Trinidad and Tobago's Soca Warriors they will have to battle hard for them.
The teams clash from 7.11 tonight in a CONCACAF qualifier at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Port of Spain. And once the Warriors have a mathematical chance of reaching South Africa next year, T&T head coach Russell Latapy is still urging his players to win their three remaining qualifiers, starting against the USA, followed by Costa Rica away (October 10) and home to Mexico (October 14).
Trinidad and Tobago and the United States meet for the 21st time since 1982, a series dominated by the Americans who have won 15, lost two and drawn three.
T&T have already met the Americans three times this qualifying campaign, winning 2-1 against a second-string US line-up last October. The Warriors suffered two heavy 3-0 defeats away to their arch-rivals, who stopped them from going to the 1990 World Cup, when the T&T Strike Squad needed just a point but lost 1-0.
However, of late, the Americans have been vulnerable on the road, where they have picked up a single point when rallying to draw 2-2 with El Salvador last March.
With three matches left, the Soca Warriors are at the bottom of the table with five points, along with El Salvador. With Honduras (13 points), USA (13), Mexica (12) and Costa Rica (12) well clear--the top three qualify automatically with the fourth-placed team taking on the fifth-placed team in South American qualifying--it would be quite a feat if T&T were to still qualify. But coach Latapy is staying positive about beating the Americans and is adamant that the Warriors seek the nine points they can still grab and then let the chips fall where they may.
"Realistically, it is very difficult now. We're in a situation (where) in order to qualify we have to win our three games and we have to depend on other results from the other teams, so it makes it very difficult," he conceded. "Again, we're playing at home and we're going to play to win and we're going to look at the other results and play all the games to win and see where that leads us.
"We know that we're in a very difficult situation right now, but again, we have to represent our country with pride and desire and in saying that, we want to win the last few games that we have," said Latapy.
On the other side, the Americans are looking at Trinidad and Tobago as the easiest of their three remaining matches and will be looking for full points, before facing current group leaders Honduras and Costa Rica.
Just four players on the US roster appeared in the last meeting when T&T won 2-1 on October 15, 2008 at the semi-final stage of qualifying.
Jozy Altidore, Brad Guzan and José Francisco Torres started the match, while Charlie Davies replaced Freddy Adu and got the USA's lone goal, which was also his first international goal for the full team. The Americans are also boosted by the return of AC Milan defender Oguchi Onyewu following his one-match ban.