Today we continue our series on hearing or in this case reading the views of the fans as we head into international matches involving the Trinidad and Tobago National Team. This one marks the beginning of the “Bound for Brazil” World Cup qualifying bid.
Today we continue our series on hearing or in this case reading the views of the fans as we head into international matches involving the Trinidad and Tobago National Team. This one marks the beginning of the “Bound for Brazil” World Cup qualifying bid.
Brian Springer, a member of the Warrior Nation supporters group has taken it upon himself to follow the national team for matches abroad in the past. He also witnessed the team’s appearance at the 2006 World Cup Finals and 2007 Concacaf Gold Cup in the United States.
Brian will be in the stands looking on at today’s encounter against Bermuda at the Hasely Crawford Stadium.
Let’s read what Brian’s expectations are.
“Having had the pleasure of attending the launch of the "Road to Rio" campaign on Friday 12th August at Jaffa Restaurant, I was enthused by what I heard! The Coach, Otto Pfister, gave some new information about his previous Coaching stints, and the conditions under which he had to work.. .and I firmly believe that T&T has gotten exactly the coach we needed to have at this point in time,” Springer said.
“ While under n oillusions because should T&T navigate their way through this preliminary group phase as I fully expect them to, we will be grouped with Mexico and Costa Rica, both of whom routinely beat us, even with our full strength/foreign-based team. However we defied the odds in 2006 and I daresay we just might do so again. This time we will have the benefit of an experienced World Class Coach from the inception of the campaign, and he has had several months to evaluate the players both home and abroad to put together a unit that will compete with the best in Concacaf,” he noted.
Springer had his opinion on the showing versus India.
“The game against India was the first time in a very long time that I saw a T&T team playing quick, one-touch football! No one held onto the ball, and one could see the coach's emphasis on ball possession being expressed on the field of play. I was impressed, particularly as the team that played against India was comprised exclusively of the much maligned Locals. That having been said, the quality of the opposition did allow us more time on the ball than we can expect from Bermuda, Barbados and Guyana... and certainly the teams we will face in the next round.”
So what does Springer hope to witness today.
“A victory, possibly a 3-1 or 2-1 win and I say this having witnessed both the home and away games we played against this same Bermuda team in 2008 and I do mean the same Bermuda team, as the names I have read in media reports suggest a significant number of returning players... who were not exactly young back in 2008 so they will have experience on their side. It is also the first time this T&T squad will be playing together and even against India our defence was a little suspect at times. II feel we will concede goals but also believe that our own experienced campaigners like Captain Jones,Stern, Birchall and Carlos who all played in Germany in '06 along with rising star Hyland about to become T&T's latest player to experience European Champions League football, possess too much sheer talent for anything less than a victory. In fact, as an ardent supporter of the Soca Warriors, I have already booked my flight for our second game away to Barbados on September 6th...So I encourage all my fellow football fans to come out and support our team as we begin the "Road to Rio".