United States head coach Jurgen Klinsmann has indicated that his team will not underestimate T&T when both teams clash next Tuesday at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Mucurapo.
Speaking this week ahead of the start of the CONCACAF semifinal round, the German World Cup winner (as a player) described T&T as a difficult opponent.
“T&T is a team that challenges you big time. They are always difficult to play. The circumstances down there are not ones you would find when we play at home. It’s a team full of players coming out of the English Championship—difficult players, and players that know how to play their game. They did tremendously well in the Gold Cup. It’s going to be a challenge and that’s what we are preparing for. It’s going to be a difficult game, but we are ready to jump that hurdle and get a good result against T&T,” Klinsmann told US Soccer.com
“We’re all excited about starting World Cup qualifying toward Russia 2018. With St Vincent and the Grenadines and T&T, they’re two nations that are not taken lightly. They are good teams. T&T proved it in the previous Gold Cup. With St Vincent and the Grenadines, we have a team that is an unknown, but we watch their previous games and make ourselves familiar with their players. At the end of the day you still don’t really know what to expect, so it’s going to be very interesting.”
The US head coach explained the reason behind preparing the team in Miami over the past few days, saying: “After the first game, we are going to go down to Trinidad and there it will be a tropical, hot climate. That’s why we will meet up in Miami and get used to the heat for a couple of days, then we will fly up to St Louis to play the game against St Vincent and the Grenadines and fly from there all the way down to T&T which is off the coast of Venezuela, so it’s much more South America than Central and North America. This is why we chose Miami as the first stop for our players - to get them used to the heat.”
Rio supports Yorke for Villa role
A few days after Dwight Yorke expressed a strong interest in taking the head coach position for Premiership side Aston Villa, former Manchester United and England defender Rio Ferdinand has offered words of support for the former T&T captain.
“A bit late I know, but Aston Villa start the merry go round for managers....will they let a new man on the ride (Dwight Yorke)?” Ferdinand tweeted.
“Could have the Slaven Bilic/whufc effect...played there & liked by the fans...Yorkie are you camped outside Villa Park yet??” Ferdinand stated.
Ferdinand who lined up against Yorke in the 2006 World Cup clash, believes the ex-Aston Villa man could have a similar impact at Villa Park to what Slaven Bilic is having with West Ham United. Andy Gray meantime said Yorke could definitely make a contribution to Villa but not necessarily as the head coach. “He loves the club, he has got his coaching badges he is young, he is fresh… but not on his own. Along with an experienced head, then maybe it could be the type of combination that could get Villa out of it,” Gray said.
Boucaud backs Hoyte
English-based midfielder Andre Boucaud is backing Justin Hoyte to prove that his selection by Stephen Hart for the two World Cup qualifiers against Guatemala and United States is a deserved one.
Hoyte has not been in the T&T side for quite sometime, missing the CONCACAF Gold Cup as well as the three international friendlies since July. His absence had been mainly due to the fact that he was without a club after being released by Millwall.
But now Hoyte is attached to Dagenham and Redbridge, the same club as Boucaud, and he has been getting in the minutes.
“Justin has a lot of experience. When you look at the clubs he’s played at like Arsenal and Middlesbrough as well as the England national teams. He has a lot to offer and I think he’s going to prove that he deserves to be in the national side,” Boucaud said.
“I know he’s very eager to do well and his heart is with the team. And to be fair he’s been doing quite well since he been to Dagenham and he’s impressed a lot of the people at the club. I expect him to fit back into the team quite well.”
T&T faces Guatemala tomorrow night at 9.06 pm TT time at the Estadio Mateo Flores.
“It’s great to be back in the team. I know the boys have been playing quite well and the competition for spots is high. I think everyone is in good form and I think we're going out there to give everything in order to get a win against Guatemala,” Hoyte said as he looked ahead to the start of the campaign.
beIN Sports highlights T&T
Major International sports network beIN Sports is placing some of its focus on T&T this week as they build up to their live broadcast of next Tuesday’s World Cup qualifier against United States.
The network announced the lineup of its exclusive content set to air throughout November.
The CONMEBOL, CONCACAF and African 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, the highly-anticipated “El Clasico” match, Juventus vs AC Milan and other major events.
One of their tv crews followed the T&T team during its training camp in Fort Lauderdale and they featured head coach Stephen Hart and captain Kenwyne Jones. They will have a crew in Port of Spain next week.
beIN has headquarters in Doha, Miami, Paris, Barcelona and Jakarta. It airs throughout the middle east, North Africa, United States, France, Spain, Canada, Australia, Hong Kong, Thaliand, Philipines and Indonesia.
n Shaun Fuentes is the Director of Communications for the TTFA—shaunfuentes@yahoo.com