TTFF News - T&T new look Warriors go for good showing versus Haiti... Jemmot out

Photos show teams in training at HC and Ato Boldon Stadium.

New Look Warriors go for good showing versus Haiti … Jemmot out with injury

Issued by Shaun Fuentes, TTFF Media Officer, May 27, 2007


Trinidad and Tobago’s Senior footballers, already minus several of its 2006 World Cup players will now have to go into the upcoming CONCACAF Gold Cup without the services of midfielder Kerwyn Jemmot.

The Superstar Rangers player suffered a hamstring strain in Friday night’s T&T Pro Bowl Final and has been ruled out of the competition following further checks by team doctor Terrence Babwah. Jemmot remained with the team at the Crowne Plaza but will not take part in this week’s Digicel Shield and will not make the trip to Honduras on Friday for a warm up international. The team heads over to Los Angeles following the game with Honduras to begin its Gold Cup campaign.

Head Coach Wim Rijsbergen now has a 22-player roster preparing for the Gold Cup which has been strengthened by the addition of Dutch-based forward Darryl Roberts.

The 22-year-old striker is coming off his professional stint with Sparta Rotterdam and though sitting out the team’s last couple matches because of a leg injury, he is still in high spirits over his return to the national team since the Digicel Cup and friendly matches against Panama and Costa Rica.

“It’s always a good feeling to return to a national team,” Roberts told TTFF Media. “I was able to make my debut in the Digicel Cup and then having gone to Holland and gotten more exposure I believe more in myself as a player now and I think I can only get better by being confident and working hard at the same time.

“I know there has been a lot of talk over the situation with the World Cup players and that’s disappointing yes but I think the current group of players are determined to do well and hopefully we can get things together and pull off some good performances. At the end of the day I think everyone wants to do their best whether it’s with or without the players that went to the World Cup. It’s not going to be easy but we still have to prepare well and give it out best shot,” added the ex-Fatima College marksman.

T&T tackles Haiti from 7pm while in the earlier game from 5pm St Vincent and the Grenadines meet Mexico’s Pan American team which was scheduled to arrive here on Sunday night.

Haitian captain Richard Bruny Pierre said his team was hoping to use the T&T match to finalize its preparations for the Gold Cup matches against Costa Rica, Canada and Guadeloupe.

“We have played Trinidad before and we know the games are always played with a lot in it. This is a good training game for us because both of us want to do well in the Gold Cup and we need to prepare well. We won over Trinidad in the Digicel Cup but it’s still good to play them again tomorrow,” Pierre said.

Haiti met Chile in a friendly international in Port-au-Prince last Wednesday and held the South Americans preparing for the Copa America to a 0-0 draw. The Haitians carried it’s unbeaten streak to five matches in the process.

The youngest member of the current team, 20-year-old Keon Daniel is seeing the chance to go to the Gold Cup as a major stepping stone. He still recalls of every moment of his experience at the “Theatre of Dreams” while training with Manchester United in 2005. And now the chance to don a national shirt is a moment he is anxiously awaiting.

“As a young player coming up I always wanted to make the team. I am so glad for this call up. I have been encouraged to work harder and that’s exactly what I’m doing. This is a different level,” Daniel said.

“The experience at Man U was great one because it took me out into the world of football. Bertille St Clair made the arrangements and I had two weeks working in the Academy and I was able experience the works. Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney were at the club from that time as well. That exposure showed me how fast the game is and it taught me what is needed to really make it on the big stage. I think I have worked on my aggression since then and hopefully I can get a chance to show some of it on a stage with the national team,” added the former T&T Under 20 and current Petrotrin player.

T&T Squad:
Jan Michael Williams, Marvin Phillip, Daurance Williams, Keyeno Thomas, Seon Power, Dwayne Jack, Romauld Aguillera, Nicholson Thomas, Densill Theobald (Captain), Kerry Baptiste, Christian Baptiste, Keon Daniel, Silvio Spann, Andre Toussaint, Andrei Pacheco, Kendall Jagdeosingh, Trent Noel, Anthony Noreiga, Glenton Wolfe, Gary Glasgow, Darryl Roberts and Errol McFarlane.