TTFF News - Preview for T&T vs El Salvador Gold Cup opener

Photo shows team in training at Home Depot Center. Courtesy TTFF Media

T&T new boys aim to defy the odds in Gold Cup opener
Issued by Shaun Fuentes, TTFF Media Officer in LA, June 6, 2007

Trinidad and Tobago’s senior footballers will be aiming to defy the odds and kick off its 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup campaign with a victory over El Salvador when the two teams meet in the second game of a double header at the Home Depot Center in Los Angeles from midnight T&T time.

The new look “Soca Warriors” under the leadership of midfielder Densill Theobald and head coach Wim Rijsbergen will have it all to play for as it has been clear that this is by far anything but the strongest team T&T has ever put out on the pitch in a Gold Cup tournament but still the bunch of players campaigning in the T&T Pro League will be gunning to show their worth against the Central Americans.

Manager Sam Phillip and eight players arrived at the Torrance Marriot on Tuesday night after visa problems were cleared up allowing players Kendall Jagdeosingh, Marvin Phillip, Dwayne Jack, Romauld Aguillera, Keon Daniel, Seon Power, Andrei Pacheco and Glenton Wolfe to travel from Honduras. The full team trained on Wednesday on the match playing field at the Home Depot Center which has a capacity of 27,000.

T&T and Guatemala have met once at the Gold Cup, back in 1996 when a Russell Latapy double couldn’t prevent them from losing a first round match 3-2. After Latapy’s double in the second half brought T&T back into it, an Ancil Elcock hand ball resulted in his sending off and a penalty which was converted past goalie Ross Russell. In another friendly in 1998, El Salvador were 2-0 winners. But in the 1990 World Cup campaign, T&T were 2-0 winners and the other match ended 0-0.

For head coach Rijsbergen, he expects the outing to be tough based on the circumstances the team has had to undergo in the lead up to the Gold Cup.

Not making any excuses he added: “It’s been a tough build up for us. Of course we won the Digicel Shield and we played at a good level but then we also had a tough time in Honduras before we arrived here. We have had one session with the full team and hopefully we can pull it together for the game. We played similar opposition with these boys before when we went to Costa Rica and Panama and now we have to try and put everything together and go for a positive result,” Rijsbergen said.

Experience is always a key at these international tournaments and the average age of the current team is 25 with the youngest player being 20-year-old Keon Daniel who is yet to play a senior international match while several of the other players are in their early 20s and with less than 10 caps to their name. The eldest player is striker Gary Glasgow at 31 with 51 caps and Errol McFarlane at age 29. Defender Keyeno Thomas is 29 with 46 appearances. Skipper Theobald at age 24 has 52 caps and Silvio Spann, age 25 has 30 caps. The latter two will have to shoulder the responsibility in the middle of the park for T&T.

“I believe even though we don’t have a full strength team as people are saying, once we believe in ourselves and play to our potential then we definitely could produce a positive result in this first match,” Spann told TTFF Media. “Without making any excuses we simply have to believe in ourselves, believe in the almighty and the end of it we will come out of this episode in a positive manner. Being negative is a waste of time right now,” he added.

Theobald also felt the team, while having to dig deep, can produce the goods.

“A lot of times we have always been put down in the past but we have also shown that once we stay focused and play our game, something good comes up and that’s the kind of thinking we need going into the tournament. This is a big stage for all of us and while it may be first team for a lot of the guys, hopefully it can lead to them wanting to be at their best and actually playing some good football to help us get that sort of positive performance and result that we need right now,” added the Caledonia man. Glasgow, the most experienced of the lot will leave his boots to do the talking. “Right now we simply have to put everything else aside and put our best foot forward. A lot of people are looking to see what Trinidad can do in this one,” he said.

Prior to this first game with T&T, El Salvador lost 1-0 to Haiti in March and twice by 2-0 margins to Honduras. They will be relying on ex-MLS striker Ronald Cerritos and Alex Campos up front while creative midfielder Eliseo Quintanilla, formerly of DC United will be in the middle for them. San Salvador midfielder Dennis Alas is also tipped to be a key man for them in midfield.

Normally, this are the starters in El Salvador's team: Juan José Gómez (GK, Firpo); then, a four players defense: Alfredo Pacheco on the left wing (FAS), Leonel Guevara on the right (Vista Hermosa) and Mardoqueo Henríquez (FAS) and Alexander Escobar (Metapan) as central-defenders. In the middle, to "destroyers": Dennis Alas (San Salvador FC) and Carlos Menjivar (FAS), and the creative players on the fields will be Eliseo Quintanilla (San Salvador FC, ex MLS player with DC United) and Victor Merino Dubon (Firpo). In the attack will appear Alex Campos (Aguila) and Ronald Cerritos (San Salvador, another ex MLS player).

Their Mexican head coach Carlos de los Cobos was hopeful that his team can start on a winning note, adding: “We have trained hard and we know how the Trinidad team plays. We have prepared and we will play our game to get a first match win. We need to win our first game and that is what the players will be aiming for.”

The USA and Guatemala will meet in the first game of the double header from 10pm T&T time.

Working hard made easier at Home Depot

Head coach Wim Rijsbergen, forced to train with 14 players in his two sessions at the Home Depot Center on Tuesday was a relieved man after learning that the mishap was cleared up allowing players Kendall Jagdeosingh, Marvin Phillip, Dwayne Jack, Romauld Aguillera, Keon Daniel, Seon Power, Andrei Pacheco and Glenton Wolfe to travel after being initially blocked because they had only single entry visas for the USA.



Rijsbergen and his small group had their first feel of the Home Depot Center training facility as El Salvador utilized their one time use of the actual playing field on Tuesday morning.

With Massive wall size photos of LA Galaxy mega-signee David Beckham and tennis star Maria Sharapova at various points of the inside facility, the new look “Soca Warriors” got a feel of the settings created around a 27,000-seat soccer stadium, 8,000-seat tennis stadium, 10,000-seat track & field facility and a 2,450-seat indoor velodrome

“The Home Depot Center is home to three professional sports teams – Major League Soccer’s 2005 U.S. Open Cup and MLS Cup Champion Los Angeles Galaxy; Club Deportivo (CD) Chivas USA; and Major League Lacrosse’s (MLL) Los Angeles Riptide. In addition, the site is the U.S. Soccer Federation’s (USSF) national team training headquarters and the location of the United States Tennis Association’s (USTA) USA High Performance National Training Center. The development is also designated as an official training site for USA Cycling and USA Track & Field. The David Beckham Academy for youth soccer, Andre Agassi’s Safe Passage All Stars at-risk youth tennis program and the nationally recognized Athletes’ Performance training center for elite and professional athletes are all based at The Home Depot Center.”

“It’s first class really and it’s one of those places that makes you feel to play all day,” skipper Theobald added.

Striker Andre Toussaint and his other youthful teammates would relish the chance to make the step up from the Manny Ramjohn Stadium to the multi-purpose venue.

“For us as younger players with not much experience on the international stage it really is a good feeling to be out here and working in these kind of settings,” Toussaint added. Defender Anthony Noreiga has prior experience at the Home Depot when he attended the MLS Combine trial with Kansas City Wizards last year.

Working hard is really made easier to do in these settings and Rijsbergen will hope his comrades can at least be inspired by that and follow suit in the days of June to come.