Warner to meet Queen Elizabeth

FIFA vice-president Jack Austin Warner was a recent guest of Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi, and he took the opportunity to arrange two friendly internationals for the national footballers. First the Trinidad and Tobago team will take on Libya in Tripoli, and following this, they will go to Egypt for the second game. Warner was on his way back from supervising the Confederation of African Football (CAF) annual general meeting and elections, when he was invited by Gaddafi to visit Libya to get a first-hand look at his  country’s capabilities of  hosting a World Cup. Gaddafi is giving strong backing to Libya’s  bid to host World Cup 2010. 

His son Al Saadi is a vice-president of the Libyan Football Association. Warner who has become a sort of travelling nomad, will be a guest of  Queen Elizabeth II at a reception at Buckingham Palace on March 1. But earlier, Warner and other  FIFA executive committee members will meet with the International FA Board on February  28. Meanwhile, Bertille St Clair, national coach a second time around welcomed the news of the two friendly internationals. He said: “It is great to see the TTFF and Mr Warner providing these types of matches which are vital at this stage. “The more we play, the better the team will become. “It is going to be a very tough campaign and  we need to train and compete in situations that demand toughness.” St Clair left at the weekend for London, and will spend one week in England meeting with overseas-based national footballers and officials of the English FA. He will return home in time to prepare a national squad for a visit to Bermuda and later  against  a Brazil All-Star team at the Hasely Crawford Stadium.