Soca Warriors to assemble

The full squad will assemble at the Crowne Plaza in Port-of-Spain on the evening of May 7.

And apart from the match against the South Americans there will be several other activities including the road shows throughout the twin-island republic before the team leaves for Germany.

It expected that from the moment the team arrives in Manchester on May 14 it will be a case of all football on and off the pitch. But it will not be all work and no play for the Soca Warriors.

At the team base hotel Landhaus Wachtelhof in Rotenberg, Germany there will be television sets in each room with Sky Sports and other English news and movie channels. Also TT newspapers will be provided a day after original publication at home.

Team manager Bruce Aanensen has said there will be card games, table tennis boards and pool tables at the hotel as well as trail bikes for the players to use away from the training times.

Aanensen also revealed that the coach realises the importance of the players having time with their families and they will be given free time to spend with their loved ones following the morning recovery sessions the day after each match.

But they shall have to report back for afternoon training sessions. Close family will also be allowed to attend the closed door sessions.

“We are trying to ensure that everything is in place for the comfort of the team” Beenhakker said. “We will have cards and English television channels and other activities for them to be involved in because we realise that this will be a group of people who will be living together for so many weeks and they must have everything in place for them.

“That’s the reason that we have our staff members working to ensure this happens. Of course we all know about the serious stuff of what we are going to Germany for regarding the actual football,” he said.

Officials in Rotenberg also have other plans for the teams including a reception at the City Square which will be hosted by Mayor Detlef Eichinger on June 11 and all fans of the TT team are invited to attend.

Outside of Rotenberg in the match cities of Nuremberg, Dortmund and Kaiserslautern, a huge TT cultural contingent will be staging shows on the days before and after matches with Soca stars, masqueraders, limbo dancers and steelpan players all giving a total picture of this country’s culture.