Soca Warriors to play Wales

John Toshack’s side will play the Soca Warriors in Austria on May 27, at Graz’s Liebherr GAK Stadium.

Trinidad and Tobago begin their World Cup campaign on June 10 against Sweden, before facing England and then Paraguay in their remaining Group “B” fixtures.

Toshack is hoping to arrange a match for Wales against a Basque XI on May 20/21, using his links with Real Sociedad.

The squad will fly out to Bilbao two days before the match and will stay for a further four days of training before flying straight to Austria. Having missed out on the World Cup finals in Germany, Toshack is now building towards the qualifiers for the 2008 European Championships. Wales have been drawn in Group “D” along with the Republic of Ireland, the Czech Republic, Germany, Slovakia, Cyprus and San Marino. Toshack says he will use the forthcoming friendlies to accelerate his youth policy, and Derby’s 17-year-old defender Lewin Nyatanga could become Wales’ youngest international if he plays against Paraguay on March 1.

“They will have to come in, and it is important that when they do they realise they haven’t ‘made it,’ ” said Toshack.

“Some of them will not be ready. But they must realise they have the chance of a lifetime and run harder than ever and not think they have made it at 19 years of age. “Their enthusiasm and work rate will be needed as never before. When the squad is named for Paraguay there will be half-a-dozen who were in the Under-21s last season.

“We must realise there is a big gap between where they are playing and the top level. But the sooner they go into my side the sooner they will learn and be ready.”

Wales’ Euro 2008 campaign kicks off on September 2. The Millennium Stadium will be unavailable for the first two dates in early September 6, but Toshack says he does not want to begin with two away matches.