TT footballers taste S/African winter

JOHANNESBURG: Trinidad and Tobago’s footballers got their first taste of the southern winter in South Africa when coach Stuart Charles-Fevrier put them through their paces during a two-and-a-half-hour session in Johannesburg yesterday.

Skipper Reynold Carrington and the team arrived in South Africa just after noon (TT time) yesterday following a four-hour flight from Nairobi, Kenya.  The squad checked in at the Sandton Sun and Towers Inter-Continental, Johannesburg where members of the squad were greeted by officials of the 28-floor luxurious hotel which also connects to a nearby shopping plaza on the tenth floor. The TT players caught the eyes of many at the hotel who were aware of South Africa’s bid to host the 2010 World Cup and their friendly international against the Caribbean footballers on June 15 in Port Elizabeth. 

Fevrier’s team trained at the University of the Witwatersrand Ground, a 15-minute drive from the hotel as temperatures ranged between six and 11 degrees Celsius. The St Lucian-born coach  seemed well pleased with the conditions, describing it as one which should play a great part in bringing out the best from the players. “We are really comfortable here. But I must say that we have to continue to impress upon the players to keep focus and maintain the right attitude on a daily basis. “The players have had nothing to complain about and we must give credit to all the officials, especially Mr Jack Warner, for what we have experienced on this tour so far. “The accommodation here is excellent and the training facilities are also up to par and I will expect this to motivate everyone to do the job to the best of their ability. “Without a doubt the players are experiencing what those at the highest level experience,” Charles-Fevrier said yesterday.

FIFA vice president Jack Warner, who left Nairobi for London, England yesterday told reporters that they should not be fooled into thinking that TT was lacking in any way because of the absence of Blackburn Rovers striker Dwight Yorke. Warner made sure that all was well with the TT team as they left for Johannesburg and even called from London to make certain that all was well with the team here. Fevrier has had to answer questions here about Yorke’s status with the national team “The guys we have here are good enough to play at the highest level but if we have a player like Dwight Yorke in the squad, it will be a plus for us because of the experience he will bring to the team. However our players are capable of producing good football,” said Charles-Fevrier.