Warriors hunt full points in Panama

TRINIDAD and Tobago will be going all out for a win, when they clash with Panama in the first of two significant CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers on October 8. Lying fifth in the six-team standings on seven points and requiring to finish in the top four in order to qualify for next year’s World Cup, the team’s head coach Leo Beenhakker says full points will be the focus. “The main part is for the players to play with the same attitude they have when they play at home for instance in the Guatemala and Panama games we won before,” Beenhakker said. “We have to go for the win from the first moment, from when we are on the plane to when we are back on the bus after the match in Panama.”

He added: “We know how it works and we must all realise that this is the final countdown and everyone has to do everything to make it happen.” Beenhakker said that while the performance levels of some players fluctuated depending on if the game was played at home or away, he was now calling on the team to bring their best game. “There has still been some differences with some players playing with less confidence, like away from home, and with less intensity at times but we have to throw this all overboard and more than ever play our own game in these next two matches,” the Dutch national urged.

Trinidad and Tobago will be hoping to repeat their early round success against the bottom placed Panama whom they beat 2-0 in the first leg back in June. While a win would take them to 10 points, they will also have to hope that Guatemala, in fourth place on eight points, lose to giants Mexico. The Warriors will then endure a Herculean task when they face Mexico in their final match at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo four days later. Again, they will hope that Guatemala comes away with a negative result against Costa Rica. “The main thing for us is to be successful in away matches too which has not been the case for our team,” Beenhakker explained.

“It’s clear that we must do whatever we need to get the win in Panama and at the same time Mexico must do their duty at home to Guatemala. In that case, it becomes a situation where it’s still in our hands but then there’s also a weird side to it because then there is also a situation which I never like in football when you actually don’t have it all in your own hands.” He added: “We saw it happen when USA played Guatemala and they didn’t have as much interest in it as they did in their earlier games.” Trinidad and Tobago leave for Panama on October 3, five days ahead of the fixture.