Warriors will impress says Yorke

The Soca Warriors superstar striker was beaming when he saw his dream of playing against England come true, following the Draw for the group stages in the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany.

The Soca Warriors, only the second English-speaking nation to reach a FIFA World Cup Finals, will have it easy next summer, when they tackle former colonial masters England, the energetic Sweden, and the unpredictable Paraguay in Group "B".

TT’s first match will be against Sweden in Dortmund on June 10, followed by England in Nuremburg on June 15, and their final match of the first phase against Paraguay in Kaiserslautern on June 20.

"I’m absolutely ecstatic to be playing England," he said.

He continued: "Playing in the World Cup was always going to be great, but to be playing against England, where I played so much football and have a lot of friends will make it even better." "I said all along that playing England at the World Cup would be the ultimate, and for it to come true is like a dream.

"I woke up this morning and switched on the television to CNN and when I saw that we were playing England I was dancing around the room."

Now aged 34, Yorke, now in the twilight of his career playing for the Australian A-League side, won the Champions League and English titles with Manchester United, where his teammates included England captain David Beckham.

He however, dismisses the notion that TT will be fodder for the rest of Group "B".

"We don’t plan to go there to be just another team," he said.

"We can progress! This team has already made a lot of progress and we can go a lot further. We aim to go there to be counted. We have got seven months to prepare for the Finals and we will do that well."

Yorke, like creative genius Russell Latapy, came out of international retirement to captain his country to the Finals.

"My decision to come out of international retirement was correct— very much so— and I am glad I did, but I give a lot of credit to (former TT coach) Bertille St. Clair, who was my first coach and mentor, someone I looked up to immensely," he said. "He talked me into coming back and making one last effort to represent my country and take my country to the World Cup.

"To do it again, now as captain, is something of which I am very proud.

Certainly with my career, with winning big trophies, and playing in the Premiership for Manchester United, to top it off with this is really the icing on the cake."

Nearly half the TT players currently earn their living in England, including defender Dennis Lawrence, whose headed goal in the second leg of the Soca Warriors’ playoff with Asian hopeful Bahrain, booked their ticket to Germany.

"I can imagine how the fans are feeling because I am so excited about it myself," said defender Lawrence, who plays for English League 2 side Wrexham (the fourth tier of English football).

"It was brilliant looking at our name come out in the same group as England," he added in an interview with the TT Football Federation website.

Midfielder Chris Birchall, whose equalising, long-range goal helped TT draw the first leg of the playoff, indicated that the prospect of playing England in the World Cup Finals was like "living a dream".

"People were saying, ‘It’s fate, you’re going to get England’," said Birchall, who plays for English League 1 side Port Vale (the third tier of English football).

"When it happened I was just running around, cheering in the bar. It hasn’t sunk in. I will be lining up against players who I have been watching week in, week out, in the English Premiership.

"I don’t think anyone knew about us before the Draw, but we have caused a few upsets, and we’ve qualified when no-one expected us to qualify. People are taking us seriously now because we defeated Mexico."

"I think the group is the best possible group that we could have got and I can’t wait for Germany now."

Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand is also looking forward to the match against the Soca Warriors.

"They’ll have a few players from the lower leagues playing for them and will want to make a name for themselves," said the 27-year-old Ferdinand, whose father hails from St. Lucia.

"It will be like an FA Cup tie against the minnows, and they will want our scalp."