Fairy tale base for footballers

After all, manager Bruce Aanensen and George Joseph along with the team’s designated Liaison Officer for the World Cup, Mark Bos, and TTFF Media had to cope in temperatures ranging between minus three and minus seven degrees since Friday’s draw as they toured the various sites.

Yesterday, not only did Beenhakker’s arrival from Austria bring natural warm company but it also appeared to positively affect the delegation who were able to walk around without warm gloves, coats and scarves.

And on the penultimate day of the tour visit, several living here said they were confident it would reach a high of 25 degrees Celsius next June.

Beenhakker jetted out to Austria on Saturday to view another site for a training camp which he said will likely be used from the middle of May before the team arrives in Rotenberg to take up a team base at the hotel Wachtelhof.

At first look from the outside, the hotel appears to be out of a fairy tale set in the middle of the German woods but on entering, the look is transferred to one of elegance, luxury and friendliness.

It is unlike the usual buzz of the many big hotels the team has been accustomed to staying in before.

It looks the perfect setting for the permanent base which the team will take up on arrival in Germany, even as they travel to the designated hotels for their three Group "B" matches.

Situated in the picturesque former textile town of Rotenberg, it will take the team approximately one hour by plane, all chartered for business class, to get to Dortmund to face Sweden; and Nuremburg for England. Then it’s on to Manheim where the team will stay at the Dorint Kongress Hotel, a one-hour bus drive to the Fritz-Walter — Stadium in Kaiserslautern for the match against Paraguay on June 20. The Warriors will stay at the Hilton Hotels in Nuremburg and Dortmund for their matches against England and Sweden. Neither of these hotels can compare with the Wachtelhof where Bayern Munich also camped in 1999 and 2002.

"That’s what we wanted, a really nice and comfortable place for the players," Beenhakker said yesterday.

Hotel Director Heiko Kehrstephan assured that his hotel staff would go all out to make TT’s stay a most comfortable one.

"We are delighted to have the Trinidad and Tobago team here with us for the World Cup and we will ensure that all the needs of the team will me met by our staff. They will definitely have a great stay to look forward to and I can tell you too that the town is also very anxious for them to be here.

People are asking for flags and shirts and we know too that you recently signed with Adidas, so those here are very excited about that. We also have some local steel drum groups who want to play when you get here and we intend to make it a comfortable partnership between the German people from here and others who may be around us for the World Cup," Kehrstephan told TTFF Media.

Aanensen stated that the entire hotel of 38 rooms will taken for use by the TT team.

Beenhakker said yesterday that he would be traveling to England on Friday to view matches this weekend involving a couple of players eligible of representing TT and he will continue to monitor others who can play for the Soca Warriors.

He hinted that an invitation has come from the Czech Republic Football Federation to play that country in early June leading up to the World Cup.

He is also going ahead with plans for a training camp in England at a venue he should have better idea of after this weekend’s trip there which will be followed by another training camp in Austria where a couple more internationals may be lined up before going to Czech Republic.

The Austria venue has hosted several teams including the German team in the past. Beenhakker’s men will then take up base at the Wachtelhof from around June 4.

Beenhakker also visited the training ground which the players, according to the Dutchman, will use bikes to ride to for their sessions, located a short distance from the hotel. It comprises of two excellent training fields along with dressing rooms, spas and treatment rooms.

"This definitely has to be the right thing for the players and I can assure you as a team we will make the very best of it," said the coach.