Soca Warriors ready for Swedes

So far, Trinidad and Tobago have participated in a compact preparation camp leading up to the 2006 World Cup, which kicks off on Friday when hosts Germany play Costa Rica in Munich.

But with excitement building, so too is the anticipation in the TT camp and Beenhakker knows just what to do during the critical days before taking such a stage. “I think generally everything has gone to plan so far and it’s just a matter of us keeping our focus and putting everything in place for our opening match,” captain Dwight Yorke said yesterday.

“We know what we have to do and the rest we will see on Saturday.”

Following today’s morning session, the players will return to the venue for a light session which will be open to the media as well as fans.

A TT contingent, of no less than 3,000 fans is expected to attend the session.

And in anticipation of the big crowd, a squad of 60 security and police officers are expected to be on hand to keep crowd control.

Over 100 journalists are expected for the session which is expected to go no longer than one hour, before the players are divided into two groups for interviews and signing autographs.

The entire session is expected to be beamed to over 10 million television viewers in the north of Germany.

Mayor of Rotenberg, Detlef Eichinger has made available his meeting office, referred to as a “Local Parliament” for the team’s news conferences.

Another training session is scheduled for tomorrow evening and then the team will leave for Dortmund at 9 am (3 am TT time) on Friday and will get a feel of the match venue, the Westfalenstadion, known nationwide as Germany Bundesliga’s “Opera House”.

Beenhakker worked with two groups yesterday, particularly with the attacking players.

The team got an injury scare when goalkeeper Kelvin Jack walked off icing a mild strained calf, but he is expected to be ready for tomorrow’s training stint.

But Falkirk midfielder Densill Theobald began sprinting and doing ball work after suffering a bruised ankle in the Czech Republic friendly.

And coach Beenhakker was happy to have striker Cornell Glen play his first match on Monday, after weeks of rehabilitation of hamstring injury.

Veteran midfield supremo Russell Latapy made it public he is fully prepared to work for his place in the team, understanding he is not a sure starter.