Must win for Warriors today

A PLACE for the Soca Warriors in the last 16 at the World Cup Finals in Germany depends on a win against Paraguay and a win by England over Sweden in today’s match fixtures which take place simultaneously at 3 pm.

To achieve a win, international sports commentators have said the Soca Warriors must have more ball possession if they are to score and get a chance at moving into the second round. Foxsports.com said the Soca Warriors have to defeat Paraguay in Kaiserslautern, although that country has been eliminated.

“The Soca Warriors need to control the tempo of the game to establish possession, as they had the ball for only 40 percent against Sweden and 38 percent against England.”

Coach Leo Beenhakker is quoted as saying that when the other teams had the ball, TT had to move back and back, which did not give them many possibilities.

He said the intention of the Soca Warriors is the same — to try to get in front as quickly as possible.

“If we don’t have the ball, we have to work to get it back.”

The Foxsports report said possession should help TT create more than the five shots on goal it had in the last two games.

Paraguayan manager Luis Fernando Suarez told Foxsports his team will be aiming to go out with a win. ESPN Sports said while TT has won plaudits for battling performances against Sweden and England, the team needed to turn acclaim into points to stay in the tournament.

It said the Soca Warriors have a “mathematical chance” of making the second round if they beat Paraguay which had no points after two successive losses.

“Second place will be decided on goal difference between the islanders and Scandinavians.”

ESPN Sports said Paraguay had nothing to play for but pride, “when, for all their technical astuteness, they failed to translate their possession into goals.”

“Lataplay” was the headline of the Scotland’s Dailyrecord story which reported that Russell Latapy will make his World Cup debut “with one intention from Coach Leo Beenhakker — keep TT’s dream alive.” The story said “the Little Magician” will have the specialist job of creating goals.

It said there is even the possibility that TT may have to draw lots with Sweden should a single goal success over Paraguay be paired with a 2-0 win for Sven Goran Eriksson’s side.

The Dailyrecord described the Soca Warriors’ situation as “all-too familiar echo of past Scottish campaigns” and said the team still needed to put the ball at the back of the net.

Soca Warriors captain Dwight Yorke told the Dailyrecord that Latapy’s involvement is a chance “to show what he can do even allowing for the age he is right now.

“He’s been training well but just hasn’t had the chance. But he may now have the opportunity now against Paraguay because we need to get goals.” TT has played Paraguay before.

In 1989 a team visited and played two friendly matches. Both ended in a draw.