Warriors travel to Guatemala City for W/Cup qualifier

The 22-man team, skippered by Kenwyne Jones, had their final work out at the Sawgrass Grand in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States yesterday under the watchful eyes of coach Stephen Hart.

Except for a light shower on Sunday morning, the “Soca Warriors” have trained under sweltering heat. Hart summed up the training camp yesterday, saying he was pleased with the way things have gone.

“It’s the first session (yesterday) we’ve had with everybody because of travel and so on and I thought it went well,” said Hart. “The mood was nice, very upbeat and when necessary, it’s been jovial.

But it’s been a very concentrated and very intense training so far.” Commenting on the return of defenders Justin Hoyte and Carlyle Mitchell, he said: “Carlyle trained well but you can see he is very jetlagged.

Justin looked very sharp in the sessions.” Hart concluded by speaking on he intends to see through the next couple of days and what his approach has been like this week with regards to preparing for the opponent. “We are always discussing in every training session based on what we know of Guatemala but not overly concerned about their game,” Hart stated.

“My main concern when I’m talking to the players is about being in control of their own game, how they approach play, being tidier with the ball and how we recover the ball.” Also looking ahead to the clash on Friday with a huge amount of interest is Guatemalan-based defender Mekeil Williams. The former W Connection player has three club teammates who are on the Guatemala team in defender Jose Pinto, midfielder Fredy Thompson and reserve goalkeeper Victor Ayala.

“I can tell you that everyone back in Guatemala and at the club is talking about the game.

We have to be mentally strong and well prepared for it,” Williams said.

“There are three players in my club who are on the Guatemala team and they have been telling me a lot of about the game. The coaches are all taking about it.

They have the home advantage so it’s obviously not going to be easy for us.

“I know they will try their best to make it as hard as possible for us but I have a lot of confidence in our squad and I think once we settle down and we remain focus then we can leave there with a result in our favour,” he added.

In related news, tickets for the November 17 World Cup qualifier versus the United States remain on sale at Sports and Games (nationwide), The Fan Club (Movietowne, Trincity and Gulf City Mall), Kenny’s (Port of Spain), Ramsingh’s Sportworld (Couva), Sportway (Ellerslie Plaza and Gulf City), Heritage Sports (Tobago), Fan Zone (Centre City Mall, Chaguanas) and online at www.islandetickets.com.