Edwards escapes surgery on busted knee

Trinidad and Tobago midfielder Carlos Edwards is expected to be out for at least a month after X-rays revealed that he suffered torn inner ligaments on his left knee in Sunday’s 2-0 victory over Dominican Republic in the second round 2006 World Cup qualifier. The Wrexham, England standout was forced off the pitch after 51 minutes and had to wait a bit longer before being carried to hospital by tardy ambulance officials. While his teammates spent the morning out in Santo Domingo before coach Bertille St Clair conducted an early afternoon session at the match venue, Edwards stayed back at the Intercontinental Hotel icing the heavily strapped knee. “The knee is badly sore at the moment and I could be out for up to four weeks which is really frustrating. The inner  ligaments are torn but the good thing is that the doctors have said no surgery is required,” Edwards said yesterday. “All I need now is a lot of rest and ice on the knee.”

Incidentally, the last time TT played away to the Dominican Republic during the second round of the 2002 qualifiers, the late Mickey Trotman sustained a broken leg which left him on the sidelines for some time. The former Defence Force player added that even while on his way to the hospital, he was always confident his team would come away with the win. “I was thinking positive right through and I know it was only going to be a matter of time before we scored. It was not the best of fields to play on but we just had to be patient and try to break them on. Now I wish could play in the next leg and I am looking forward to it even though I won’t be playing. That’s my country and my team so I’ll not only be praying for a speedy recovery but also that we get through to the next stage smoothly,” Edwards said.

Marvin Andrews, recently signed by Scottish giants Glasgow Rangers, repeated a similar feat to the last 2002 campaign when he became this country’s first scorer. Back then he scored a header in a 5-0 win over the Netherlands Antilles at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Mucurapo. “The most important thing was that we won the match with a two-goal lead which we will defend come next Sunday. We are still building as a team and I think by the time the next stage comes around the team should be a really sound one that can compete with any other country. We didn’t play the best football on Sunday but we won’t reach our peak overnight and we can only work towards reaching that point by the time the bigger games come around,” Andrews said. The TT team is scheduled to arrive home today and will launch their new kit sponsor tomorrow. St Clair will also resume training ahead of the return leg at the Manny Ramjohn Stadium on Sunday.