Confident Warriors off to Mexico

TRINIDAD and Tobago football Warriors travel to Monterrey, Mexico, this morning for their next CONCACAF World Cup qualifying assignment against the Mexicans on Wednesday. But they will be without top goalkeeper Clayton Ince, who walked out from the squad, furious because he was left on the bench. Ince is being replaced in the squad by Daurance Williams, the only change coach Leo Beenhakker has decided on. But the Warriors had little time for celebrating their first victory of the qualifying round for a place in World Cup Germany 2006, as their Dutch coach and his staff had Dwight Yorke and his men on the training pitch early yesterday morning for a light session.

The mood was an obviously upbeat, however. About Saturday’s game, skipper Yorke said:  “The result speaks for itself. The pressure was on because we all knew how important it was to get a result and that’s why I’m even more proud of the players for the way they responded.” He praised the management staff and said they deserved a lot of credit as well because they have come in and done a fantastic job in such a short space of time. Yorke said, the atmosphere in the dressing room after the match was certainly the most exciting of the campaign.

He said the team spirit is unbelievable right now. “When you look around you see a lot of happy faces. “Even the people in the streets are all buzzing. Trinidad and Tobago needed something like this to happen and it has definitely put us back in the groove.”  Yorke described the victory as “a massive result” and said, “now we have a realistic chance of getting to the World Cup.” He expressed firm belief that his team will hold its own against the Mexicans and said, “winning breathes confidence.”