T&T’s Soca Warriors will be aiming for their first win of 2015 when they tackle host Jordan in an international friendly at the Hassan International Stadium, in the city of Irbid, Jordan, today from noon local time (7 pm Middle Eastern time). The game will serve as tune-ups for both countries, with the hosts preparing for upcoming 2018 Fifa World Cup qualifying action, while the Soca Warriors are preparing for their July 9 Concacaf Gold Cup opener against Guatemala at Soldier Field Stadium, Chicago.
T&T also faces Cuba on July 12 at the University of Phoenix Stadium, Arizona, and Mexico, three days later at Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, North Carolina, in their Group C campaign. Host and defending champion USA is in Group A with Haiti, Honduras and Panama while Costa Rica, El Salvador, Canada and Jamaica are in Group B.
Led by Cardiff City striker Kenwyne Jones, the Soca Warriors and coach Stephen Hart engaged in their first training session at the Petra Stadium, in Amman on Sunday evening following their arrival into the Jordan capital from London at around 2 am the same day and was expected to conduct another session at the match venue, yesterday ahead of today’s contest, the first between both teams.
The squad of 21 players, trained for just over 90 minutes as coach Stephen Hart and his staff put the players through their paces in ideal weather conditions, with the temperature just around 20 degrees celsius for most of the evening in preparation for today’s encounter.
Today’s clash against the Jordanians is a much needed one for the Soca Warriors who missed out on a chance to compete at the ongoing Copa America in Chile after a 5–4 penalty kicks loss to Jamaica in last November’s Caribbean Football Union Championship final in Montego Bay, Jamaica.
Today’s match will only be the third one of the year for the Soca Warriors, who were beaten by Panama and Curacao, both by 1–0 margins and are now ranked 67th on the Fifa World rankings after dropping two places with Jamaica going up to 65th.
After the team’s first training session in Jordan on Sunday, the 30-year-old Jones, who has netted 17 times in 70 appearances for the T&T team, spoke to the local press including beIN Sports and emphasised the need for his team to come good in the friendly international. “I think it’s an important match for both countries because we are preparing for the Gold Cup and of course Jordan are at home and they are in World Cup qualification at the moment,” Jones said.
“For us, we know what our focus is and what we need to do. We didn’t come all this way to not get the best out of it and that means we are here to prepare well and give a good account on Tuesday and come away with a good result. “I don’t know a lot about Jordan. We’ve played against teams like Bahrain, Iran, Saudi Arabia and UAE in the past and I expect Jordan to be similar in some ways, but we’ll treat them just like we would any other opponent.
“Of course we’ll be doing everything to ensure we come out on top and again, take it all in relation to our preparation for the Gold Cup,” the Cardiff City forward added. With an eye on next month’s tournament in the USA, Jone added, “We are looking to move in one direction and the focus for us is the first game in the Gold Cup which is just short of a month away.”
The Jordan team completed its training session moments before T&T started at the Petra Stadium and is known by its fans as Al-Nashama (The Chivalrous). The team is now coached by Jordanian Ahmad Abdulqader who took the helm after the team completed its participation at the 2015 Asian Football Confederation
Asian Cup and is coming off a 3–1 win over Tajikistan in World Cup qualifying action last Thursday with Hassan Abdel-Fattah scoring a hat-trick. “It’s a good opportunity for our team to face a team that made it to the 2014 World Cup, Trinidad and Tobago are a physical team with a lot of technique, power and speed,” Abdulqader stated.
“Facing them will have a positive impact on our team specially that we have started our World Cup & Asian Cup joint qualifications and it’s a good time to play against a team that is ranked 67th in the world, the Jordan head coach added. With a population of 6.4 million Jordan, is also the home of Prince Ali bin Hussein, who ran against Fifa president Joseph Sepp Blatter in last month elections and successfully championed the lifting of Fifa’s ban on the hijab in women’s football.
The 39-year-old Prince Ali bin Hussein is the third son of son of King Hussein of Jordan and the Fifa vice president is also the president of the Jordan Football Association.
T&T Team
Goalkeepers Jan-Michael Williams (Central FC), Marvin Phillip (Point Fortin Civic)
Defenders: Mekeil Williams (W Connection) Kaydion Gabriel (Central FC), Sheldon Bateau (KV Mechelen, Belgium), Joevin Jones (Chicago Fire, USA), Radanfah Abu Bakr (HB Koge, Denmark), Daneil Cyrus (W Connection), Aubrey David (Shakhter Karagandy, Kazakhstan)
Midfielders: Andre Boucaud (Dagenham & Redbridge—UK), Leston Paul (Central FC), Khaleem Hyland, Ataulla Guerra
(Central FC), Sean De Silva (Central FC), Keron Cummings (North East Stars)
Forwards: Shahdon Winchester (W Connection), Kenwyne Jones (Cardiff City—UK) Devorn Jorsling (Defence Force). Willis Plaza (Central FC), Cordell Cato (San Jose Earthquakes, USA), Lester Peltier (Slovan Bratislava, Slovakia)