PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – With their chances of reaching next year’s FIFA World Cup all but destroyed, Trinidad & Tobago will attempt to shock the United States when they clash at the Hasely Crawford Stadium on Wednesday.
They have struggled in the 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign and with five points from seven outings, are virtually out of the running for a place at the showpiece in South Africa.
Head coach Russell Latapy said despite the dire outlook, the Soca Warriors would be going all out for a win against the Americans.
“Realistically, it is very difficult now. We’re in a situation [where] in order to qualify we have to win our three games and we have to depend on other results from the other teams, so it makes it very difficult,” Latapy said. “Again we’re playing at home and we’re going to play to win and we’re going to look at the other results and play all the games to win and see where that leads us.” The Soca Warriors made history when they reached the World Cup finals for the first time in 2006 but their attempt to repeat that achievement this year has been met with disappointment.
They have won just one match and with four losses to their name, securing a qualification berth from the CONCACAF zone is now highly improbable.
Latapy said he would not allow this, however, to negatively impact his charges, stressing that they needed to maintain a winning mentality.
“I’m in the frame of mind that I go into every single game with,” the former national midfielder pointed out. “We know that we’re in a very difficult situation right now, but again, we have to represent our country with pride and desire and in saying that, we want to win the last few games that we have.” T&T are coming off a 4-1 loss to Honduras on Saturday and will face a US side on the verge of qualification after their 2-1 victory over El Salvador.
The US have 13 points along with Honduras at the top of the standings while Mexico and Costa Rica are locked on 12.
T&T will face Mexico and Costa Rica in their final matches of the qualifying campaign later this year.
