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COSTA RICA |
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Soca Warriors Aim To Spoil Costa Rica Party
Trinidad and Tobago will go for their second
victory in this current World Cup qualifying
campaign when they take on home side Costa
Rica at the Ricardo Saprissa Stadium in San
José starting at 8 pm (local time) this
evening.
With nothing to play for other than honour
and trying to break the jinx of never
winning on the road in Costa Rica, the "Soca
Warriors" will also attempt to make life
difficult for the Rene Simoes coached outfit
who are still in with a chance of advancing
to South Africa 2010.
And having coached the Caribbean team
before, the Brazilian-born "Professor" will
not take his former side lightly.
"I know Trinidadian football," insisted
Simoes. "They will play a tough game; they
will play a free game. In 2001, when I
coached Trinidad, we went to Honduras after
we were eliminated and we beat them in San
Pedro Sula with ten men! So I will not look
past them.
Simoes also wasn't bothered about the short
period he had to prepare the team since
taking over from Rodrigo Kenton.
"When you start talking about the weather or
the surface of the field or the amount of
time you have, that's an easy way to lose a
game before you even kick off," he remarked.
"We want to think, 'yes, we can do this. So
let's use the time we have and do it."
The new coach also stamped his authority on
the squad list from the start, calling old
captain Luis Marin out of retirement,
recalling 35-year-old Rolando Fonseca and
dismissing Gilberto Martinez.
"I want only strong men in my squad," he
declared. "I want winners, thinking players
who understand we must win now."
Celso Borges was the double scorer in the
3-2 win in Tobago. That victory was not only
Cost Rica's last win in the final round but
it was also the last time they found the
net.
Dwight Yorke, now assistant coach to Russell
Latapy, said on the eve of the encounter
that T&T will try to weather the early storm
from the home side.
"We have come here with good intentions to
get a good result. Obviously we have one or
two changes with a few under-20 players but
we are here nonetheless to give the best
account possible and to get a result even
though we are out of the race for South
Africa," Yorke said.
Yorke added, "we have a duty to the rest of
the teams in the group to play our best
game. And it's vital that we just don't come
here and get beaten without giving a good
fight."
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