IT IS A MEASURE OF Trinidad & Tobago’s soaring confidence that George Maxwell Richards, the country’s President, has cancelled his flight home. Originally, he was scheduled to leave Germany the day after their final group match against Paraguay on June 20, but now the keen football supporter is convinced that the Soca Warriors are destined for the second round. England have been duly warned.
Richards, accompanied by Roger Boynes, his Minister of Sport, delivered a rousing pep talk to the squad at the Landhaus Wachtelhof Hotel in Rotenburg on Tuesday night. Boynes declared that he “had always thought Sweden would be the hardest nut to crack” and while the staff and team speak in less strident terms, there is little suggestion that they will suffer from stagefright in Nuremburg.
A goalless draw with Sweden was not expected by many beyond the 1,070,000 population of the Caribbean islands, and England will not be treated with reverence. “The team showed against Sweden that they have no complexes in their heads about opponents who are supposed to be superior,” Leo Beenhakker, their veteran coach, said last night. “We all have a lot of respect for England, but we are not impressed. No, not at all.”
Aside from boasting one of the tournament’s gangliest players — at 6ft 7in, Dennis Lawrence, the Wrexham defender, will be in direct competition with Peter Crouch — the smallest nation represented at the tournament has little in common with England. “Small Country, Big Passion” is the Trinidadian motto, but as Beenhakker pointed out: “Our hearts beat the same.”
They have seen England toil against Paraguay and to those predicting a rout for Sven-Göran Eriksson’s team, Beenhakker was dismissive. “I don’t know what will happen; that’s the beauty of football,” he said. “Their fans didn’t expect England to struggle against Paraguay or that they would have one of the darkest days in their history against Northern Ireland. Their fans think they are one of the best teams in the world, but they have to show it. Let them dream, because that is all they are doing.”
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Beenhakker, who previously has coached Holland and Real Madrid, would welcome the involvement of Wayne Rooney against his patchwork team of lower-league stalwarts. “What do I have to do with it?” the 63-year-old said. “If he’s back, I’m very happy. The World Cup deserves to see the best of everybody. We don’t have a problem with it.
“Our ideal result is winning. Nobody has to tell me that there is a big difference in talent between England and ourselves, but we have seen that there are no guarantees. It’s not easy for the big teams. We’ll have a very difficult match, but we showed against Sweden that you can compensate with a lot of passion, by working hard and with other things. We will play with a smile and no restrictions.”
Highs and lows
The tussle between the World Cup giants — Peter Crouch, right, and Dennis Lawrence, left, both 6ft7in — will be one of the crucial factors in today’s game. Crouch’s job, despite his hat-trick against Jamaica, will be to feed Michael Owen and his passing accuracy rating is impressive with head and feet. Against such a tall opponent, England may choose to play the ball to the lanky forward’s feet
Crouch’s passing accuracy
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With feet 95%
With head 45%