T&T cap­tain Ken­wyne Jones be­lieves that this coun­try's se­nior team could be head­ing in­to the start of an­oth­er World Cup cam­paign that could help pro­pel this coun­try to a grand in­ter­na­tion­al stage as it was in 2006.

Jones was speak­ing fol­low­ing the team's train­ing ses­sion at the Mara­cana Sta­di­um, in Pana­ma City, on Mon­day evening, as the "So­ca War­riors" pre­pared for to­mor­row's in­ter­na­tion­al friend­ly with Pana­ma at 9.30 pm (T&T time).

Jones re­turns to the team as the skip­per af­ter miss­ing last month's 3-3 draw with Mex­i­co, in Utah. Al­so ar­riv­ing on Mon­day night to com­plete the squad were Eu­ro­pean-based trio Shel­don Bateau, Radan­fah Abu Bakr and Jonathan Glenn.

Jones cel­e­brat­ed his 31st birth­day on Mon­day and was ser­e­nad­ed by his team­mates who pre­sent­ed him with a birth­day cake at din­ner at the Crowne Plaza Ho­tel, in Pana­ma City.

As he pre­pares for an­oth­er rig­or­ous in­ter­na­tion­al cam­paign, the Cardiff City man said he was ac­cus­tomed spend­ing birth­days with his team­mates and away from fam­i­ly over years.

"I think it's very im­por­tant for us to come to­geth­er at this time and sup­port the team. With­out the sup­port of the pri­vate sec­tor and spon­sors, we can't have games or af­ford to put on camps. We are com­ing up to very cru­cial pe­ri­od," Jones said.

"We are on the brink of go­ing ei­ther way... ei­ther do­ing very well or go­ing in­to the op­po­site di­rec­tion. Com­ing out of the Gold Cup, at least you can see the progress of the team af­ter two years with the coach and now we are look­ing very pos­i­tive go­ing in­to the qual­i­fiers. There is a very pos­i­tive feel­ing about our qual­i­fy­ing chances but it is re­al­ly im­por­tant that we get sup­port to be able to help the team pre­pare prop­er­ly," Jones added.

Look­ing ahead to the Pana­ma en­counter at the Rom­mel Fer­nan­dez Sta­di­um and then the friend­ly against Nicaragua in Port of Spain on Oc­to­ber 13, the for­mer Sun­der­land for­ward sees it fit­ting in well to the team's build up for Guatemala and Unit­ed States next month.

"It's an­oth­er game for us to con­tin­ue the to­geth­er­ness that we have been build­ing over the past few months. It's a chance for us to play two Cen­tral Amer­i­can teams away from home and then at home. It will give the coach an op­por­tu­ni­ty to se­lect his best pos­si­ble squad for the start of the qual­i­fiers, and of course we as play­ers will max­imise the op­por­tu­ni­ty pre­sent­ed in these two in­ter­na­tion­al match­es," he said.

Hart con­duct­ed a one-hour ses­sion yes­ter­day morn­ing on ar­ti­fi­cial turf at the Es­ta­dio Luis Cas­cari­ta and went through an­oth­er ses­sion at 8pm. Scores of young play­ers looked on from the stands at T&T's ses­sion at the venue which is lo­cat­ed a stone's throw away from the Rom­mel Fer­nan­dez Sta­di­um.

"We've had to train on ar­ti­fi­cial sur­faces for two ses­sions so far but these are things you face when you play on the road and it's all part of the over­all prepa­ra­tion for play­ing teams away from home in the qual­i­fi­ca­tion," Hart said.

"But the spir­it of the team is good and the guys all seem rar­ing to get on with the job. It's good to see the play­ers fit and healthy and ea­ger to rep­re­sent the coun­try. We'll take these two games in stride ahead of the start of our qual­i­fy­ing cam­paign in No­vem­ber," Hart added.

Thurs­day's match will be broad­cast­ed live on Flow chan­nel 99.

In­fo

Tick­ets for Oct 13 avail­able at:

The Fan Club (Movi­etowne, Gulf City and Trinci­ty Mall)

Sports & Games

Ken­ny's

Ram­s­ingh's

on­line at www.is­landet­ick­ets.com

Cost $200 (cov­ered) and $100 (un­cov­ered). Kick off is 7pm.