In­dia-based T&T se­nior na­tion­al foot­ball team strik­er Willis Plaza is con­fi­dent that this coun­try can get back to play­ing its best foot­ball of re­cent times un­der new coach, Eng­lish­man Ter­ry Fen­wick.

The 33-year-old Plaza was speak­ing af­ter a na­tion­al team train­ing ses­sion yes­ter­day (Fri­day) at the Hase­ly Craw­ford Sta­di­um in Mu­cu­rapo, at which re-in­stalled Nor­mal­i­sa­tion Com­mit­tee chair­man Robert Hadad paid a vis­it and ad­dressed the na­tion­al squad and its staff.

Signed by Mo­hammedan SC dur­ing the off-sea­son in the In­di­an I-League and a key part of their suc­cess­ful pro­mo­tion run, Plaza said work­ing with Fen­wick can al­so serve to work in his favour.

A for­mer Cen­tral FC and San Juan Jabloteh strik­er, Plaza who was joint top-scor­er in the I-League in 2019 said, "Ac­tu­al­ly, it’s a plus for me work­ing with Fen­wick know­ing the type of foot­ball he plays and the type of per­son he is, and know that I played with him be­fore I know I can fit in his sys­tem and I am just hap­py to be here.”

Re­flect­ing on his time in In­dia dur­ing the coro­n­avirus (COVID-19) pan­dem­ic and hav­ing to stay in lock­down for most of that pe­ri­od, Plaza said, “Trust me, it was a re­al break down in your mind­set when it comes to be­ing a bread win­ner for your fam­i­ly and be­ing away from your fam­i­ly and just be­ing away from your coun­try, it was re­al­ly dif­fi­cult.

"You lose the love, the vibe and every­thing es­pe­cial­ly when you are out there alone and I am just grate­ful to be back in Trinidad and I have now start­ed to find back the love for the foot­ball and every­thing."

Com­ment­ing on the state of the pro­fes­sion­al game in In­dia where he has been ply­ing his trade for the past three sea­sons with Churchill Broth­ers and now with Mo­hammedan, Plaza said it's dif­fi­cult now be­cause the foot­ball has tak­en a hit.

He added, "The game has moved from 10/10 to about 6/10 be­cause the mon­ey has dropped, the sup­port has al­so dropped and I think it all has to do with In­dia be­ing so high risk with the coro­n­avirus.

"The so­cial dis­tanc­ing is very strict over there in In­dia and I don’t think it’s a life for a foot­baller at present, and I am not sure if I will be go­ing back as well.”

Look­ing ahead to his train­ing stint Fen­wick and the na­tion­al team, Plaza said every­one can ex­pect to see him work­ing hard and aim­ing to make the coun­try proud again.

"We are a bit be­hind so we now have to try and catch back that lev­el and bring the coun­try back to where it was in our foot­ball. I'm con­fi­dent we can get there be­cause I know coach Ter­ry Fen­wick has been work­ing to­wards it be­hind the scenes dur­ing the pan­dem­ic and most of the play­ers un­der­stand what it will take and are will­ing to work hard and I think we will get there," said Plaza.