T&T’s beach soccer men face a difficult task against host nation Costa Rica in their opening match in Group C from 6 pm on Monday, when the 2021 edition of the Concacaf Beach Soccer Championship gets underway in Alajuela.
The Warriors are considered potential contenders for the title, having reached the quarter-final rounds of the last three tournaments but they are yet to get the better of the Ticos.
The local team produced a gutsy performance to go down 1-2 to the Costa Ricans in 2015 in the knockout phase and to their credit, a number of improved performances also guided the Warriors to the quarterfinals in 2019 where they were knocked out by the host and eventual winner Mexico.
This time the intervention of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic may have interfered with the preparation of both teams but the men in red, white and black will be hoping to turn the tables on their opponents having been working really hard under new coach, Spaniard Ramiro Amarelle.
Amarelle, a former beach soccer standout himself, did not have good results in his warm-up matches against Paraguay recently but he said his players are willing to work really hard to get the best possible performance and result against the Ticos.
The T&T team arrived in Costa Rica on Saturday and are focused on a group where there is very little room for error. On Tuesday, they face the might of the USA, a two-time winner of the tournament in 2009 and 2013, as well as runners-up in 2019, before ending the round-robin group stage on Wednesday against the Turks and Caicos Islands who they have beaten by four clear goals nearly every time the teams meet in competition.
The Warriors will need to be among the top two teams in the group or be one of the best third-place finishers in the group stage to advance to the knock-out round. Amarelle told the media on Saturday that health situations, caused by the coronavirus pandemic, have hampered their preparations somewhat over the past couple days, but it will not prevent his team from representing the country with pride.
On Saturday Amarelle, told the T&T media via a voice recording that he had just 48 hours to fine-tune ahead of the actual competition.
The T&T/Costa Rica encounter will be the last match on the day, following a Group A match between reigning champion Mexico and Belize at 12 noon, as well as a Group B clash between Guatemala and the Bahamas at 1.30 pm. Also Monday, the Dominican Republic will square off with El Salvador in Group B from 3 pm, and the US and Turks and Caicos Islands will meet at 4.30 pm.
T&T team: Omri Baird, Joash Baird, Akinola Gregory, Jabari Gray, Zane Coker, Jesse Bailey, Shallun Bobb, Ryan Augustine, Lemuel Lyons, Kevon “Show Time” Woodley, Hakeem King, David Mc Dougall.
Head coach: Ramiro Amarelle. Assistant: Jaime Paz.