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Trinidad & Tobago "Warrriors" collect $.45m bonuses for Digicel Football Cup victory

TRINIDAD and Tobago?s footballers playing in the current Digicel Caribbean Cup received hefty bonus payments yesterday from the TT Football Federation.

They will now step on to the pitch going for more glory when they face Cuba in the second of the two semi-finals at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo tonight.

At a meeting of the tournament?s Local Organising Committee, it was agreed that TT?s match will be played from 7 pm while the other contest between Haiti and Guadeloupe will kick off at 5 pm at the same venue.

On the eve of the encounter, following a full work-out at the Ato Boldon Stadium training pitch in Couva, skipper Densill Theobald and his teammates were paid their match fees and bonuses by the TTFF.

The salaries are for matches played in the Digicel Caribbean Cup so far. These appearance and match fees amounted to TT$321,300 while the technical staff including the head coach received TT$129, 937.

These payments were made prior to any winnings collected from Digicel for the tournament so far.

Yesterday team Wim Rijsbergen said his players remained focused on the task at hand as they eye the first prize of US$120,000 in addition to bonus payments.

?We will try to approach the match with a winning spirit,? Rijsbergen said after the training session at the Ato Boldon Stadium yesterday.

?Hopefully with that in mind we can get the job done and move on to the finals. We have sent our coaches to get the information on Cuba from their last match and that?s the information the players will get,? he said.

The former Dutch international complimented his players for being willing to learn at every turn and explained how the Cubans could be defeated tonight and whoever TT possibly faces in the final on Tuesday.

?In every game and you should start from the back with a solid defence. We haven?t been as solid as we should be in the recent matches.

?But if we have a good organised team we have proven already that we will have chances every match to score goal so we should be solid at the back and then use our creativity to score some goals and that could get the job done,? Rijsbergen said.

Kerwyn ?Hardest? Jemmot and Gary Glasgow, two of the veterans in the team have performed well so far but Rijsbergen said he wasn?t judging any player based on their past. With that in mind, TT will hope to wipe off their recent record against the Cubans.

In a Caribbean Zone Gold Cup qualifier back in March 2003, Cuba ousted TT 3-1 at the Manny Ramjohn Stadium before TT bounced back with a 2-1 win in a friendly in November that year. The last meeting between these two however saw Cuba coming away 2-1 winners in the Digicel Cup Finals in Barbados in February 2005.

Cornell Glen was TT?s lone scorer and three members of the current squad, Leslie Fitzpatrick, Scott Sealy and Densill Theobald played that day.

?We know Cuba?s style of play. They try to be very correct and they can punish you when you slip up so with that in mind we know we have to make very few mistakes,? Theobald said. ?It?s good to be a team where the confidence is growing. We will try to make it stay that way with a good performance and hopefully a good victory,? he said.

Cuba meantime, coming with what head coach Raul Gonzalez Triana described as their best team, all locally-based players, will be cautious but not fearful of TT.

?We have nothing to fear and it?s the same with any team. We prepare and we play our game and we let the next team play. We are not worried about our game. We just wait to see what is the strategy of the next team,? Triana said via a translator looking ahead to today?s match.

?We are all based locally and this is our best team. We have sent our people abroad, both players and coaches to train and then we return home and prepare our team.?

Their captain Jenier Molina was also optimistic. ?We prepare for Trinidad and we will see how they play their game. We are excited and we think our chances are as good as any team.?

In the earlier match, Haiti tackles Guadeloupe from 5 pm. For the two semi-final outings, all yellow cards have been waived which sees TT?s Dwayne Jack, Cuba?s Jaine Colome and Haiti?s Brunel Fucien all going in with a clean slate.

And the match officials will be Roberto Moreno (Panama) as referee and Egbert Paesch (Aruba) and Joseph Taylor (TT) appointed assistants for the Haiti vs Guadeloupe clash.

For the TT versus Cuba semi-final, Jamaican Courtney Campbell carries the whistle and his countrymen Anthony Garwood and Ricardo Morgan will run the lines.