Garcia urges players to stay focused

Speedy T&T and Spartak Moscow attacker Levi Garcia is calling on his teammates to stay focused and committed to the objective of getting three points when they face Curacao, in another do-or-die clash in Group B of the final round World Cup Qualifier, at the Ergilio Hato Stadium in Willemstad, Curacao, from 7 pm Tuesday (October 14).

There will be no letting up for the T&T senior footballers despite a 3-0 win over Bermuda on Friday. The win pushed the local team to four points, but it is still way off the leadership position where it needs to be to earn an automatic qualifying berth for the 2026 FIFA World Cup to be hosted by Mexico, Canada, and the United States.

Garcia and his teammates spent their first day in Curacao and will just have today to fine-tune ahead of tomorrow’s all-important encounter.

Unlike the T&T team, the Curacao team is yet to lose a match, since holding T&T to a goalless tie at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Mucurapo, Port-of-Spain, and has instead pulled off wins over Bermuda (3-2) and Jamaica (2-0) in their other matches to surge to the top of the Group B standings with seven points from three games.

Garcia, who is yet to score for the final round, though having three goals against Jamaica disallowed for offside, believes the Dick Advocaat-coached team could be the team standing in their way of qualification.

“It feels like every game we always say is the most important, but this game, I believe, is the most important at the moment because it’s the next game. We need three points, we need to get the best result possible, and we’re going to do whatever it takes, not only speak it, but produce that performance.

“You said it, we have to stay focused, stay committed, stay honest. Honesty is the most important thing, as I’ve said today. Firstly, we have to trust in ourselves and trust in the team, and the team effort will be there. Once we play as a team, I believe the result will come,” Garcia said.

Meanwhile, newfound striker Dante Sealy believes his team can build on the positive result against Bermuda on Friday night. The result, Sealy said, has put points on the board for the T&T team, following their goalless tie against Curacao in the opener in September, and then later when they went down to Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz 2-0 in Kingston.

Those results placed the men in red, white, and black in a must-win situation for their coming matches and have led to calls for coach Dwight Yorke to step down. Sealy, who plays as a winger for Major League Soccer (MLS) club CF Montreal, was the scorer of the team’s first goal in T&T’s 3-0 win, after he swiftly pounced on a right-side centre from Garcia on the right side.

When asked about the Curacao encounter, Sealy said, “It’s a very important game, but I think we’re ready as a team. We took care of business against Bermuda on Friday; we’ve got points on the board, so now we have a very good chance to build on that, so it would be a very good game.”

A loss for T&T against Curacao ends its chance of automatic qualification from the group to the World Cup and leaves T&T with only the option of being one of the two second-best finishers amongst the groups to qualify for an inter-confederation play-off in March.

However, a win for T&T against Curacao will push them to seven points, with goal difference to decide on who will be on top. However, with Jamaica facing Bermuda a second time, a win will put them back at the summit of the group on nine points.

After the Curacao contest tomorrow, Yorke’s men will next face Jamaica at home on November 13 before completing their campaign against Bermuda a second time at the Hasely Crawford Stadium on November 18.