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Senior Multimedia Reporter
Trinidad and Tobago senior men’s football coach Derek King said his team is ready for the challenge that lies ahead in the fifth edition of the Concacaf Nations League (CNL).
T&T will compete in League A Group. A clash against recent 2026 FIFA World Cup participants Haiti and Curacao as well as the Dominican Republic in the Swiss-style format with Costa Rica and Nicaragua, the others in the six-team group.
The Soca Warriors will travel to Sabina Park Stadium in Kingston, Jamaica, for their opening match on September 23, from 8 pm against Haiti, before returning home for their second match against the Dominican Republic on September 27, at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo, Port-of-Spain, from 9 pm.
T&T will play their final two group matches against Curacao, with the first carded for October 1, at Stadion Ergilio Hato, Willemstad, Curacao, from 6 pm, before both teams travel to Port-of-Spain for their final match in the six-team group on October 4, at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, from 6 pm.
About the draw, King, who is yet to register a win since taking charge of the senior national team, firstly on an interim basis in a 3-0 loss away to Bolivia, which was followed by four international losses: 4-1 against Venezuela, 3-2 on penalty kicks after a 2-2 draw with Gabon, a 5-0 loss to South Korea, and a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Russia, said he and his technical staff are very pleased with the draw, and most importantly, we are looking forward to the challenge.
King, who also led the team in a 1-0 loss to United Soccer League outfit Louisville City FC last month, was quick to point out that for the Concacaf Nations League, he will be able to call on his foreign-based players, especially with the domestic league yet to kick off.
He said, “At present we have a group of local players in training, but they are also involved with their clubs (Defence Force and Club Sando) in the Concacaf Caribbean Cup, so it’s difficult to always have them available, so we expect that for the opening matches in the Nations League we will be relying heavily on the overseas players. Having our top players available gives us confidence, because we believe we have a squad capable of competing at a very high level.”
Regarding the recent World Cup participants Haiti and Curacao, King said he was keenly looking ahead to the clashes, he said, “These are the type of games our players want to play. Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Curaçao will provide strong opposition, and we have tremendous respect for them, but we are not going into these matches with fear. We are going in with belief.”
He said, “For T&T to become a force to be reckoned with in Concacaf, we have to test ourselves against the best, and we have to be brave enough to believe we can beat the best. With our strongest players available, we have an opportunity to show the quality, character, and ambition that this team possesses. “We want to compete, we want to win, and we want to make the people of T&T proud. This is a team with ambition, and we are ready for the challenge.”
Group B of the 2026/2027 Concacaf Nations League A comprises Honduras, Jamaica, Guatemala, Suriname, Martinique, and El Salvador.
At the end of the round-robin stage, where each team plays four matches, the top two teams in each group will qualify for the quarterfinals. There, they will join the seeded quartet of Mexico, the USA, Canada, and Panama, all of whom competed at the World Cup in July/August. However, the bottom two teams from each group will be relegated to League B.
English (US) ·