Trinidad and Tobago’s National Under 17 footballers came face to face with their Costa Rican counterparts on Thursday evening at the National Stadium in Kingston and will now come body to body with them on the battlefield as both teams square off in the opening game of the CONCACAF final round of qualifying for the FIFA Under 17 World Championship from 5pm (6pm T&T time) on Saturday.

The T&T team arrived for their one hour session at the match venue moments before the end of the Costa Ricans session and took their seats in the stands for some 15 minutes before the opponents completed their practice. The Central Americans in turn also lingered around for a few minutes to catch a glimpse of skipper Jesse Fullerton and his boys.

Also looking on was Jamaican technical director Bora Mulitonivic who met briefly with T&T senior team head coach Wim Rijsbergen and Anton Corneal as the trio shared a few laughs before Corneal got down to work with his players.

The outfield at the “Office” was described by Corneal as less hard than usual as the well grassed surface had a cushion feeling to it as midfielder Leston Paul and the rest got a good sense of it during the work out.

The next few days is expected to bring the best out of the bunch of junior players as Canada, United States, Costa Rica and the hosts have made their intentions clear of securing one of the three spots at the World Championship. The Canadians checked in at the Knutsford Hotel (same as T&T) on Thursday evening led by Trinidadian head coach Steven Hart and by all indications are here on a no-nonsense mission.

As for the Costa Ricans though, though knowing that  their first match is on Saturday, they seemed less aware of their opponents. The words of trainer Alan Browne left the feeling that they were less concerned about Corneal’s team.

“We feel that USA, Canada and Jamaica will all have a good chance and will be strong teams to play,” he told reporters, mostly Jamaicans after their session. “We want to win every game and it will be the same for them. We are here to do well. We want to qualify and we will play that way.  Only on the final question about Saturday’s opener did he mention Trinidad. “The first game is always important for any team. We do not know too much about Trinidad but we saw a DVD of their match against Honduras. All our teams play the same style of football. It’s the same from the senior to the junior teams and you can expect that from us on Saturday,” Browne added. Costa Rica have played in five FIFA Under 17 World Championships, the most by any Central American nation. They lost to Panama but beat El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala on their way to the current final round.

Corneal on the other hand remained optimistic but is well aware that the Costa Ricans are a good all round side and they try to play for long periods.

“We have seen them and the players have watched the DVD of them very closely. We know that they like to play with the ball and they pressure very high which means that we also cannot allow them to have the ball for too long. They will try to force us to make mistakes and we must counter that,” he told TTFF Media.

“We have come here with good hopes and we will be firm in our approach to every game. There will be no easy match for us but at the same time we cannot make it harder for ourselves. We must stick to our game plan and work off our strengths. I think the boys are aware of the challenges in this tournament and they will try their best to rise to it,” Corneal added.

He was also quizzed by the Costa Rican media, being asked what pressure the team was under with the expectations of Jack Warner as a Trinidadian being CONCACAF President. “I don’t think there is any pressure on the team because of Mr Warner. He has his business to handle as the head of CONCACAF and we have ours to take care off as a national team of Trinidad and Tobago,” Corneal responded. T&T is playing in the CONCACAF Under 17 final round for the first time since 1999 but is appearing for the eleventh time, the most by any Caribbean team. They appeared at the FIFA Under 17 Championship once in the 2001 Finals hosted in T&T.

One of the additions to the current T&T team is striker Isaiah Ferguson who hails from New York and is attached to the Under 16 team of MLS club New York Red Bulls. Ferguson said he is focusing on giving his best effort for T&T.

“I came here to try and give my best for the team. My dad is Trinidadian and he spoke with the coaches when the team was at the Dallas Cup and I got the opportunity to play for T&T. I have followed the World Cup team and I always heard about players like Russell Latapy, Stern John and Dwight Yorke and now I’m just looking forward to wearing the Trinidad shirt and hopefully making a good contribution to the team,” Ferguson told TTFF Media.

He and striker Stephen Knox will carry T&T’s scoring hopes on Saturday. Jamaica will play Canada in the second match from 7pm. (Shaun Fuentes in Kingston. April 27,2007.Photos show Wim Rijsbergen and Anton Corneal with Jamaica TD Bora Milutonovic and T&T U17 team in training at the National Stadium,Kingston)