Soca Warriors ready to fight Reggae Boyz

The youthful Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) football team is eager to get going against Caribbean arch-rivals Jamaica, as both are set to play in two friendly internationals on Saturday and Tuesday.

The Soca Warriors will get their first workout today at the UWI-JFF Captain Horace Burrell Centre of Excellence, and head coach Angus Eve is clear that he will be using these two games to gauge the team's readiness for more pressing assignments that are on the horizon.

T&T will use the matches as preparation for upcoming Concacaf Nations League and Gold Cup qualifiers versus Bahamas in Nassau on March 24 and against Nicaragua on March 27 at the Dwight Yorke Stadium in Bacolet, Tobago.

Defender Alvin Jones believes a fixture against Jamaica brings out the best in the twin island republic, whether played at home or away.

"Playing against Jamaica, it is always a personal rivalry, and we are up for it. It has also always been a battle between us for the top spot in the Caribbean for some time now," Jones said.

The gap between the teams on the FIFA rankings is stark, and the last two results have not been in favour of the visiting T&T, who lost 2-1 the last time they met back in 2017.

At the Montego Bay Sports Complex, where the first encounter will take place on Saturday, the Jamaicans came away with a victory on penalties in the 2014 Caribbean Cup.

For defender Neveal Hackshaw they are focusing on the future assignments coming up, however, they will not be taking the Jamaicans lightly.

"We are playing Jamaica, but we are really prepping for Nicaragua and the Bahamas. These friendlies should be good because we haven't played a team outside in a long while. Everyone is up for the fight and what the coach has for us to do," Hackshaw said.

Head coach Angus Eve remembers battles between Trinidad & Tobago and Jamaica over the years during his playing days, however, the man who has been calling the shots for the Soca Warriors since 2021, is labelling the upcoming games as 'invaluable'.

"I said from the beginning, we need to establish ourselves in the Caribbean, so this would go some ways in assessing their local-based group against our local-based group," Eve said.

Trinidad and Tobago's lone victory since the start of the year was in January when they defeated St Martin 2-0, while Jamaica have not played a match this year, but in the latter stages of last year, the Reggae Boyz lost 3-0 to Argentina and drew with Cameroon 1-1.