PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Already assured of their place in the Finals in Martinique later this month, Trinidad and Tobago’s Soca Warriors will look to capture Group F of the Digicel Caribbean Cup when they face Haiti in their final match today.
The seven-time Caribbean champions have won both their matches to date and will finish with a perfect record once they can get past the French side in their 6:30 pm clash at the Manny Ramjohn Stadium.
Haiti, the 2006 winners of the competition, will be gunning for their second straight win of the competition after dismissing Guyana on Thursday night.
A win or a draw against Haiti will not only ensure them top spot in the group but it will also put them in the same group in the Finals with host Martinique and Grenada and the winner of the Group G qualifiers (Antigua & Barbuda, Cuba, Dominica and Suriname).
However, a Haiti victory will see the Soca Warriors joining defending champions and four-time winners’ Jamaica, Guadeloupe and the Group G runner-up in the other group.
T&T head coach Russell Latapy said his aim was for the team to win all their matches.
“That’s something we will definitely look at, but my view is that I want us to be dominant again in Caribbean football so it does not matter who we play against in this region or CONCACAF so we are going and try to win every match we play,” the former T&T midfielder said.
Ten-time qualifiers for the finals, T&T opened with a 6-2 win over St Vincent and the Grenadines on Tuesday night before beating Guyana 2-1 on Thursday night.
Latapy said, however, that Haiti would be difficult opposition even though they were similar to the Guyanese in style.
“I came up to the matches early on both nights to see them play a bit and I think they are very similar to Guyana in terms of the way they play,” he said.
“They are not an easy team to break down but we are going to play the way I think we can play to attain the best results, to our strength.”
The Soca Warriors head the group with maximum six points, two more than Haiti with Guyana on one point and SVG yet to register one.
Guyana still have an outside chance of qualification for Martinique but they must beat SVG by a big margin in today’s opening game of the doubleheader and hope T&T beat Haiti.