PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Defender Daneil Cyrus has pushed back against claims from Trinidad and Tobago head coach Tom Saintfiet, that he turned up to national camp last Sunday smelling of alcohol.
The 26-year-old was one of the three players axed from the initial 20-man squad, with Jomal Williams and Joevin Jones also sidelined.
Saintfiet told media here last Sunday Cyrus and Williams had turned up one-and-a-half hours late with “a decent smell of alcohol around them.”
“Both were immediately sent home, back to party,” the Belgian said.
However, Cyrus argued that Saintfiet had been wrong in his assertion as he did not drink alcohol, and also explained he had been late in arriving at the camp because of a flat tyre.
Defender Daneil Cyrus … has rejected claims he turned up at camp smelling like alcohol.
The W Connection player said he had attempted to explain this to Saintfiet but his efforts had proved futile.
“I went to him and he asked me to see the flat tyre and when I was going to show him at the same time he said ‘Jomal you smell like alcohol’ and then Jomal said ‘yes I had a drink with my family,’” Cyrus recounted to the Newsday here.
“And after that I don’t know if that triggered him off and he told both of us to wait out in the lobby and then he came back and said ‘thanks for everything but you could go back and party.’”
He added: “I was shocked because he asked me to see the flat tyre in which I was going to show him. He just went off because Jomal was kinda smelling like alcohol – it wasn’t me he was talking to.
“When I saw the Newsday (newspaper) and everyone say that both of us showed up smelling stink of alcohol I was shocked because if anybody know me, any of my friends, they know I can’t drink and I don’t drink so I don’t know where all this is coming from.
“I just want my name to clear up from this because people thinking I showing up in camp drunk and I drink (alcohol). I don’t drink.”
Saintfiet subsequently called up the trio of Trevin Caesar, Curtis Gonzales and Akeem Roach to replace Cyrus, Williams and Jones for the three-nation CONCACAF Gold Cup qualifiers against Suriname and Haiti starting here Wednesday.
And though sidelined, Cyrus said he was still prepared to offer his services to the national side.
“All the time the commitment is there. If they call [me] back tomorrow [I will go back],” he said.
“I just don’t like the fact that the coach never spoke to me about alcohol, it wasn’t me he was talking to and for him to say both players showed up in camp smelling stink of alcohol, that is wrong.”
