PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Trinidad and Tobago head coach Angus Eve and his opposite number Jamaal Shabazz believe next week’s international friendly doubleheader will be critical to their sides’ preparations for the imminent 2026 World Cup qualifiers.
T&T hosts Guyana in the first game, scheduled for Monday at the Hasely Crawford Stadium. The two teams will return to the same venue two days later for the finale.
“We see these games as [a] vital cog in the wheel of our preparations going into the World Cup campaign for 2026,” Eve said in a T&T Football Association release.
“It is an ongoing program that we have started since I came on board. We play some international games to get the locally based players up to speed and see how they perform against international opposition.
“Guyana is also in League A of the Nations League, so we will not play slouches. It gives the local players a final opportunity to be seen outside of their league against international opposition so that we can pick the final squad. That is what these [exercises] are about.”
World Cup qualifying is scheduled to begin in June. Trinidad and Tobago will compete in Group B alongside Costa Rica, St Kitts and Nevis, Grenada, and the Bahamas.
Meanwhile, Guyana will battle in Group D against Panama, Nicaragua, Montserrat, and Belize.
Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana will compete in League A of the fourth edition of the CONCACAF Nations League, which will be underway in September.
Shabazz said the games would allow him to gauge the quality of home-based players, especially against “formidable opponents” like T&T.
“These two matches are a great opportunity to evaluate our home-based players fresh out of the KFC Elite League,” he said.
“Trinidad and Tobago are formidable opponents, and it will provide a stern test for the home-based players vying for a spot in the final squad for our FIFA World Cup qualifiers in June.
“The matches are a considerable investment by both the GFF (Guyana Football Federation) and TTFA because they help to expose the home-based talent and widen the international team pool.
“Of course, whether it is football, cricket, hockey, or rugby when Guyana plays Trinidad and Tobago, we want to win, so it ’s also going to be a title fight.”
The last meeting between the two teams at the same venue ended in a 1-1 stalemate two years ago.
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