The Soca Warriors will be facing French Guiana in the second round of the 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup Qualifier on July 6 at the DRV PNK Stadium in Ft Lauderdale, Florida with a 4:30pm kickoff.
Unfortunately, the preliminary round clash between Cuba and French Guiana which was to be played on Saturday was cancelled as the Cubans were not given their visa in time to participate.
The governing body CONCACAF published a release on their website to clarify the situation moments after what should have been the kickoff time. “CONCACAF has been in regular communication with the Cuban Football Association regarding their travel to the 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup Preliminary Round (Prelims). Unfortunately, due to Covid-19 related travel and visa challenges, and the required Covid-19 testing regime, their match tonight against French Guiana will not take place.”
The release continued, “Given the current public health situation and the ongoing need for protocols to be adhered to, the health and safety of the participating teams cannot be compromised. French Guiana will advance to the second round of the Prelims and will now face Trinidad and Tobago on Tuesday, July 6, 2021.”
However, T&T’s interim head coach, Angus Eve has already shifted focus and is looking forward to the match against French Guiana. The former Soca Warrior midfielder said, “We just treat every game as a final because every game we would play it will mean something. If we lose, we go home and so losing is not the objective here.”
A win on Tuesday against their French counterparts will see T&T in Group A alongside Mexico, El Salvador and Curaçao. An affirmative Eve said, “We want to be where we think we should be in the Gold Cup proper and marching against the likes of the USAs and the Mexicos and the Costa Ricas and all of these teams, so we definitely want to win the next game so that we could be in the Gold Cup proper.”
The Soca Warriors are coming off a comprehensive 6-1 victory over Montserrat and are confident for their upcoming match. They got goals from Reon Moore (2), Kevin Molino, Marcus Joseph, Ryan Telfer and Judah Garcia.
