Noah Powder, Mekheil Williams called up as Hyland, Garcia out of Gold Cup for Trinidad and Tobago

NATIONAL defenders Noah Powder and Mekeil Williams have been cleared by Concacaf to join the men’s senior team in Texas as immediate replacements for skipper Khaleem Hyland and attacking midfielder Judah Garcia, who have been indefinitely ruled out of TT’s Gold Cup campaign owing to injury.

Williams and Powder, who both reside in the US, were called to national duty on Friday after Hyland and Garcia were confirmed to take no further part in the tournament. The pair was subbed off with leg muscle injuries during TT’s final Gold Cup qualifier match against French Guiana on Tuesday.

Hyland’s absence for the rest of the tournament sees striker Kevin Molino step up to captain the squad for the remainder of the competition.

TT begin their Gold Cup group stage campaign on Saturday against defending champions Mexico at the AT&T Stadium, Arlington, from 10.30pm. Also in Group A are El Salvador and Curacao.

“We got the notification that Judah Garcia and Khaleem Hyland would not be available to us anymore and we now have Noah Powder and Mikheil Williams will be replacing them as of today,” said head coach Angus Eve at the pre-match press conference.

On Friday, Eve and his staff worked alongside Concacaf’s medical department to ensure the players were cleared to arrive in Texas before Saturday’s opening match. He said both Powder and Williams have already been vaccinated for covid19 and also conducted their mandatory PCR tests on Friday.

These steps, Eve said, guarantees the players would be able to arrive in time and immediately join the team for the Mexico clash. Against the Concacaf behemoths, Eve is well aware of their many strengths but believes the Soca Warriors can dig deep to eke out a positive result.

“We want to go and express ourselves as much as possible and see if we can get among them and hopefully cause some sort of upset; that’s the only thing that we can do.

“The guys really fought in the qualifiers. We have the same mentality and spirit going into this game. We have to be more creative in the way that we play. We believe our main battle is against El Salvador and Curacao, whatever we do against Mexico will be a bonus,” Eve added. Eve was appointed national coach in June after then-coach Terry Fenwick was sacked for the squad’s first-round exit from the 2022 FIFA World Cup campaign.

Prior to the World Cup qualifiers, TT played two additional matches – Eve’s first at the helm – against Montserrat and French Guiana leading up to the Gold Cup qualification. Although successful, Eve believes their opponents are now equipped with ample video footage of their recent matches to study their style of play.

He added, “We would have to tweak some stuff. These (opposing) teams are well-rested. We will have to tweak things tactically. They would have seen us play a couple of matches. They would have been scouting what we’ve been doing.

Eve continued, “We brought a surplus of defensive players because we may have to tweak the formation. We picked players who could play multiple positions. We had two major injuries in the last game which caused the rhythm of the game to be upset. “Bringing the yellow cards over is a bit unfair. Technically we are the weaker teams who are coming forward. We’re not crying about that.”

He said the senior team was in a “rebuilding stage” and aiming at re-establishing itself as formidable opponents in the region.

The former national player was pleased to be back in the Gold Cup competition and believes the Mexico test will serve as a good measurement to see where the team is currently at competing against a top-ranked team.

According to the FIFA Rankings, Mexico is presently ranked an impressive 11th in the world while TT is 103rd. At the Concacaf level, Mexico are atop the standings with the USA trailing closely behind while TT are 11th. Amid the statistics, Eve said they must go into the game with a positive mindset.

He added, “We have the mindset of a lion. If we have that lion mentality that we displayed in our games so far; our spirit, team camaraderie, that willingness to fight for each other is what we’re going to need for this stage.”