Soca Warriors play Tajiskistan in King's Cup

HEAD coach of the Soca Warriors Angus Eve said his team wants to put on a show in the King’s Cup 2022 in Thailand.

TT will face Tajiskistan on Thursday from 6.30 am, TT time, at the 700th Anniversary Chiang Mai Stadium.

Hosts Thailand will play Malaysia in the second match of Thursday’s double-header with the winners of both encounters meeting in the final on Sunday and the losers facing each other in a third-place playoff.

In a media conference ahead of TT’s opener, Eve said, “It is a great honour. I am privileged for us to be here to be invited to play in such a prestigious tournament.”

TT previously travelled to Thailand in 2004 and 2018, losing those matches.

Defender Sheldon Bateau said the Soca Warriors want to win this time.

“It is good to be here, but we are definitely ready. As coach said we have been here before but we’ve lost two times, so now we want to improve on the performance and the results.”

Eve said the team is optimistic.

“We have been in a rebuilding stage for the last two seasons, so we are very confident coming into this tournament because we have been doing really well in our Nations League, qualifying for the Gold Cup and stuff like that…so we feel very confident coming in. The players are all playing for their respective clubs and they are very fit and we just hoping we could put on a good performance for the people and hopefully try to win the tournament this time.”

Scottish-based midfielder Daniel Phillips has been ruled out of the King’s Cup 2022 with a calf strain. He will not be replaced by another player leaving Eve with a 19-man squad.

US-based duo Alvin Jones and Kevin Molino joined the TT squad, on Wednesday. Midfielder Neveal Hackshaw arrived, on Tuesday.