TT forward hopeful of Copa 2024 spot - Levi Garcia eyes return

Soca Warriors forward Levi Garcia is anxious to return from his injury lay-off, and has been included in the AEK Athens travelling squad for their match away to AE Kifisia in the Greece Super League from 2 pm (TT time) on Saturday.

Garcia, 25, helped AEK to the Greek double last season, scoring 18 goals across all competitions. Thus far this season, the speedy Garcia has been plagued by injury and has only featured in five out of a possible 16 games for the reigning Greek champions. On August 22, Garcia suffered a quadricep tear in a Uefa Champions League first-leg qualifying match against Royal Antwerp. He missed the subsequent second leg, with AEK being defeated 3-1 on aggregate.

Garcia returned for AEK's opening Europa League group stage match away to English Premier League outfit Brighton and Hove Albion on September 21. Garcia played a total of 68 minutes and gave a promising performance in AEK's 3-2 win. He then featured for 75 minutes in AEK's 2-1 win away to Panathinaikos four days later. However, the rugged forward has not turned out for AEK since, as he aggravated his quad injury.

Garcia also missed TT's four group stage matches in the ongoing 2023/24 Concacaf Nations League A campaign as the Soca Warriors booked a spot in the quarter-finals of the tournament. However, he is ready to return to the pitch for both club and country.

"I have been working really hard lately to get fit so things have been going well," Garcia told Newsday in a brief chat on Thursday. Yes, I’ll be with the (AEK) squad this weekend."

AEK (20 points) are currently on a three-game win streak in the Greek league and sit third on the standings behind Panathinaikos (22 points) and Olympiacos (21 points).

Switching his attention to the Nations League, Garcia wants his TT team-mates to continue the steady work as he makes his way back to full fitness.

"It’s been really good to see the guys performing and hopefully we can continue to do positive things for ourselves and future players."

TT have a pivotal Nations League home-and-away tie with the US this month, with the second leg at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Mucurapo falling on Garcia's 26th birthday on November 20. With the prospect of qualification for Copa America 2024 in the air, Garcia is ready for the grand occasion.

"It's a big game against the US and we're all looking forward to it. I think everyone is (optimistic about our chances of qualifying for the Copa America 2024). That will be a great platform to showcase ourselves but first we need to take it one game at a time."

The four teams advancing from the quarter-finals will qualify for both the Nations League semi-finals and the Copa tournament. The four losing quarter-finalists will still have an opportunity to qualify for Copa 2024 via a single-match, direct elimination play-off in March next year.