Okay folks, the Gold Cup is here.

I am going to beg forgiveness in advance for this blog which will most likely be filled with errors and done at the last minute. Kinda like the TTFF preparations for this tournament. Although, to be honest, they pass the late stage when it comes to sorting out the players?��Ǩ�Ѣ bonus payment dispute. They just failed to get it done and now we going into the tournament without a recognized, full strength squad.

This is sad because, coming off a WC qualification campaign when we were the fourth-best in the region, I would now be mightily pleased if we just make the final eight. After qualifying for the WC and then improving under Don Leo, I know most fans would have been looking to this Gold Cup as an opportunity to show how far the team has come since 2005 when Don Leo had just taken over the side, and was more focused on getting the team ready for the final WC qualification push.

We played some of our most productive football during those wins against Guatemala, Panama, Mexico and Bahrain and my one lament is that That Side never got a chance to play against Jamaica or the US. Both of those would have been satisfying matchups to measure how far the team has come. We would have had a chance on Saturday but unfortunately the TTFF had other ideas.

I am not going to dwell too much on the disadvantaged position of Wim and his players because enough has been said about that situation. Instead I am looking forward to the tournament for several reasons.

On the footballing side this is the Gold Cup. We have never done well in this tournament and although we have taken stronger teams, this team has been well-prepared and playing together for the last dozen games. The faces are new but some are very promising. Darryl Roberts will raise some eyebrows and Spann and Theobald are experienced players. The biggest fear is always defence and goalkeeping which is not battle-hardened like Tallest, Sancho and Jack. I expect these new players to make the kind of mistakes that those guys did just a few years ago. It is unavoidable when inexperienced players get dropped in at the deep end of the pool, no matter the talent level.

On the support side, you are always happy, as a Trinbagonian on the outside, when you can get to see the team play. There is the added bonus this time that the Warrior Nation will be out in force. Two years ago against the US in Hartford, there was no Warrior nation. A bunch of Forumites were lucky enough to bounce up and the lime was nice. This time we have a section where members can congregate and (hopefully) celebrate. There will also be a Boston-based Trini cultural group, the Engine Room, that will be in the section and they should be bringing a full riddim section. The people at Foxboro still talk about these guys from the last time TnT played the US there in 2001. Hopefully we can represent just as well this time. We also have media accreditation so hopefully we can give the WN members and forumites more access to the team and players. I know that my fingers are crossed that Camps or Groden would show dey face to answer questions in Foxboro.

For tonight I hope to be able to follow the El Salvador game which is either ?��Ǩ?�must win?��Ǩ�� or ?��Ǩ?�must not lose?��Ǩ�� depending on who you talk to. The game is at 11.00 pm and I have to be up at 4.30 so that is a challenge but we will see. I will try and catch some early sleep and get up for the second half. Hopefully when I get up I will hear that we are a couple goals to the good.

Good luck to the Soca Warriors.