Dutch message to T&T: Beat the Germans.
By: Shaun Fuentes (TTFF).

Trinidad and Tobago’s National Under 17 footballers departed Amsterdam bound for Seoul Korea with one final message from the many well wishers they encountered in Holland over the past week – “Beat the Germans!”

And nobody knew the significance of that wish in the T&T contingent more than Senior team head Wim Rijsbergen who was himself in the Holland line up when they lost 2-1 to the Germans in the 1974 World Cup Final. But before that though during the second World War, the Germans declared war on the Netherlands, invading in 1940 and taking control of the country for five years during which time 250,000 Dutchmen and women died before they regained their freedom.

So when the manager of the Papendal hotel Hans Blaauw and training center’s last words to the team was “Just make sure and beat the Germans” there was a little more to it than simply winning a football game. And on Saturday when skipper Leston Paul and his teammates caught eyes at the Vitesse Arnhem/Athletico Bilbao preseason game, the fans had three things to say. “Leo Beenhakker, Wim Rijsbergen and ‘beat the Germans in Korea'.”

“We were very pleased to have the National team of Trinidad and Tobago here at the Papendal with us for the last few days. We felt everything went well and we are particularly pleased to have played some part in the team’s final preparations before the World Cup in Korea. Here we know the importance of development and we are always willing to offer our facilities and advice in this regard. We surely will look forward to hosting more athletes from Trinidad in the future. My only wish is for you to beat Germany when you meet on the football field,” said Blaauw.

The team itself was in good spirits on Sunday as they checked out of the Papendal before an 11-hour flight to Seoul before taking the two-hour bus ride to Cheonan where T&T faces Ghana next Monday August 20.
“They are now seeing the picture and realize that it’s the simple things that count like not letting up easy chances. We are utilizing the sides of the park better now. In the second game we were more composed. We have the confidence to use our system of play The stay here served its purpose by breaking the long trip to Korea and having all the facilities at hand. We also saw how other professional teams in the area do it… training three times a day and so. We also looked at the sides of the field and saw scouts looking on as well,” Corneal told TTFF Media.

Rijsbergen also summed up his thoughts on the current state of the team.

“It’s not important if we win or lose these training games but its important that we realize that we need to a do a little extra. The teams will be strong in a World Cup but even if you are not as strong as other teams, if you work as a team an try very hard it will be harder for the opponent and you get better results which is what we saw with our senior team. Two or three yards extra can create a big problem in defense and hopefully the message comes when we play these kind of games. We can talk about good training and a nice complex but it’s important for us to do it as well and we were able to experience that over the last few days before going to Korea,” Rijsbergen added.