Trinidad & Tobago look to block injured Cats duo

Mar 26 2008 by Stuart Rayner, The Journal

TRINIDAD and Tobago have confirmed they are prepared to pull Kenwyne Jones and Carlos Edwards out of Sunderland’s crucial match with West Ham United on Saturday in a tit-for-tat after the pair withdrew from international duty.

Both were called up by their country for today’s friendly against Jamaica. Black Cats manager Roy Keane made known his displeasure that two of his stars were asked to play in a game he sees as relatively unimportant, but the T&T authorities view as anything but, coming as it does against their neighbours and rivals.

It was little surprise when Jones and Edwards were declared unfit to travel to the Caribbean – Jones through a virus which kept him out of last week’s win over Aston Villa, his club-mate with a groin strain he played for 67 minutes with at Villa Park.

The Soca Warriors’ hierarchy are understandably suspicious and will exercise Fifa’s “five day rule” to stop the pair facing the Hammers at the Stadium of Light.

“It is right the decision from the management team has been taken to take this action,” confirmed the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation spokesman, Shaun Fuentes. “It was taken after it appeared Sunderland were unwilling to co-operate and we were left with little choice. It means neither of the players can play or train for five days from the day of the game.”

That would rule them out of facing West Ham. They would be eligible for the Black Cats’ next match, against Fulham on April 5. Having initially claimed the Black Cats told them it was pointless for Edwards to undergo an independent evaluation, T&T believe their stance has softened.

“Sunderland are now making efforts to co-operate and we are waiting for a scan for Carlos,” explained Fuentes. “Why they couldn’t just do that in the first place I don’t know. Kenwyne’s situation is different, there are no scans.”

Keane claimed Edwards strained his groin in training on Friday, though it did not prevent him playing for over an hour at Villa Park. The Irishman was unhappy at Edwards’ call-up as his winger is feeling his way back to fitness after a broken leg.

Edwards has featured in only three matches since being injured in December – one a reserve match. He has been withdrawn shortly after the hour mark in all three.

T&T claim Sunderland physio Pete Friar told them it was futile sending the player to Birmingham for an independent evaluation as an MRI scan would be unlikely to pick up the strain. Of striker Jones’ virus, Keane’s diagnosis after the Villa game was: “I doubt whether it’s a 24-hour thing, it will be longer than that.”

Now, though, it seems both sides are anxious to build bridges. Sunderland do not want to lose two of their most influential players for a game crucial to their hopes of avoiding Premier League relegation, while T&T will no doubt be conscious their former captain Dwight Yorke has already retired from international football – a decision some suspect Keane influenced.

“Sunderland are in touch with the management and the issue could be resolved,” said Fuentes. “But that is not going to be an easy thing to do. It is possible there can be agreement reached with Sunderland. Both our federation and Sunderland have to look at the long road. Both sides will want to ensure there remains a relationship, so it is possible something can be done in the next few days to solve the problem.

“But Francisco Maturana (the Trinidad and Tobago coach) is understandably not very happy with having two important players unavailable for such an important friendly against Jamaica. Hopefully there can be a resolution but it is an issue we feel strongly about.”

Scotland’s Craig Gordon and Russell Anderson, Hungarian Márton Fülöp and Sweden’s Rade Prica are the Sunderland players on international duty today, along with Jonny Evans, on loan from Manchester United, who will be representing Northern Ireland against Georgia.