Trinidad and Tobago captain Dwight Yorke was reportedly flashing his trademark smile when he entered the Sydney FC dressing room in Nagoya, Japan, yesterday for a training session ahead of the FIFA Club World Championship.
The Soca Warriors superstar striker was beaming when he saw his dream of playing against England come true, following the draw for the group stages in the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany.Trinidad and Tobago, only the second English-speaking nation to reach a FIFA World Cup Finals, will tackle former colonial masters England, energetic Sweden, and unpredictable Paraguay in Group B.
T&T's first match will be against Sweden in Dortmund on June 10, followed by England in Nuremburg on June 15, and their final game of the first phase is against Paraguay in Kaiserslautern on June 20.
"I'm absolutely ecstatic to be playing England," said Yorke.
He continued: "Playing in the World Cup was always going to be great, but to be playing against England, where I played so much football and have a lot of friends, will make it even better."
"I said all along that playing England at the World Cup would be the ultimate and for it to come true is like a dream.
"I woke up this morning and switched on the television to CNN and when I saw that we were playing England I was dancing around the room."
Now aged 34, Yorke, in the twilight of his career playing for the Australian A League team, won the Champions League and English titles with Manchester United, where his teammates included England captain David Beckham.
However, he dismisses the notion that T&T will be fodder for the rest of Group B.
"We don't plan to go there to be just another team," he said.
"We can progress! This team has already made a lot of progress and we can go a lot further. We aim to go there to be counted. We have got seven months to prepare for the Finals and we will do that well."
Yorke, like creative genius Russell Latapy, came out of international retirement to captain his country to the Finals.
"My decision to come out of international retirement was correct- very much so-and I am glad I did, but I give a lot of credit to (former T&T coach) Bertille St Clair, who was my first coach and mentor, someone I looked up to immensely," he said. "He talked me into coming back and making one last effort to represent my country and take my country to the World Cup.
"To do it again, now as captain, is something of which I am very proud. Certainly with my career, with winning big trophies and playing in the Premiership for Manchester United, to top it off with this is really the icing on the cake."
Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand is also looking forward to the match against the Soca Warriors.
"They'll have a few players from the lower leagues playing for them and will want to make a name for themselves," said the 27-year-old Ferdinand, whose father hails from St Lucia.
"It will be like an FA Cup tie against the minnows, and they will want our scalp."
