Members of Grenada's football team arrive for the Digicel Caribbean Championships at the Norman Manley International Airport (NMIA) yesterday. - Junior Dowie/Staff Photographer

Trinidad and Tobago (T&T), Barbados and Grenada all arrived in the island yesterday for tomorrow's start of the Digicel Caribbean Championships.

The Trindadians and Grenadians will play in the opening game of a Group 'A' double-header at the National Stadium, starting at 5 p.m. The Reggae Boyz will face Barbados in the second match at 7 p.m.

T&T, who are the only team in the Caribbean to secure a berth in the final round of 2010 CONCACAF World Cup qualifying, are the most successful team in regional competition with eight titles.

Under-strength team

However, T&T will be using an under-strength team for the tournament, as a number of their overseas-based players, including captain Dwight Yorke, Carlos Edwards and Kenwyne Jones, are unavailable due to club commitments.

Recalled T&T striker, Errol McFarlane, said he is looking forward for the challenge.

"I hope my inclusion in the team will a positive one," said McFarlane.

"I hope to add more depth to this already talented bunch of players. This is an opportunity for me to impress the new coach because this is the first time I am playing with him," he said.

McFarlane, on loan from T&T club St Ann's Rangers to Lebanese club Al Mabarrah, is one of three strikers in the squad. The others are Andre Toussaint and Cornell Glen, both of whom represent T&T Pro-League champions San Juan Jabloteh.

The Grenadines, who are ranked at 139 in the world, defeated the Reggae Boyz 2-1 in a friendly international in June. Their team will be at full strength for the tournament, with the addition of the of their overseas-based players, including their captain Anthony Modeste, midfielder, Shalrie Joseph of New England Revoloution (USA) and Junior Rudolph Williams.

Modeste said he is confident his team is going to put on a good show.

"We are very optimistic about our chances because we know the opponents ahead of us and we are coming here to play good football and we are going to take it one game at a time and hopefully we can qualify for the semi-finals," said Modeste.

Confident

"We are very confident going up against the Jamaicans because our last result against them was a good one. But Jamaica is a quality opponent, but hopefully we can transform the same game that we played in Grenada and get the result that we want here," Modeste added.

Meanwhile Thomas Jordan, coach of Barbados, said: "We are going to be competitive and try to do our best because we want to do our country proud and we also hope to beat Jamaica.

"Our team is pretty confident even though we didn't get the amount of practice games to keep the team in tune, but we are happy to be here because we want to show people that Barbados' football is in a proper level in the Caribbean," he said.

The Barbadians are currently ranked fourth in the Caribbean Football Union behind Cuba, T&T and the Reggae Boyz.

Trinidad and Tobago's Errol McFarlane (right) and his Trinidad and Tobago teammate arrive, with other members of their team, at the NMIA for the Digicel Caribbean Championships yesterday.

Members of the Barbados football team relax at the NMIA after their arrival for the Digicel Caribbean Championships yesterday.