A lanky, elegant and combative central midfielder, Halifax Wanderers captain Andre Rampersad has had to wait his turn to don the red, white and black of his homeland at the international level.
Rampersad, 28, made his TT debut in March in a 2022/23 Concacaf Nations League B fixture away to the Bahamas. The former FC Santa Rosa player put in a solid shift in his "box-to-box" role on that day, as TT got a 3-0 win, and he hasn't looked back.
Rampersad has made six more appearances for coach Angus Eve's TT team since his March debut, with each game coming in competitive action for the Soca Warriors.
Rampersad has been patient on his football journey, though. And when he received his TT senior team call-up in March, he told the TT Football Association (TTFA) media: "It's definitely a great feeling for me (to be selected for the national team). Timing is everything and it's definitely the time for me to shine.
"Keep working hard, you never know who is looking. These are the principles I live by. I try to put my best foot forward all the time."
Rampersad was indeed recognised for the hard yards he put in over the years, as he inked his first professional contract in 2019, when he was signed by the Canadian Premier League team Halifax.
Before that, he spent most of his career with Santa Rosa, a club he joined from the under-12 age group. He steadily went through the youth ranks at Santa Rosa and made his senior team debut for the club in 2012, alongside fellow Soca Warriors midfielder Duane Muckette. Rampersad became a prominent figure in the middle of the park by the time Rosa clinched the TT Super League title in 2016 and 2018.
[caption id="attachment_1039522" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Trinidad and Tobago's Andre Rampersad, left, dribbles against El Salvador in a Concacaf Nations League match in El Salvador last month. - TTFA Media[/caption]
Rosa president Keith Look Loy and former Rosa coach Derek King both helped Rampersad's development, with the latter opening the door for him to make the transfer to Halifax in 2019. At the time, King served as assistant to former TT head coach Stephen Hart in the Halifax setup. Another Rosa player, Akeem Garcia, was also signed by Halifax, along with the TT duo of Elton John and former standout goalkeeper Jan-Michael Williams, who made over 75 appearances for TT at the senior level.
Rampersad grew from strength to strength with Halifax, as he was named team captain in 2020.
This year has been a fruitful one for Rampersad, as he reached the 100-game landmark with the Canadian club on April 22 – a month after his long-awaited TT debut on March 24.
Just four days after his debut, the La Horquetta-born midfielder played in a 1-1 draw for TT against Nicaragua at the Dwight Yorke Stadium in Tobago as the hosts closed off their 22/23 Nations League campaign in a must-win encounter.
Seeking to get promotion for the 2023/24 Nations League A campaign, TT were effectively given a lifeline as Nicaragua were punished by Concacaf for their illegal use of Uruguayan-b
