Yet again, here I am writing this post game synopsis of my 'beloved' Trinidadian football team. In one of my previous entries titled "Somebody, anybody tell me what is wrong with the Trinidad and Tobago football team?", I chastised the Trinidad and Tobago national team for their lack of talent and drive, and the game last night just compounded on my feelings on this issue. Any way, on to the diatribe.
Date: Wednesday 11th February, 2009
Location: Estadio Cuscatlán
My Location: in front of my television
Game: qualifiers vs. El Salvador
Now this game started aplomb, with the Soca warriors playing some very lovely possession football. Showing alot of confidence on the ball, making runs off of the ball and showing some inclination to thinking like professional football players. Then came a moment of brilliance from Carlos Edwards. He collected the ball from 25 yards out after some slick play from Keon Daniel and Dwight Yorke and blasted the ball straight at the keeper on the 7 minute mark. The pace of the shot being too much for the keeper he tried to push it wide of his far post but ended up pushing it into his own net. 1-0 Trinidad.
Now I was happy, not so much because Trinidad was on top, but because Carlos Edwards was proving me wrong about him. Little did I know that this was one of the last times that I would see him for the game. One of my coaches once told us, that one swallow doesn't make a summer (right Sean?).
slotted the ball past the El Salvadorian custodian in the 26Usually when a team scores an early goal, this would inspire that team to continue to pressure their rivals, driving them back into their shells and eventually adding to their total. This was not wholly true for this game. After this initial goal by Edwards, The Trinidadian team looked content to sit back and absorb the increased pressure from El Salvador. We were lucky to be awarded the penalty by the referee. on another counter attack after a barrage of attack from the El Salvadorians, the ball fell to Stern John (public enemy #1 right now) on the top of the oppositions box. he tried to turn the defender but was fouled, signal Dwigt yorke who coolyth minute.
Again, i was jumping for joy now. I could see the headlines in the morning, 'Soca warriors bring home 3 points'. I should have known better.
Much as before the pressure was on. on defense T&T looked frail, and completely out of ideas. the El Salvadorians were killing us with their incessant overlapping plays down the wing. The Soca warriors were lucky to go into the half without conceding any goals to this very determined El Salvadorian team.
On to the second half, and much more of the same. the only difference in this half was the introduction of the bottles being tossed onto the field by the El Salvadorian faithful. Trinidad was still trying to absorb pressure, and their opposition continued to press, keeping the Soca warriors pinned into their half for the entire 45 minutes. the Soca warriors had two ventures out of their half of note. First, Kenwyne Jones won another penalty for Trinidad. Again, I'm sure we all were expecting the norm, Dwight to step up and put it away. BUT WE WERE FOOLED. Stern John, in all his goatness stepped up to cooly loose the ball in the 100th row of the stands. Why? The second venture of note was a great counter attacking play that left Stern John and the Keeper alone, with kenwyne Jones in tow, and in typical SJ fashion these days, he cooly slotted the ball between the onrushing keeper's far post and the corner flag.
Now for this entire game the Warrior kept giving away foolish fouls around their area, this was to be their undoing. 82nd minute, and another foul. Up stepped Romero to expertly curl the ball into the upper right hand corner of the Soca Warriors net. T&T 2- El Salvador 1
8 minutes left, this game should still be in the bag for T&T. FAT CHANCE. 94th minute, ANOTHER FRIGGIN' NIGGLIN' FOUL IN THE SAME FRIGGIN' SPOT, AND OH MY GOODNESS, THIS SAME STINKING ROMERO TO KICK IT. CARBON COPY OF THEIR EQUALIZER. T&T 2- El Salvador 2 F*@&!!!!!!
I could have felt the collective heaviness emanating from the twin island republic at the bottom of the Caribbean archipelago. The Soca warriors are a case of the blind leading the blind. My solution to all this heartache, Mathurana should be shot, Dwight Yorke, Latapy and Stern John should retire; and we should play with a more youthful side. Youth teams always tend to want to attack for the 90 minutes. With a little guidance their defensive part of the game can be honed, but as the older heads used to say, the best defense is a good offense. I AM FEDUP. I BACKING JAMAICA FROM NOW ON, AT LEAST UNTIL TRINIDAD'S NEXT GAME.
4 comments:
To say that I am surprise at the results will certainly be a lie. Even though I am an ardent TnT soccer fan, I always expected the unexpected.
However, what baffles me is why did Stern John take the penalty? probably it was a FETE match, well at least Stern thought it was.Afterall he is still human, just asked Baggio.
Why were even beaten by a carbon copy of the first goal that allowed that "fat woman to start singing" Typical TnT players, always celebrating f*@#$%g long before the game has even concluded!
But on the other hand, one has to realise that it is our more seasoned players that are responsible for bringing us thus far, though some may want to differ.
In recent times I have seen TnT play with a youthful side and they certainly left much to be desired with their sporadic attacks.
It was only after veteran players were introduced the team looked more capable of staging a challenge.
I dont know much about the coach so maybe he could be shot (lol)but there needs to be a balance with incorporating a select few of the older heads with the younger players.
A totally younger TnT could never compete with the likes of American. Let's leave Mexico to be the new American puppet (but seriously what the hell is going on with Mexico because America is not that good!)
Anyway back to the topic at hand. The reality is that TnT needs to invest more revenue into developing the young footballers and teaching them to stick to the basics of the game before trying to do the impossible. Something that Carlos Edwards, despite his talent, was probably never thought (3 complete passes, 14 turnovers).
Until then we will continue to reap the benefits of poor performances and irated, suicidal fans (has anyone seen alaldinho).
It was truly a disappointing game. It seems as though the Soca Warriors know nothing about maintaining a lead. In their minds they had already won and let all fall down, only to end a a draw. I should have gone to bed at 9, maybe they should have too.
Some people would disagree with me, but our (TNT) performance was dismal even when we were two goals up. The score line was extremely flattering. I was very thankful for the lead, however our overall play was not becoming of a senior international football team vying for a World Cup berth. There are numerous errors and negatives we can comment on from this game since our boys selflessly provided us with an ample batch, but I was thinking this morning.....last world cup campaign we started off with zero points in our first few matches, and we qualified for the World Cup....for this campaign, we have 1 point to show for one match (away game to boot). The journey now start, and hopefully this is the final rude awakening for our boys and they get serious. So let us keep supporting (although it is detrimental to one's cardiac health). Bless.
spot on de analysis...but still think carlos is yuh fadda!
Post a Comment