So, now that the sting of that defeat has sunk in. I’m here to say my piece. Trinidad and Tobago are still on 2 points and sit firmly nested at the bottom of the group. Their next game is against Mexico in Mexico City. The odds of the Soca Warriors beating a Mexican team on their home turf, albeit a struggling team, is ridiculously against the island boys.
The loss didn’t surprise me, what did was the attitude and overall improvement in play shown by the Soca Warriors. Costa Rica came into this match on a high. After drubbing the US national team 3-1 midweek, they were coming to Tobago to play the whipping boys of the group, 3 points guaranteed. Now I’m as much of a patriot as the other guy, so I don’t feel bad when I agreed with the Costa Ricans, thinking that the final score was just a formality.
Trinidad had a few new faces in the squad, most notably Hayden Tinto and Trent Noel. The squad had some players that were already established but that were allowed to return from international exile. Carlos Edwards was repositioned to play the right full-back role, one that he really excels in, with Yorke, Spann, Tinto (I’m not going to talk about his two missed kicks) and Noel doing the midfield duties, or at least pretending to very well. Kenwyne Jones (one player that would never start for my international team) and Jason Scotland started up front. In the first half, Silvio Spann dictated the pace well in the midfield, and the supporting cast looked like the Trinidad that we see in video games. They weren’t rushing the game, yet they showed that willingness to get forward at every opportunity. At times they were totally dominating the game and were well deserving of that opening goal courtesy a wonderfully taken and equally shocking Carlos Edwards freekick. I almost got up to look for the flying pigs. The equalizer from Costa Rica was unfortunate and the two teams went into the half with Trinidad dominating everything but the score sheet.
At the start of the second half we reverted to the Trinidad of old. Endless lapses in defence and a very lazy midfield. Costa Rica scored within the opening minutes f the second half, with the entire T&T defense at fault. On a regular day, we would see our Soca Warriors fold up and start to wallow in self pity and basically throw away the game at this point, but today was different. A clearly determined Latapy has trained his players well. The mental strength was beginning to show. After some great ball play by the warriors, they equalized in the 63rd minute through Collin Samuel. I was jumping up and making noise at this point, being sucked into the illusion that was T&T playing the beautiful game for once. But that was short lived.
The laziness/fatigue started showing in the team. From this moment on they started to walk. I mean literally walk. No one was running beside Jason Scotland, a fresh Birchall and a crazy yet effective Avery John. At this point a third goal was inevitable and so said so done. In the 69th minute came the goal that would quiet the Dwight Yorke stadium in Tobago. It was a hard fought match up until this point with the Soca Warriors coming agonizingly close on a number of occasions, but it just was not meant to be.
As much of a skeptic as I am at times, there are a lot of positives that can be taken from this defeat. Latapy’s willingness to try new faces was very invigorating to say the least. His repositioning of Carlos Edwards was brilliant. Utilize his apparent inability to cross and maximize on his speed, DEFENCE it is. Trent noel needs to stop missing open goals and he’d become a great asset to the team, likewise for his newbie friend Mr. Tinto. When crossing a ball, hit the ball not air. Yorke should be given a rest, permanently. Kenwyne Jones should watch the game the same way I did, on the tele. Personally for a ‘Big Premiership Star’, he needs to work on his statistic of 3 goals in 34 appearances. I know of defenders with better stats, STEUPS!! Maybe he should go goal keep. All in all, the team has improved, believe it or not. Unfortunately I don’t think that they have improved enough to mount a challenge at this point to qualify. At least I can save my money for 2014; the recession wasn’t too conducive for a world cup anyway.
3 comments:
laziness and fatigue eh? That is cause at minutes to 11, the team was part of a ridiculous motorcade in Tobago - the night before a qualifier! When they should have been snuggled under the sheets at the hotel, resting!
LOL... Al, you should be an official football reporter or local critic. I could almost see the game and I totally agree with ur view of the Carlos Edwards repositioning and with Kenwyn Jones. Bravo!
Latas doing a superior job compared to Maturana given this is his first game, but we should have had a couple international friendlies as soon as he was made coach so he could have made adjustments a lot sooner. Lawrence and Andrews have to call it quits cuz they look like official spectators on the field and Yorke shouldn't be made to play a full game. Some of the old boys really need to hang it up and Latas need to take the reigns and put favouritism aside and study he has to make tough choices for a better performing team.
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