Brazil’s National Football team starting X1 is primarily foreign based so if it is we have to follow that trend we will be in good company! I was very optimistic at the start, there was a buzz amongst the crowd, and everyone wanted to see what Beenhakker could do….so we waited anxiously!
Tweeeeet! game start! Beenhakker started with Duarance Williams in goal, Derek King on the right, Nigel Daniel on the left, with Keyeno Thomas and Atiba Charles in the middle. The midfield had Aurtis Whitley and Theobald in the middle, Dwarika on the right, and Eve on the left, and up front he started with Celestine and Glasgow.
The team looked ok at the start and while North East Stars had the ball, kept an immaculate 4-4-2 formation. But basically, that is all there was to it. It didn’t take long for Stars to carve out the first chance of de game, quick interpassing in the fifth minute led to an open Kendall Velox, but his powerful shot was well blocked by Williams. The Warriors eventually got into the game, and eventally passed the ball on the turf well. Dwarika and Whitley showed nice understanding and it was this combination that created the first chance for the Warriors.
The chance fell to young Celestine who decided that he didn’t really want to make the papers as a goal scorer so he decided to pass the ball out wide to Glasgow with just the keeper to beat. The pass ended up being a bad one and the ball ended up by the corner flag. Glasgow did some good work to beat his man on the line but he was determined to make papers, so he shot the ball wide at an acute angle with two of his teammates waiting at the six yard box!
That was the only excitement in the NE Stars box in the first half, and I really don’t remember Trevor Nottingham making a save. Williams, however, was busy at the other end. I’m not sure if our defenders were instructed to allow the Stars room to shoot to test young Williams but it really appeared that way. The North East Stars players fought for every ball and played as if they had something to prove. None more than Mr. Kendall Jagdeosingh. Here was a man dropped from the local team and now playing against the men who were thought to be better than him. He played with the desire to leave an impression, and in the 23rd minute, he achieved this with a well taken goal that followed a defensive lapse.
Abassi ‘elephantman’ Mc Pherson was another who left an impression. Spurred on by 300 vocally strong Stars supporters who chanted ‘ele’ when he had the ball, Mc Pherson answered with a determined display that was capped off by a blistering drive that Williams acrobatically tipped over bar.
Half time Stars 1 v Trinidad and Tobago 0.
The arrival of Chris Birchall was the talking point of the half time break as he sat watching the game with Clayton Ince. I am sure based on the display he wanted to know which team was the national team (just joking).
Tweeeeet second half on de way, the national team (or as one supporter put it, ‘dem is ah national side not ah national team’) passed around the ball a lot better and showed great determination to equalize and did eventually get the ball in the net but the blind lines-man flagged Dwarika’s legitimate goal as offside in the 55th minute. The play deteriorated after that with Stars sending on a couple of subs every 5 minutes and the game lost a bit of the flow. But then in the 60 something minute came the moment of the match. One of our defenders handled the ball just outside the penalty area and the referee awarded a free kick to Stars. Four players stood over the ball and one by one they ran over it with the last man, Kayode McKinnon curling the ball over the wall and into de jep nest! GOOOOOAAAAAAALLLLLL. De crowd went mad !! Bend it like Kayode was the chant, and our national side, our Warriors, our World Cup hopefuls, the nucleus of our team, were 2-0 down. After that there really wasn’t anything much to the game. Stars missed a few chances to embarrass the Wwarriors further while our national footballing representatives strayed offside a few times more.
The arrival on the field of the only man from Stars on the national side cause quite a stir and I must say that I was impressed with his tenacity on the pitch. Anthony Wolfe is his name and I am sure he did himself no favours during the twenty minutes on the pitch !
All in all, Beenhakker has his work cut out for him if he wants the squad to be 80% locally based. I didn’t expect much as yet since he only had the side for 10 days but I did see a little more movement while we had the ball which could only be a good sign !! But for the 1000 odd supporters at the stadium, the road to Germany looking long and tough ! It is hard to see this ‘side’ forming the core of our national team. What was certain, it looks as if they were playing to a plan but they suffered in the execution. I would give this side an A for the passing since the keeper was the only one who could boast of kicking de ball far !!
Given a few more practice games, I think with the proper players, we could be ok !
PS: We might have a practice game against El Salvador on the 25th.
RATINGS:
Duarance WILLIAMS:
7 - Looked competent in the shot blocking department, but is very confused with the ball at his feet. Kicked out every ball wildly that came to him!
Atiba CHARLES:
6 – Didn’t do anything to stand out in this game and I was very surprised to see him at the heart of the defense knowing how good he is on the wing.
Derek KING:
5 – Didn’t look bad, didn’t stand out, was very economical in his movements and not sure bout the position though.
Nigel DANIEL:
5 - I know he is a good player but he had a bad game, he showed us how to miskick when under pressure! crossed the ball well though (better than Rojas).
Keyeno THOMAS:
6 – Goes to ground too quickly and too hard ! nice back up defender to have.
Arnold DWARIKA:
7.5 – All of Arnold’s fans should smile. Looked good on the ball and still has the ability to go past defenders.
Aurtis WHITLEY:
6 – Hardly saw the ball and many of his passes were blocked but the ideas were there, he linked well with Theobald and Dwarika in midfield.
Densill THEOBALD:
6.5 – Was the official clean up man and performed satisfactorily. Tried to play the quick pass too much.
Angus EVE:
5 – Eve play ??
Gary GLASGOW:
4 – Stern John taught this man well, he was the official loafer today.
Michael CELESTINE:
5 – Didn’t relax and play the way I know he could play, was always in two minds when he had the ball.
Anthony WOLFE:
7 – Ran down a lot of balls that Glasgow gave up, and put a lot of pressure on the defenders when they were on the ball. I personally was impressed.
Met up with Patriot and Touches and Cowen.