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Oh well! Another loss by a single goal, yet to another club. No progress made you think? WRONG!


It would have been much easier to understand Trinidad and Tobago’s latest 1-0 loss to Club Alianza de Peru had it been televised live as the score was definitely not a true reflection of proceedings at the Hasely Crawford Stadium on Wednesday evening.

A ‘Warriors’ line up playing for the first time with several key players under head coach Leo Beenhakker and skipper Dwight Yorke produced a partly polished performance but not enough to finish with someshine ahead of the June 4 World Cup qualifier against Panama at the same venue. Missing from the 19-man team selected for the game were Gary Glasgow, Arnold Dwarika, Densill Theobald, Anthony Wolfe, Jan Michael Williams while Stern John was not considered.

A 41st minute soft goal by Johan Fano gave Lima the edge at Neil Brizan’s final whistle before some 2,000 fans with FIFA Vice President Jack Warner and Chris Birchall’s mother Jennifer sitting in the stands. Arriving in the country on Wednesday for business regarding his new T&T passport, she would have been quietly proud of her 20-year-old son who deserved kudos for his debut performance for T&T.

As early as the fifth minute, Birchall picked out Dwight down the right flank who hooked one inside searching for Kenwyne Jones and it was evident that T&T would pose problems for the Peruvians once they could keep the ball and play it purposely around the park. That was in fact what went on for the first half but the missing piece was the ball to create panic in the visitors box.

Seven minutes later, Yorke saw his effort go wide after Aurtis Whitley set the shot up for him. The Sydney FC signee also went for goal in the 26th minute with an acrobatic attempt from a right side across.

With Yorke starting up front with Jones, Birchall and Whitley in the middle and Carlos Edwards and Leslie Fizpatrick on the flanks, T&T looked compact going forward and never seemed troubled on the defensive with Dennis Lawrence, Avery John, Marlon Rojas and Atiba Charles at the back.

Close to the half hour it was Jones’ time to get into the action and he had a powerful header crash off the underneath of the cross bar on an offside play after Edwards crossed from the right. A minute later, Charles played one in behind the defense and as Jones collected and struck home before Brizan blew for a close offside call.

Up to that point, Lima had the odd try from long range but nothing was close enough to test Ince. But moments before the break, he was left shouting as a clearance fell to a Lima player and the ball came back in for Fano to rush in and nail on the first post.

Rojas lacked sharpness but he recovered well most times and John went in with some hammering tackles against the tougher built Lima players. Charles meantime played with usual bit of extra heart and Lawrence never gave up. Tiger was full of energy but on this occasion it still didn’t force the oppositions off and Whitley, though precise, never exploded to push the “Warriors” through to goal.

Beenhakker introduced Derek Phillips, David Nakhid and Cornell Glen in place of Whitley, Fitzpatrick and Jones on the start of the second half . T&T’s next opening didn’t come until the 67th minute when a lively looking Nakhid combined with Birchall before the newcomer’s shot was deflected out for a corner.

Nakhid took control in the middle with good vision and ball control but it wasn’t for long as he was taken to the turf a couple times, eventually having to leave the field, replaced by Brent Rahim. Hector Sam also replaced Yorke.

Glen saw his diving header go wide in the 72nd minute but there was little more in terms of goalmouth action for the homeside. Overall though, Beenhakker had some good points to think over before Wednesday’s friendly against El Salvador.

T&T line up
Clayton Ince, Dennis Lawrence (Anton Pierre, 68th), Marlon Rojas, Avery John, Atiba Chrales, Dwight Yorke (Hector Sam, 73rd), Carlos Edwards, Chris Birchall,  Leslie Fitzpatrick (Derek Phillips, 46th), Kenwyne Jones (Cornell Glen, 46th), Aurtis Whitley (David Nakhid, 46th, Brent Rahim, 73rd). Subs not used - Daurance Williams, Glenton Wolfe