World Cup Loss but still proud.

[fishs]

 Jus ah lil tidbit about our team in Austria

   Men Pool A – Germany 9 defeated Trinidad & Tobago 2

In the opening game between Germany and Trinidad & Tobago, Germany monopolized the ball in the first few minutes, but it was T&T that scored the first goal after a solitary effort from their star Kwan BROWNE who lobbed the ball over the sliding keeper from a difficult angle! Germany had trouble settling down their game and it is only in the 12th minute that they managed to tie the score.

Trinidad & Tobago held their ground well and, with the German shots not finding the target, the score was only 4-1 for Germany at half-time.

Germany didn’t display the expected fluidity and efficiency (even missing a penalty stroke) and only increased the score slowly, finally gaining momentum in the last minutes to reach a final score of 9-2. A good performance to the credit of T&T, well organized around Kwan BROWNE.

[fishs]

   Men Pool A: Russia 9 defeated Trinidad & Tobago 2

Trinidad & Tobago suffered their second 9:2 score-line of the day as they fell to defeat against Russia. Dmitry AZAROV and Alexey SERGEEV both scored hat-tricks. Alexander ZHIRKOV scored twice and was the mastermind behind the majority of Russia’s dominance. Russia’s other goal came from Alexey MAMOSHKIN, with Trinidad & Tobago’s scorers Dwain QUAN CHAN and Kwan BROWNE.

[E-man]

You can watch the T&T-Germany match by going to http://www.fieldhockey.tv/ and clicking on the "NEW" tab. T&T scored first and it took Germany 10 minutes to equalize but they finally dominated to win by 9:2

In today's action so far T&T lost to Switzerland 1:6 and Australia 1:5

[Ngozi]

jeeez can we draw a game at least?

[dwolfman]

Even to draw is going to be tough. The Russian game was probably our best chance to do that, but we missed too many easy chances. We play Czech Republic in about 10 minutes. I'm off to tape that now.

[ann3boys]

Just want to offer my support to the hard working hockey men of T & T squad. I don't follow hockey too much, but I do admire anyone that makes an effort on the world scene to represent the red white & black.
 
I guess this is experience for us, we'll do better next time, right?

[dwolfman]

We lost 6-1 to the Czech Republic not very long ago. Legerton scored our only goal and we trailed 5-0 at the half. The guys played yet another strong match, but we were out played by a stronger team. In particular in the 1st half when we played man to man those guys had the experience to utilise the bigger spaces on the court. In the second half we played the back 2 marking and the front 3 covering and made it much tougher on them. We were also more consistent in this match with our passing, marking, covering and concentration. The difference really just came down to experience playing at this level.

Of course this is just my opinion, but I do not think that there was any individual who could have made much difference in terms of results. While hockey clubs might have favoured one or two individuals over some here in Vienna we play a team sport, one of the biggest lessons we've learned on this tour. Hockey is a very individual sport at home in terms of the way we play so we never appreciate how easy it is to dominate a match simply by a strong team organisation and understanding of how the other is supposed to play. Yes individual skill is important, but who can argue that this team we have here is not skillfull?

I had the opportunity as a non-player to talk to a couple of coaches while video taping matches. A Scottish, Czech Rep, German and Aussie coach all felt that we have a very athletic team, but because we lack experience playing the game our approach was a bit too attacking. The Scottish and Czech Rep coach in particular felt that we'd have been better served to play a more defensive game and rely on our speed to counter attack. Of course different coaches have different approaches, but it was interesting to hear people discuss us not as the party boys in the tournament, but as a serious World Cup competitor. We'd prefer to win matches, but it means something to be considered worthy of being here.

One more match to play on Sunday. It looks like we'll most likely play South Africa for 11th and 12th, unless they pull off a shocker against Canada later. I'll keep you guys posted as best as I can.

[palos]

I had the opportunity as a non-player to talk to a couple of coaches while video taping matches. A Scottish, Czech Rep, German and Aussie coach all felt that we have a very athletic team, but because we lack experience playing the game our approach was a bit too attacking. The Scottish and Czech Rep coach in particular felt that we'd have been better served to play a more defensive game and rely on our speed to counter attack. Of course different coaches have different approaches, but it was interesting to hear people discuss us not as the party boys in the tournament, but as a serious World Cup competitor. We'd prefer to win matches, but it means something to be considered worthy of being here.

One more match to play on Sunday. It looks like we'll most likely play South Africa for 11th and 12th, unless they pull off a shocker against Canada later. I'll keep you guys posted as best as I can.

Respeck and thanx for the reports.

I saw a parallell with the comments of those coaches you spoke with and the tactics employed by the T&T football WC team in Germany.

Makes one wonder...had we employed the "T&T brand" (whatever that is) that many had advocated after the fact, could we have received similar results as the hockey team?

The other thing I wonder is......who was responsible for the tactics of the team?  Was it Francis?  The newly appointed German TD?  A collaboration?

Reason I ask is the coaches u spoke with said that we may have been better served playing a more defensive game relying on a speedy counterattack.  Going into the tournament knowing our lack of experience at this level, wouldn't our tacticians and strategists have known that & planned to suit?

The comments of those coaches make it seem as if we went for broke and were tactically naive.  I could be wrong.   

[E-man]

So T&T finishes at the bottom on groupA and plays a consolation match v. South Africa (bottom groub B team) tomorrow.

Germany, Czech R., Poland and Spain advance to semi finals.

group A:

Germany 5-0-0 15 +24
Czech 4-0-1 12 +12
Russia 2-0-3 6 +2
Australia 2-0-3 6 -2
Switzerland 2-0-3 6 -8
T&T 0-0-5 0 -28 (ouch!)

[dwolfman]

So T&T finishes at the bottom on groupA and plays a consolation match v. South Africa (bottom groub B team) tomorrow.

Germany, Czech R., Poland and Spain advance to semi finals.

group A:

Germany 5-0-0 15 +24
Czech 4-0-1 12 +12
Russia 2-0-3 6 +2
Australia 2-0-3 6 -2
Switzerland 2-0-3 6 -8
T&T 0-0-5 0 -28 (ouch!)

South Africa are worse than us in terms of goals conceeded.

The other thing I wonder is......who was responsible for the tactics of the team?  Was it Francis?  The newly appointed German TD?  A collaboration?

Reason I ask is the coaches u spoke with said that we may have been better served playing a more defensive game relying on a speedy counterattack.  Going into the tournament knowing our lack of experience at this level, wouldn't our tacticians and strategists have known that & planned to suit?

The comments of those coaches make it seem as if we went for broke and were tactically naive.  I could be wrong.

Francois and the German collaborated as far as I know. We might have been tactically naive, or maybe some of our pretournament form gave us hope. Hindsight is always easier to say what could have been. Tomorrow we go hard for 11th place. As soon as I can I'll let you guys know how it went.

[dwolfman]

We lost to South Africa 2-4. Yet again we payed the price for being unable to finish our chances.

Germany won the men's final and Holland won the women's final. Both deserved their win. There was a social for the participants in the World Cup after and I had a ball. I was dancing with a lesbian (there were quite a few) and her girlfriend came and snatched her away. We also limed with some of the Germans, Italians, South Africans, Australians and Spaniards. It was a lot of fun. As disappointing as coming 12th was we still managed to enjoy ourselves after the tournament. It's on to Pan American Games preparation now.

[fishs]

We lost to South Africa 2-4. Yet again we payed the price for being unable to finish our chances.

Germany won the men's final and Holland won the women's final. Both deserved their win. There was a social for the participants in the World Cup after and I had a ball. I was dancing with a lesbian (there were quite a few) and her girlfriend came and snatched her away. We also limed with some of the Germans, Italians, South Africans, Australians and Spaniards. It was a lot of fun. As disappointing as coming 12th was we still managed to enjoy ourselves after the tournament. It's on to Pan  ::American Games preparation now.

Pardners dais the ultimate menage de trois if yuh coulda manage it. 

Say what ah still proud of the fellas. 12th in de world ent bad. 

[WestCoast]

As disappointing as coming 12th was we still managed to enjoy ourselves after the tournament. It's on to Pan American Games preparation now.

Great outcome DWolfman
how many teams were there by the way?
ah go drink ah stag for allya   
were any other caribbean islands there?

[TrinInfinite]

We lost to South Africa 2-4. Yet again we payed the price for being unable to finish our chances.

Germany won the men's final and Holland won the women's final. Both deserved their win. There was a social for the participants in the World Cup after and I had a ball. I was dancing with a lesbian (there were quite a few) and her girlfriend came and snatched her away. We also limed with some of the Germans, Italians, South Africans, Australians and Spaniards. It was a lot of fun. As disappointing as coming 12th was we still managed to enjoy ourselves after the tournament. It's on to Pan American Games preparation now.

in your opinion breddah, what is needed to take tt hockey to the next level and compete for the top 5 places in the world?

[dwolfman]

how many teams were there by the way?

were any other caribbean islands there?

24 teams (12 men and 12 women) were there in all and we were the only Caribbean team there. We qualified as one of two representatives from the Pan American region and Canada's women qualified as the one Pan Am rep.

in your opinion breddah, what is needed to take tt hockey to the next level and compete for the top 5 places in the world?

Just like in cricket or football (probably all local sport) we need more competitive local competitions. We play at too low a level so that the national team must up their game significantly just to not be embarassed. In the absence of that we can play more international matches, which has been happening. Even so the gap between the local game and what happens in better leagues needs to close.