Trinidad and Tobago coach Leo Beenhakker didn’t get the result he may have hoped for but he certainly saw what he wanted to in terms of what the group of home-based players had to offer on the field of play in Tuesday’s 2-0 defeat to 2005 Pro League champions National Quarries North East Stars at the Hasely Crawford Stadium.
The result was an enjoyable one for the Sangre-Grande-based outfit but it didn’t leave the locals fans at all impressed with what they saw of the local “Warriors”.
But Beenhakker preferred not to dwell on what was officially his first match in charge of the former Caribbean champions.
“It was a difference for us as it was a training game but for our opponents, with all my respect, I think it was the final of the World Cup so they beat us with good aggression,” Beenhakker told reporters after the match.
But he added that the exercise served its purpose following seven training sessions with the team.
“It was very useful for me because you can have a lot of training sessions but the truth is on the pitch within a game. Before this game I had a lot of questions and the way we played and how several players were acting gave me a lot of answers,” Beenhakker noted.
“We are still in a try out period. We know very well all the possibilities of the local players now based on training sessions and this match and at least we have many answers.
“There were some moments where we played like we wanted to play good football and we had some chances, few though and these guys are working hard to play their best and in that way I was satisfied. “
Now the former Dutch National team coach is anticipating the arrival of some of the overseas-based pros from this week.
“Next week we start of course little by little with the players from abroad and that means we are on schedule and we will be ready when we start our official preparation for the important games.”
One reporter quizzed Beenhakker on whether he spotted any players in the Stars team and he used the chance to respond to reports questioning the decision to omit defender Anton Pierre from the squad.
“Yes but I won’t be saying any names right now. And listen I don’t understand all the emotion over the last few days over Anton Pierre. Anton is one of the few players we have seen in all the matches played until now for the qualifiers so we know him. I think when you start this job in the middle of such a tournament you have a right to give everyone a chance and they can all show if they are ready to play in the team. I said after the first cut that I was not closing the door for anybody, not for Anton Pierre nor anyone so I don’t really understand all the emotion. We are doing try outs and we have a very good idea of the local players. We know what we want and next week we continue our preparations and I can assure you when we are going to play the next two matches against Panama and Mexico, the best possible team to represent T&T will play,” Beenhakker added.
English-born trialist Chris Birchall, Clayton Ince and David Nakhid arrived from London on Tuesday evening and made their way to the venue at half time. They will join the training from the next camp starting on Monday as T&T prepares for the May 18 encounter against Alianza Lima at the HC Stadium and the El Salvador National Senior Team at the same venue on May 25.