Well Done, Leo! On Wednesday I was pleasantly surprised by the greatly improved performance of our T&T Warriors.
The regular readers of this column will know that as a coach, when analysing the performance of a team or athlete in a practice match or warm -up event, I do not pay much attention to the actual end result, that is, it is of no consequence whether we win or lose.
The most important aspect is to determine whether or not there were any discernible changes in approach, attitude, tactics, cohesion and intelligent play.
No, I am not making excuses for our team having lost by 1-0 to Club Alianza Lima de Peru. There is simply no need to do such a thing.
Keep in mind, our main goal is to qualify for Germany 2006, while the immediate (short-term) goal is to obtain the full three points on June 4 at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, versus Panama.
Remember that I, personally, and we as a people, have suffered through some of the most dismal performances by our national football team over the past 18 months.
Our Warriors had sunk to an all-time low, not only in a string of embarrassing results in meaningful matches, which included a 5-1 thrashing by Guatemala in a final round Concacaf World Cup qualifying match, but also a string of unimpressive, tactically and technically flawed performances in warm-up matches against footballing minnows, like St Vincent, Antigua, St Kitts, Haiti and a second-string Azerbaijan team.
The first half of last Wednesday’s encounter with the recently-crowned Peruvian club champion was simply a breath of fresh air. Though we did not score (however, a second look at Kenwyne Jones’ goal, which was somehow disallowed by the assistant referee for offside, would show that he in fact made a brilliantly-timed run, before tucking the ball into the net), we improved by leaps and bounds in many facets of the game.
Firstly, we kept the ball for extended periods. Keep in mind that when coach Beenhakker first arrived in T&T some seven weeks ago, I was lucky enough to conduct an hour-long exclusive interview with him on Spalk. He stated that the backbone of his coaching philosophy was quite simply—to keep the ball.
He said that when you have possession you are in control, you dictate the game and force the opposition to adjust to your game plan.
Obviously, I went to the stadium to see if, in such a short space of time, Leo would have been able to transpose this philosophy on his team. The short answer is WOW!
In the first half, by my estimation, we (T&T) had between 65 per cent to 70 per cent of possession to Alianza Lima’s 30 per cent to 35 per cent. This is a huge disparity and a great improvement.
However, more pertinently, Leo is having a definite effect on the team. There were times when our Warriors made 18 to 24 consecutive passes. We were switching the point of attack from flank to flank.
All that was missing was a player of incredible vision and ability to make the timely forward passes, whether they were through-balls or passes over the back of the defence. (Did someone say Latapy!…….Sorry I digress, Latapy stated categorically that he wants to focus on coaching. I can still dream).
The fact of the matter is that it was only seven months ago that St Vincent was knocking passes all around us in our home stadium, making us chase the ball all over the pitch. Do you remember? Sorry to bring back such harsh memories, but it was necessary to illustrate my point clearly.
To those who might be saying, but anybody could knock the ball around a Peruvian club team, I simply say, Alianza Lima was a better team than Azerbaijan, Haiti, St Kitts and St Vincent. Furthermore, the team had just recently won the league championship, so form was good.
Secondly, I noticed a marked improvement in the team’s ability to keep its shape, defensively. T&T was defending in numbers. Making it difficult for Alianza Lima to move the ball around. Any false touch, or poor control was punished by a timely tackle of a defender who was in the right position.
Alianza never looked like scoring in the first half (the goal was a well-taken “half-a-chance”.)
Defensive pressure was applied as a unit, beginning up front with the two strikers and continuing through the midfield into the defence.
In attack, T&T was able to maintain possession in the opponents defensive third. We have not been treated to this type of football since Bertille St Clair’s first stint as national coach during the 2000 Gold Cup.
This enabled us to maintain numbers in attack which provided players with several options, rather than simply having a lone figure in the box. Of course, now more imagination, creativity and individual brilliance is needed in order to score goals and create clear-cut chances.
Yes, we lost a practice game. Who cares? Marked improvements have been made in key areas, which augurs well for our team and our country. I look forward to the match on Wednesday with Bermuda to continue to witness the evolution of players into a team.
Well done Leo, keep it up!
Writer’s Note: There was no use in analysing the second half because, as per usual in practice matches, it was only used to observe individual players. Consequently, an inordinate number of changes were made (everybody got a sweat) rendering fluent play impossible.