Attacking midfielder Keron Cummings and forward Jonathan Glenn are both committed to adjusting to head coach Stephen Hart’s demands to suit the style of the “Soca Warriors” depending on their opponents. Both players intend to fill their roles accordingly following Saturday evening’s training session at the Hasely Crawford Stadium.
Against Panama Glenn made his first start up front alongside Kenwyne Jones while Cummings started the game in an outside right position unlike his more customary position in the middle of the attack.
Hart spoke about his decision to explore new options describing the change as an experiment. “I wanted to see how we would play with two strikers up front and we were hoping Cummings would come in from the right side on his left foot. It’s something we said, well okay look, we don’t have a lot of time with the two World Cup games coming up, so let’s see how it looks,” Hart said.
He noted the plan did not work defensively because the Warriors struggled to get it right in the first half. “But we solved the problem in the second half and we did much better. We created a lot of chances and if we scored those chances especially away from home, the crowd would get on the home team and they would feel it a lot more,” Hart said.
Hart said the exercise in Panama served its purpose in relation to T&T’s preparation to play in Guatemala City on November 13.
“I thought the referee let a lot go. Kenwyne Jones was beaten up and really didn’t get any protection but all credit to him, he handled it very well. There were some instances where elbows were raised .But then again it’s why you go and play away from home. We played under difficult conditions and we came away with the victory.”
Hart made six second half changes against Panama with Daneil Cyrus, Willis Plaza, Neveal Hackshaw, Kevan George, Aubrey David and Trevin Caesar entering the match.
Cummings meantime, added: “We were able to bounce back from the loss from the Gold Cup. We knew we had to come out and work harder in order to get a good result. If it’s one thing you are sure about with this group is it has character to go out there and fight for each other. Once we put our heads together its something we would go out and do no matter how much pressure we may be under.
On his performance, Cummings stated “Sometimes it’s not always about where you want to play but you have to do it for the team. I wasn’t pleased so much with my performance in the first half but I felt I did better in the second half. And we will continue to work on what is best for the overall play of the team going forward.”
Glenn who scored in the recent 3-3 draw with Mexico, feels that playing alongside Jones will be a work in progress. “It’s something new for both of us (alongside Jones) because we are both usually playing alone up top for our clubs so it took a bit of adjusting, but as professionals it’s something we knew the coach wanted do so we had to go out there and do it to the best of our abilities.
“It was good that we combined for that first goal. We are both physically strong so we were a bit of a handful for the two centre backs. I wish we would have gotten a little more crosses so we could have used our presence more but generally we are happy to have come away with the win and now we will look ahead to the Nicaragua game,” Glenn said on Saturday evening.
The team trained twice yesterday at the Hasely Crawford Stadium and will have a final run out at 6 pm today, ahead of tomorrow’s encounter with Nicaragua which kicks off at 7 pm.
TICKETS INFO
•The Fan Club (MovieTowne, Gulf City, Trincity)
•Ramsingh’s
•Sportworld
•Kenny’s
•Sports and Games
•online via Island E-Tickets
Cost $200 and $100