DESPITE trailing 2-0 after 31 minutes against Guatemala on Friday night, Trinidad and Tobago men's team football coach Angus Eve said his team never panicked as they got a stunning 3-2 comeback win to stay atop their Concacaf Nations League A group with a maximum nine points from three games.
For the second straight fixture at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Mucurapo, 19-year-old forward Nathaniel "Natty" James completed a rescue act for T&T as he came off the bench to seal the three points with a sublime free kick in the 89th minute. James was on the field for all of ten minutes before his left-footed set piece stunned the visiting Guatemala and put T&T back on top in the six-team group.
With one more game to go in the group stage, T&T need the solitary point away to Curacao on Tuesday night to book a quarter-final spot. Panama (seven points) and Martinique (six points) are still in the hunt for a quarter-final spot and will continue their own quest with their respective matches against Guatemala and El Salvador on Tuesday night.
On Friday, T&T were at risk of relinquishing their advantageous position in the group after "giving away two soft goals," but Eve said things went according to plan in the end.
"We were getting chances throughout the game so we didn't panic. If we weren't getting chances then panic would have crept in," Eve said during the post-match briefing on Friday night. "We were always creating opportunities throughout the match. You panic when you're not creating opportunities but I thought the game plan worked."
Not for the first time, T&T gave territorial advantage to the opposition as Guatemala had 55 per cent possession compared to T&T's 45 per cent. The visitors also had 11 shots on target. T&T had five shots on target – three of which crucially beat Nicholas Hagen in the opposing goal.
T&T pulled a goal back before the break through a ruthless penalty conversion by the returning Alvin Jones, who also converted a penalty in a friendly win over Guatemala in June. Still, Eve felt his team's intensity needed lifting.
"When we went back in (at halftime), we felt as though we were giving them a little too much respect. We also thought that their two strikers weren't quick enough to harass our two centre backs so we went (with) man-for-man (marking) throughout the park and that's where we changed and put high pressure on them.
"We were not brave enough (in the first half). Second half we came out a lot braver and I thought we dominated the game for the most part."
Each of Eve's five subs had a positive impact on the game, starting with Defence Force attacker Reon Moore who came on for the injured Tyrone Charles in only the 20th minute. The speedy Moore was a livewire in the "number nine" role and his direct approach caused the Guatemalan defence several problems. In the 54th minute, Moore put T&T back on level terms with a close-range effort after Hagen saved a goal-bound header by Neveal Hackshaw.
"We thought we'd start with more solid players and more physical players and wear them down, and then unleash these (more attack-minded) players for the last 30 minutes and it worked to a T.
"The plan wasn't to be down 2-nil but you saw the fight and character of this team and that's what we've been seeing from this team throughout this tournament."
There were several strong defensive performances from Eve's group, with birthday boy Denzil Smith making a number of saves in the T&T goal before being replaced by debutant Christoper Biggette in the 79th minute. The trio of Hackshaw, Jones and Justin Garcia were also resolute at the back for T&T, making countless key clearances as they put their bodies on the line. T&T left-back Ross Russell Jr arguably had the most telling clearance on the night, as he crucially hacked clear when a header from Guatemala captain Jose Pinto dropped agonisingly close to the T&T goal line.
Eve praised the heroic effort of his team.
"I think we had a lot of heroes on the park. Some time ago, we would not have come back from going 2-0 down. Credit to the players and staff so that we could have these kinds of days in our football again. Everybody did their jobs."
T&T's resolve on the defensive end paved the way for some magic on the other end, which came from the talented Natty.
"This is not the first game we have put on Nathaniel and he has had that sort of impact."
With the game nearing the end of regulation time, the teenager asked his former Tiger Tanks Club Sando teammate, Jones, to take the 89th-minute free kick. Hagen was unmoved in the Guatemala goal as Natty's winner sent the 7,000-plus Hasely Crawford crowd into a frenzy.
Eve thanked T&T's 12th man.
"Once you're doing well in Trinidad, people come out. We thank them for that. The boys are appreciating that and you saw what it did for them. I can't remember the last time those things happened. The fans were instrumental and gave those players the 12th man."
At the Ergilio Hato Stadium in Willemstad, Curacao on Tuesday, T&T will try to quiet Curacao's 12th man as they go after a spot in the quarter-finals of Nations League A.
SOURCE: T&T Newsday