Ex-players, coaches weigh in.
Former Trinidad and Tobago international standouts and T&T Pro League coaches yesterday lamented the tactics and personnel used by present national football coach Francisco Maturana in Wednesday's 3-0 South Africa 2010 World Cup qualifier away to the United States.
CLICO San Juan Jabloteh assistant coach, Trinidad and Tobago's most capped player and local television analyst, Angus Eve, suggested that the Warriors paid the price for their negative approach, while Jabloteh head coach and former England World Cup player, Terry Fenwick, agreed.
"The coach did not believe that his team could go out and beat America," said Eve, "and it showed in the team that he put out. I think America's reputation got into the coach's mind and we ended up paying them far too much respect."
World Cup 2006 goalkeeper and recent Hall of Fame inductee, Shaka Hislop, felt the team played badly no matter the instruction and was particularly concerned by their defending. He singled out Clint Dempsey's item in the 18th minute, which left the visitors two goals down.
"Dempsey played the ball to Damarcus Beasley who was in eight yards of space just on top of our penalty box," said Hislop, who attended the qualifier as an analyst for ESPN International. "Beasley had time to take a touch before making a pass that went under the foot of Keyeno (Thomas) and then Dempsey and Brian Ching were both free in our box with only the goalkeeper to beat. How is it even possible for Beasley to have had that much space on top our box and for two strikers to be alone in the box at this level?
"Even if you argue that they tried to play too defensively, they still did not do what they were supposed to do."
Eve and Hislop, who were teammates during the 2006 qualifiers, targeted the defence for not tracking their opposing runners, although the five-man midfield was also knocked for failing to pressure opponents.
"There is only one ball," said Eve, "so, if you put pressure on the ball, the runners are irrelevant."
Hislop felt that the Colombian did himself no favours by ignoring six foot seven defender and 2006 World Cup veteran Dennis Lawrence, who was on the substitutes bench on Wednesday.
"I do like the faith Maturana has shown in the local players, which is something we have not had since 1989," said the former Newcastle, West Ham and Portsmouth goalkeeper. "But, if you look at the spine of our team, we are short of experience and I think Dennis was a big miss and should have been used... The fact that two goals came from set pieces shows up Dennis' exclusion."
W. Connection boss and two-time T&T Pro League Coach of the Year, Stuart Charles-Fevrier, was surprised that Maturana apparently made little effort to fight back once behind.
"I thought they could have taken a bit more risk after we were two goals down at halftime," Fevrier said, "by introducing (Andre) Toussaint and (Jason) Scotland. Toussaint played a good 45 minutes (against Guatemala) and his confidence should have been high, while the conditions suited Scotland and he would have wanted to show what he can do in such a critical situation.
"I think the coach missed out by not giving Scotland a chance. At the minute, he must feel the coach has no confidence in him."
Hislop agreed that Scotland should have been used.
"If (Maturana) has a personal problem with Stern (John), he should have used Scotland against the big, strong Americans," said Hislop, "because he could hold up the ball while Cornell Glen could have started his runs from a deeper position."
Still, the four men felt that the Warriors could improve and Hislop suggested they are doing marginally better than the crop of 2006 at the same stage in the campaign.
"I think this team is doing marginally better after the results against Cuba and Guatemala," said Hislop. "But I think there are fundamental flaws in terms of player personnel and how they are used."
But Eve insisted that the team must play with the belief they had under his last national coach, Bertille St Clair.
"If we bring in a foreign coach, he must think that we can win and not that we are minnows," he said. "I think Joe Public showed the other day what you can achieve if you go out and play believing that you can beat these teams.
"We must respect every opponent but we must not fear them."