Technical Director of the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation Lincoln Phillips thinks that the national senior team needs to be more compact in its play and he is hoping that the team will give a polished performance in Thursdays second warm up international against Haiti at the Hasely Crawford Stadium from 6pm.
The opportunity to play on the Oval pitch was a good one but there are still some problems for us and while a lot of folks are panicking, I am seeing it as a situation for us to realize what it is that is going wrong and coming up with ways of fixing the problems, Phillips told TTFF Media.
This second friendly is vital for us because it means we have a chance to bounce back. The team is lacking an engine room and its definitely something that the coach will be dealing with before next Wednesday.
Phillips is also supporting a return to action by former national captain David Nakhid who is currently serving as an assistant coach of the national team.
We need someone with presence in the midfield and that is where I think Nakhid can make a big difference. Whatever team we have, thats what we have to work with and matches are there are to tell us what we are lacking and its obvious that we have to do something about it.
Having a player like Nakhid, with a clean touch and his ability to hold off players will be a plus. I saw him in a recent game and he was still fit and very good at making himself available out there. He is still able to turn out of trouble and when that little space is available, he can exploit it very quickly and he still has a threatening pass. So I think that given the midfielders that we have, it will not be a bad investment in getting him involved again. He can either start and hopefully give us that presence or come on in the second half. . Surely one way to find out is to play him, Phillips said.
The team, under head coach Bertille St Clair trained at the Hasely Crawford Stadium on Wednesday evening. They will be without Clayton Ince who has departed for England and will be back later in the week while Brazilian-born midfielder Jose Luis Seabra is suffering from a bad flu virus.
Stern John, who captained the team on Tuesday, said that T&T would give a better account on Thursday.
I thought we werent bad in the first half but we faded as the match progressed which is something we have to be cautious about. The game on Ash Wednesday will be intense for all of the 90 minutes so we must prepare from now to keep playing right through. I think though that you will see a better team out there on Thursday and for the big one next week, said John.