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Returning Trinidad and Tobago player Dwight Yorke feels that once this country’s senior team can be a winning side if it can eradicate the problem of giving easy goals away.


This was the view of the Birmingham City striker shortly after this country’s went down 2-1 to the United States in Wednesday’s 2006 World Cup qualifying match at the Queen’s Park Oval.

Yorke also felt that the team showed evidence of maturity with their second half showing as they didn’t hang their heads after going a second goal down. Yorke himself turned in a workmanlike performance on the day.

“That’s a sign of maturity in the guys and it shows that the team has come on in leaps and bounds and once we can continue to show that sort of commitment then that would be great for us in the future. In a way by going down to the wire as we did today means that we’ll always have a fighting chance no matter how big the task may be,” Yorke told TTFF Media as he cooled down in the dressing room shortly after the team got a surprise visit from President Maxwell Richards, Prime Minister Patrick Manning and Sports Minister Roger Boynes.

But the former Manchester United man still felt there is work to be done to turn the “Warriors” into a winning side.

“We need cut out conceding stupid goals because Trinidad and Tobago will always score goals….we’ll always create chances. We keep conceding goals early and if you go to anywhere at a high level of football and you talk to the top people, whether it be in England or wherever, they either tell you or you see for yourself that you cannot concede early goals. The game is so tight in those stages that you cannot afford to give ridiculous goals away. If we can eradicate that and make use of the chance we have, then I will say we would have a good as chance as any to get the results we all want,”

With Costa Rica losing at home to Mexico and Panama and Guatemala sharing points, Yorke also wants the public to keep supporting the team which he feels is still in with a solid chance of making the top three out of the six teams.
“Despite us losing the game, it’s still far from the end of the journey as we’ve got nine games to go and things can change quickly. Against the Americans even when it seemed that we couldn’t win, you thought we could have at least gotten a draw but it was not to be on the day. At the same time though, there were some things that went on which should auger well for the rest of the campaign,” Yorke added.

Having spent the entire weekend up until the day of the game with the team in camp at the Grafton Beach Resort, there were still rumours of Yorke being out of camp but the ex-Aston Villa man said he was concerned only with the “Journey to Germany” at this time.

“The public has their perception of me and that’s fine, it doesn’t bother me. My shoulders have been broad all my life and whatever people choose to say, that’s their opinion, What’s important is what I do out there on the football pitch and once I can make a contribution I will continue to go that. What’s going on here with this current team is most important and I’m here for the long haul,” Yorke ended.

The ex-Aston Villa player also mentioned that he’s heading back to Birmingham City to continue his playing, saying there was not much to say on reports of a move to Australia.