COACH Leo Beenhakker will have to have his Trinidad and Tobago Warriors work harder on creating goal-scoring opportunities prior to the all-important CONCACAF World Cup qualification matches against Panama and Mexico on June 4 and June 8, respectively.
While there was much to admire about the amount of possession which the national team enjoyed, for the second successive Wednesday Trinidad and Tobago fell to defeat when going down by a slender 1-0 margin to Peruvian club champions Alianza Lima at the Hasely Crawford Stadium.
Beenhakker gets another opportunity to work out the kinks in his squad when the national footballers play El Salvador in their final warm-up next Wednesday before meeting Panama in a match in which they need maximum points to keep alive their World Cup aspirations.
Languishing at the bottom of the six-team CONCACAF standings with a single point after three matches, Trinidad and Tobago have brought in Dutchman Beenhakker to salvage a World Cup campaign that has so far failed to gather momentum.
Two days ago, Beenhakker had his first on-field look at Trinidad and Tobago's overseas-based professionals against Alianza Lima and was generally pleased by their first-half showing but a lot less enthused by the final result.
"Well, I think we played a good first half. We only got a stupid goal, but the first half was good...the second half not that good," said Beenhakker after Wednesday's game.
"You have to understand that that was one of the main things we talked about that we were practising...that if we have good players that still don't mean you have a good team."
Neither Beenhakker nor goalkeeper Clayton Ince had a worry for most of the opening session as the Warriors easily stroked the ball around the field.
The coach must also have been buoyed by the showing of recently-recruited England-born Port Vale midfielder Chris Birchall, who gave a good showing in the centre of midfield in his first outing in T&T colours.
Twenty-year-old Birchall figured in several of the better attacking moments by the Warriors and also showed some defensive qualities in the second half when racing back to stop a certain second goal for the Peruvians when a through ball put Carlos Fernandez clear down the centre of a square T&T defence.
Also giving a solid effort on the night was right back David Atiba Charles, who, with his sure defending and aggressive runs forward, continued to show why he is considered one of the most improved players in Trinidad and Tobago.
But for all their possession, the Warriors created few clear-cut opportunities and had but a few shots at the Alianza Lima goal.
Still, Kenwyne Jones twice put the ball in the back of the Peruvian net in the first half, but had the goals disallowed.
The Stoke City midfielder-turned-striker first drilled in a good header into the roof of the Lima net in the 29th minute only to have the goal waved off by referee Neal Brizan, as T&T captain Dwight Yorke took the ball out of play before putting in his cross.
Later, Jones had another strike ruled offside after running onto a cross from Birchall and knocking the ball past Lima custodian Ernesto Arakar.
However, all of the Warriors' good work came to nought in the 41st minute when Johan Fano knocked the ball in at Ince's near post, despite Aurtis Whitley's attempt to prevent Fernandez from whipping in the left side cross.
Beenhakker made several changes, bringing on ex-captain David Nakhid, Derek Phillips and Cornell Glen at the start of the second half. Also getting a run were Hector Sam, Anton Pierre and Brent Rahim, but the Warriors never regained their first-half fluency.
And except for Glen hitting Birchall's good cross wide from close up in the 55th minute, the national team hardly looked like getting an equaliser.
Afterwards, skipper Yorke said they were all disappointed with the result, but the team was working hard toward the greater ambition of beating Panama on June 4.