Warriors heads still high
09-Jun-2005
S Fuentes in Monterrey
Trinidad and Tobago head coach Leo Beenhakker has credited his players for a courageous performance and is firm on his belief that such displays will be transferred into winning results as the “Warriors” continue their journey to the Germany 2006 World Cup.
Beenhakker let his feelings out moments after T&T’s 2-0 loss to Mexico in Monterrey on Wednesday night.
“Mexico is a very strong team and we proved that we could play with them but unfortunately it didn’t take us to the end,” Beenhakker told TTFF Media.
“They were better than us . We tried to compensate with a lot of work but we couldn’t stop them. We did a good job but we need to have more ball possession to manage a team like Mexico. No one likes to lose but I think the team did everything it could after having been together for only ten days I don’t think I could ask for much more form the boys and it’s just unfortunate that we are not leaving with something to show from this match,” he added. “I don’t know for sure and maybe I will have to see the replays but the first goal for them looked a bit questionable but that’s the game.”
The general feeling is that the T&T team, despite the loss, is now a revamped one as was also the consensus among those who saw the match live including the Mexican media. They indicated their thoughts during the post match press conference. The Dutchman also spoke well of his players while substitutes Brent Rahim, Gary Glasgow and Hector Sam added some juice to the attack after coming off the bench. Rahim replaced Aurtis Whitley who picked up a groin strain after receiving a tackle in the first half.
Beenhakker replied to that by saying, “From the DVDs that I saw of the earlier matches and from what I am seeing now there seems to be a difference in the way the team is playing and that means credit must go to the guys because they are doing a better job. But the problem is whether it’s good enough to realize our dream and that’s where we must pull ourselves up even more to ensure that we do realize our dream because it’s still alive. You look at the other teams aside from Mexico and the USA you see that it’s still up for grabs.
“I think this game came a little bit early but at least you can see some progress from the team. We are playing to a philosophy and everyone is trying to do the same thing and do what is asked of them and that really is the win for us up to now ad hopefully we could turn into results at the end.”
Striker Stern John said he swore his header was in just before Mexico took the lead.
“I think we showed character and it was obvious by the way home crowd was reacting at times. When the ball came across I had to move in to get room and the header just went so close I thought it was in. That extra bit of movement I think caused the ball to just miss it. But we have a lot to look forward to I can assure you,” John told TTFF Media.
Rahim said it was a hard result to accept. “It’s one of those things that gets to you because we were so close to coming away with something but it went in a matter of minutes. Fortunately for us the table shows that we are still in the race and I think once we can keep up this type of play then we definitely will make it.”
Beenhakker added that the next focus will be on the CONCACAF Gold Cup which he sees as a useful build up to the August 17 World Cup qualifier away to United States.
“Now we must look to the Gold Cup and ensure that we take full advantage of it because it definitely will give us a chance to put things together for the matches in the campaign to follow,” he said. T&T opens their campaign on July 6 against Honduras in Miami and then has matches against Colombia and Panama to close off the first round. The team is also expected to take up base in Miami at least a week in advance to the tournament kick off.
The T&T team is scheduled to arrive home on Friday evening at 1:30pm out of Miami . Midielder Chris Birchall, Dwight Yorke, Hector Sam and Carlos Edwards all returned to England on Thursday while American-based trio Marlon Rojas, Avery John and Leslie Fitzpatrick returned to their respective clubs.
