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« on: October 09, 2014, 11:03:12 AM »
Just a brief report..
I got there about midway through the 2nd half of the Antigua vs. St. Lucia game. Traffic from North was ridiculous.
Linked up with Andre Samuel and saw FS in covered stands. The Antigua vs St. Lucia game was a snoozer, but Antigua poison them in the 90th to snatch a comeback win.
Anyhow.. Crowd was basically covered stands 3/4 full and uncovered was fairly empty with fans sprinkle near the half line..
Teams came out to warm and them anthems. T&T lined up in a 4-2-3-1 and DR in a basic 4-4-2.
Williams
Cyrus Mitchell Bateau Jones
Boucaud Hyland
Peltier Molino Hector
Kenwyne
DR had a 5 ft short, ponytail fella at left back who get abuse from kick off. Peltier taking it to him from jump, and in the 2nd minute before fans even settle, it was a cross in from the right that deflect off a DR defender and onto the underside of the crossbar, and look like it cross the line.. Molino dive in to make sure with a header.. 1-0.
Not too long after resumption, the poor DR left back was getting run at again and another cross from Peltier and nice finish from Molino in the 4th minute made it 2-0. Most of the TT attacks was coming down that right side with Peltier and Cyrus working pain on the short man.
DR is not a horrible side. The front 3 have some neat touches and a lil pace about them, the midfield aight and the back 4 at least know what to do even though short man was a liability. They no worse than sides like Guyana, Bermuda and Grenada who we see trouble with up to a few years ago. But as the half progressed, it was evident that this maximum strength TT side were far superior than the opposition. The defense was faster and stronger to every ball, Kenwyne was winning all the aerial battles and the midfield was having it easy with Molino especially looking a class act with his quickness of thought, ball control, first touch and movement. Best I have seen of him. Hector look good on the left too and Cato show he have pace to burn when he replaced the injured Peltier.
The third goal for Molino hattrick was a beautiful take down on the chest from a long through ball and finish from Molino. Class. At some point before that, Kenwyne throw way a couple sitters and had the crowd rolling. The 4th goal was real unselfishness as Molino was through on goal and elect to slide to an open Kenwyne instead of going for the Beaver.
The second half, I would say the game descended into a sweat pace with DR not looking too fussed with the fact that they was collecting a hiding and complacency seeping into the TT game.
POSITIVES -
Forget the opposition, Molino looking like the real deal. A cut above the rest and you could see men looking for him. We can build the attack around this guy. Looking forward to seeing him against tougher opponents for our NT and I think he will be a force in the MLS next year.
Defensively, team wasn't made to work, but the shape and posture you could see Hart's influence and it looks alot different from yesteryear.
Depth. This was imo a full strength TT side, yet we have options with men like Plaza, the Winchesters, Marshall, Abu Bakr, Primus, the Hoytes and Pro League and under-20 men all worthy of a look. Seems like a nice crop for Hart to work with.
NEGATIVES
Hyland need to cut out the star boy thing and play the simple game in that holding double pivot. Too often he try a ting and lose possession in dangerous areas when he had the simple pass on. A better side and we wouda get bore. I wonder if he does that week in week out at Genk, or he saving that for us here.
Complacency. Even though it's natural to take foot off the gas at 4-0 up, the loose passes, men trying to beat or run with the ball when the simple pass right there, losing mental focus. Things to be worked on.
All in all, it was a long time since I see a TT side blow out any level of opposition so that was good. Looking forward to see how we fare against tougher opponents.