I just read a few comments before trying to give mine .....plenty emotion dere boy ! I guess some may have expected much more given the usual waggonist hype ...if we beat one team and look good we go beat all teams and look better !
I remember some folks even believing that because we qualified for World Cup 2006 that we were up to the standard of the other teams there ....
Folks this team we played is way above us in Standard....way above us in terms of player pool and therefore team play. tactics only work if the players selected can execute them and can execute them regardless of the opposition.
The USA has been warming up against teams like Argentina etc. all yuh think we reach dat standard yet ?
Again there are calls for the head of the coach ...I keep saying he is the best coach we have had here since William Santa Rosa and Jorge Casagrande. Santa Rosa left behind fond memories and good performances from local players and Casagrande started what is now known as the Green machine enterprise and a rise in the standard of the college league. many national players and now coaches can testify to the good work of Casagrande.
These coaches worked with local not professionals.
I should also put Wim up there as well although he just came to halp us qualify for a world cup and that was it.
The point I am trying to make gentlemen and ladies is that you cant get blood out of stone.
Maturana, to his credit and ours, has transformed some very ordinary players helping them to believe in themselves and us to believe in them. Think of some of these players pre Maturana. A previous coach described the pro league players as rubbish and simply called back the foreign based to play in International games....I didn't see any disagreement then ...the crowds or lack of them spoke volumes.
Commenting on the game we have to be fair and recognise that some players, maybe because of nerves etc. did not distinguish themselves as best they could. Cyd Gray or whoever was playing Right back could not get in to any team on last night's performance but he has had better. The left back, on last night's performence, should have been !
The only standout player last night was Daniel , who I have previously described as a diamond in the rough. He would have played on that US team if eligible. He however does not a team make. I was really disappointed with Carlos, he has gone downhill since his injury...maybe Keane has seen that as well and is hoping he will pick up where he left off before getting injured ??
The team was outclassed and outplayed and could not execute ! they literally dropped the stick last night and were out of the race after they conceeded the first goal.
The Positives
This is not the end ! We will meet USA again.
We have to think of first qualifying ahead of Cuba and Guatemala, then we have more work to do for the next phase. The US has beaten everybody in the group !I am sure the UWI past students among us know that we often were not ready until the poui was in bloom....but when the flowers came out we did what we had to do ....please folks give our flowers a chance to bloom ..dont shoot them, or the man who I think is best able to nurture them at this point.
As most folks on this forum know I support Boca, Argentina, Villareal and Spurs I like attractive football. This coach is trying to get us to realise that football is not played with two linesmen, a referee and air traffic control. It is not so easy to make players, who dump to succeed in the local leagues, able to step up to the higher level ....As we say here " Cobeau doh eat sponge cake "
hang in dere folks we in dis together. Rome was not built in a day!
And stop de negative talk...words have power !!!