Soca Warriors’ exit a blow to Digicel finalsGuardian, Tuesday 9th December, 2008
http://guardian. co.tt/sports1. html
“Of course it is a disappointment to have T&T go
out at this early stage. For the tournament’s it
is a blow somewhat but while I know there will be
a lot to say about it, I prefer to look ahead and
not dwell too much on what has happened in Jamaica.
—T&T coach Francisco Maturana
Coach Francisco Maturana says the Soca Warriors
will be returning home with a bitter taste,
following their early exit from the Digicel
Caribbean Football Championships in Jamaica.
And, Jamaican Football Federation President,
Captain Horace Burrell joined the list of
disappointed faces in light of T&T’s first round
elimination, saying that the Soca Warriors’
absence is a big blow to the rest of the tournament.
“When we tied with Jamaica here before it was a
good result and today was also a good result but
we did not reach our objective of staying in the
tournament so we are leaving with a bitter taste
in our mouth,”Maturana said on Sunday night after
the 1-1 draw with the Jamaicans—a result that
enabled little-fancied Grenada to advance along with the Reggae Boyz.
“This is the best T&T team we can put together
right now with our deficiencies. It is important
for them because they can provide good back ups
for the first eleven. Definitely these types of
tournaments are very important because you
sometimes learn more from losing,” added the Colombian.
“First, we need to find out how they feel about
this. Some players are very disappointed but I
would like to tell the people of T&T to embrace
this bunch of players because they have a lot of
potential,” Maturana concluded.
Meantime Jamaica coach John Barnes was not
pleased with his team’s draw with T&T.
“I am happy we are in the semifinals, I am happy
with the results, but it is the worst we have played (in the tournament).
“Against Barbados we were ten times better—we
played with more intensity and more desire.”
He said the hot weather in Trelawny might have
had an effect as “it was a hot day, so I
understand that and we lost our shape, but I am
happy we are in the semifinals that is the only thing I am happy about”.
Captain Burrell emphasised that the hosts of the
regional tournament were banking heavily on the
“Soca Warriors” advancing to a final with the “Reggae Boyz”.
“I think all of Jamaica is disappointed with the
performance of the Soca Warriors because
everybody wanted to see a final with Jamaica and
Trinidad and Tobago. I’m not happy to see
Trinidad go home so early,” Burrell said.
He explained that a T&T/Jamaica final would
attract close to 25,000 fans at the National
Stadium in Kingston but now with T&T going home,
the gates will take a big cut and anything close
to 15,000 at the final would be a plus.
CFU President Jack Warner too was not happy with the team’s exit.
“Of course it is a disappointment to have T&T go
out at this early stage. For the tournament’s it
is a blow somewhat but while I know there will be
a lot to say about it, I prefer to look ahead and
not dwell too much on what has happened in
Jamaica. We have a World Cup campaign to focus on
and we will take the positives into it. This not
to say though that the team does not have to work
out its problems and now move ahead full speed,” Warner said.
The TT team will return to Port of Spain in
different groups from today and some players will
return to their respective clubs for the
remainder of the FA Trophy and Toyota Cup
competitions. There will also be an evaluation of
the team’s showing at the Championships and
planning will continue in relation to a proposed
overseas live in training camp in January ahead
of the next 2010 World Cup Qualifier away to El Salvador on February 11.
Season Greetings... .......Happy Holidays
Roj (Roger James)
