Warriors lose it late in Nuremburg.
By: Shaun Fuentes.[/size]
Trinidad and Tobago fought like true warriors in their second Group B 2006 World Cup encounter but their resistance was dented in the closing ten minutes as they suffered a 2-0 loss to England in Nuremburg on Thursday evening.
Coming into what was undoubtedly their biggest ever international outing, the "Soca Warriors" under skipper Dwight Yorke demonstrated the qualities of a gritty outfit that was capable of producing the spoils on the much fancied English team.
England left it late but ensured their place in the second round of the 2006 World Cup with eventual goals by Peter Crouch and Steven Gerrard.
In a game at times reminiscent of Wednesday's tussle between Germany and Poland, England were made to work all the way before finally breaking down supposedly lesser opponents with two strikes in the last eight minutes.
England had a half-chance in the sixth minute when Trinidad and Tobago keeper Shaka Hislop spilled Frank Lampard's stinging shot but it bounced awkwardly for Michael Owen and ricocheted off his knee.
Ten minutes later Peter Crouch stretched a leg to reach a long ball in from Joe Cole on the left, but Hislop parried it away. Lampard then flashed wide from 25 meters, but clear chances were failing to materialize.
Trinidad and Tobago packed the middle of the field, often with 11 men behind the ball as England tried in vain to find a cutting edge to slice their way through.
But it was not all one-way traffic. In the 36th minute England keeper Paul Robinson flapped at a corner and Coventry striker Stern John headed dangerously close, threatening again on the stroke of halftime as Robinson again miscalculated a cross and John Terry had to volley clear a goalbound ball.
England had meanwhile spurned two good chances, Lampard volleying over from five meters after good work from Owen and Crouch miscuing from David Beckham's cross with only Hislop to beat.
It was a similar story in the second half, and by the 58th minute England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson had had enough and brought on Wayne Rooney for Owen and Aaron Lennon for Jamie Carragher. England looked livelier as a result, but still the Soca Warriors defended in numbers and defended well.
Crouch headed over in the 68th minute and Lampard muffed a close-range shot in the 73rd, then drove wide of the post moments later. As England pressed forward, John and Dwight Yorke threatened on the break for Trinidad and Tobago and a "shock" result was far from impossible.
But in the 82nd minute Crouch finally found the net, rising high to an inch-perfect Beckham cross to power in a header that Hislop barely saw.
It was still not over even then, as Trinidad and Tobago surged forward, but it was in the 90th minute when Steven Gerrard, who had played deep for most of the game, ventured forward and unleashed a trademark 20-meter drive that flew into the net.
Coaches & Players' Quotes.
By: FIFAworldcup.com.[/size]
Sven-Goran ERIKSSON (ENG)
We had a lot of chances in the first 80 minutes and we were unlucky not to take them. Trinidad and Tobago defended with eight, nine or ten men behind the ball and made things very difficult for us. They showed great discipline and great strength, but we showed great patience too. We fully deserved the win. Both goals that we scored were excellent.
I have to say too, that although he didn't score, I was delighted to see Wayne Rooney on the pitch. I am very happy that he is fit. Of course, he is not 100 per cent in form, but he hasn't played football for six weeks, so how can he be? This 30 minutes will have been very important for him and I hope to see him getting stronger in each game that we play. We must now immediately begin our preparations for the game against Sweden. We haven't beaten them for a long time, so it would be nice to do it in Cologne.
Leo BEENHAKKER (TRI)
I am proud of the effort of my players today, but of course we are disappointed. They played with a lot of courage and a lot of passion. That's the only way we can play. Before the match we knew that we could organise the players to frustrate England for a long period of the game and we did that to good effect.
It was very hard to see the first goal go in. As the minutes tick by and the game goes on, your hopes build and you get more and more excited. Our heads dropped after that and I wasn’t surprised to see England score the second.
I thought that England lost patience at times. They had possibilities to score goals and although we found it tough to survive, they began hitting long balls. However, they dominated the match and deserved to win. I wish them luck for the rest of the competition.
David BECKHAM (ENG), Budweiser Man of the Match
I think you can safely say that you haven’t seen the best of us yet, but we are almost through to the next round. You cannot argue with the fact that we have won both of our games so far. I have to pay a special tribute to the fans who were magnificent for us throughout the game. They believe and we believe to. I know we left it late, but we did it. I was also pleased to see Wayne Rooney in the team. The world deserves to see a player like him.
Peter CROUCH (ENG)
Thankfully the goal did come in the end. It’s a pleasure to play with someone like David Beckham, who supplied a great ball for me. It was disappointing in the first half, but we never gave up. I know that we can play better and we will. We had a lot of chances, but Trinidad did well to stop us. I’m enjoying every minute of being with the squad. It’s great to be at the World Cup.
Steven GERRARD (ENG)
I was delighted to score my first World Cup goal, but I was more pleased for the team. The result may have been a good one, but we need to play more as a team. At some points, we did not move the ball around as well as we should have. Although we can improve, it’s important to remember that we have kept two clean sheets and we have six points on the board.
Frank LAMPARD (ENG)
It was great to see Wayne Rooney make a return, but I think Aaron Lennon deserves a special mention too. He played extremely well on the right hand side and made sure that the pace of the game increased. It was very difficult to break down Trinidad and Tobago, who were very organised. But we didn’t stop believing.
Michael OWEN (ENG)
I wasn’t disappointed to be substituted. It’s a team game and the substitutions proved to be the right ones for the team. I know I haven’t scored, but Peter and Steven did, so it worked out well. My confidence is high. I know that if I get a good chance, I will take it. I feel sharp. I am taking part in all the training sessions and enjoying them.
Dwight YORKE (TRI)
The crowd knew that it was a fantastic effort and we were more than happy to play our part in history. We are a small country, but we did a good job. A surprise just wasn't meant to be. We frustrated England in the first half and I think we did enough to get a draw. It's just a shame that we couldn't hold on for 90 minutes.
Chris BIRCHALL (TRI)
We are proud of our performance today. England are such a good team that they could score in every minute, so we did well to hold them for 83 minutes. The crowd was amazing, it was great to see so many people supporting T&T. It was always going to be difficult to stop Peter Crouch for 90 minutes. He is a great player who does well for Liverpool and he proved to be our undoing.
Shaka HISLOP (TRI)
We were written off before the tournament began, but we have shown once again that we deserve to be taken seriously. But now we are disappointed. There was a huge hype about this match in the English media, people thought that we would get beaten heavily, but we didn't. We were well prepared for this match.
Stern JOHN (TRI)
We worked really hard. We needed a bit of luck, which we didn’t get at the end. But we’ve shown that we deserve to be here and I hope we’ve surprised a few people. It was a massive compliment to us when Wayne Rooney came on, as it showed that things weren’t going England’s way. We kept them at bay for 83 minutes and we are proud of that. It’s a historical match for T&T and it was a great day for us.
Results.
England 2 Peter Crouch 83, Steven Gerrard 90) v T&T 0.
Yellow Cards.
Trinidad - Theobald 18th, Whitley 19th, Jones 45th, Hislop 47th, Gray 56th.
England - Lampard, 64th.
Fouls.
England 15.
Trinidad and Tobago 19.
Referee.
Toru Kamikawa (Japan).
Attendance.
41,000.
Line-ups.
England:
Paul Robinson, Jamie Carragher (Aaron Lennon 58th), Rio Ferdinand, John Terry, Ashley Cole, David Beckham (capt), Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Joe Cole (Stewart Downing 75th), Michael Owen (Wayne Rooney 58th), Peter Crouch.
Trinidad & Tobago:
Shaka Hislop, Brent Sancho, Dennis Lawrence, Christopher Birchall, Cyd Gray, Aurtis Whitley, Carlos Edwards, Stern John, Kenwyne Jones (Cornell Glen 70th), Densill Theobald (Evans Wise 85th), Dwight Yorke (capt).
The hand of Crouch?
By: Shaun Fuentes.[/size]
Peter Crouch's goal against Trinidad and Tobago was the centre of controversy on Thursday night when television replays showed he pulled Brent Sancho's dreadlocks as he won the header.
Crouch pounced in the 83rd minute after England had struggled to find a breakthrough against the Soca Warriors. Before that skipper Dwight Yorke and his men stuck to their game and persisted throughout. Stern John also gave the English a couple scary moments with his headers one of which had to be cleared off the line by John Terry. Speedy forward Cornell Glen also came off the bench and made a couple penetrative runs goalwards which had the English on the backfoot
At first glance it looked like a fair header from the 6ft 7ins Liverpool striker.
But slow-motion replays clearly showed Crouch grab a handful of Sancho's hair and leap above him is already. It stopped the Trinidad and Tobago defender from jumping to challenge for the ball.
Referee Toru Kamikawa missed the incident at the time and England went on to win 2-0 with a second goal from Steven Gerrard in stoppage time.
Crouch received a yellow card in the first match of the tournament against Paraguay and FIFA are expected to look into the incident against Trinidad.
Sancho later told TTFF Media: "It was unbelievable the way we had to lose it that late. We dreamt and we worked so hard since the draw was made for this game and to lose it at the late stage is shattering for all of us. He was all over my back and it's disappointing for me and Shaka as well that he was able to get the ball home. We thought we had done fairly well against them up until that stage. In saying that too, we never got anything from the referee and I'm not saying that we were playing for his calls but at the same time, it's really disappointing to go down that way. "We now have one game to have a final push of it and I can assure you that our heads are still up and we will be going all out against Paraguay."
News from the 15th of June 2006.
Mom wants Birchall to go at England.
By: Shaun Fuentes.[/size]
English-born midfielder Christopher Birchall has said that his mother Jennifer has asked him to go get England. The Port Vale man was giving his impressions ahead of Thursday’s match in Nuremburg when he indicated that while his favourite player may be England midfielder Steven Gerrard, he has no intentions of letting anything up and his father Phil, born in Liverpool and mother who is Trinidad-born are fully behind him. They are expected to be singing both anthems in the stands but obviously will be more vocal when the T&T anthem comes on.
“I’m Just really excited for the game. I am a person who doesn’t suffer from nerves and that will help for tomorrow. The confidence in the camp is high and we have nothing to lose really. We have to play our best football and hopefully get something out of the game. Everyone is expecting England to win it but that’s not the feeling in our camp,” Bichall told TTFF Media.
And as to what exactly the parents told him less than 24 hours before kick off?
“Just to give it a good go, work as hard as I normally do but put that extra in because we will need it against England because I’ll be up against the best midfield in the world in Gerard, Beckham and Lampard. It’s the biggest game in the careers of all of us,” he added.
And he believes the “Soca Warriors” are far more positive about their chances now than they would have been even a few weeks ago.
“Getting that result against Sweden gave us a good lift and it did show us that we can compete with the best in the world. And I think we can play better on the day. We have more attacking threat than we showed last Saturday.”
He spent the last night not taking too much about what the media or the fans have had to say about the game.
“Really it’s just to take my mind of the game a bit because when you think of it too much that’s when you can get a bit nervous. I will hang out with the rest of the team and try to use as little energy possible. We need everything for this game,” Birchall ended.
The entire team remained in good spirits as they went through their last session at the match venue on Wednesday evening. Leo Beenhakker also met with the press and caused much laughter when he responded to a claim from a British reporter that all the fans were predicting even a 6-0 win for England.
“Keep on dreaming,” Beenhakker said. And while it was announced out of the England camp that Wayne Rooney is fit to play a part on Thursday, the Dutchman added that he was simply happy for the young lad but by no means alarmed and he assured his players will maintain their same focus and approach into the game.
News from the 13th of June 2006.
Spann commends real Warriors spirit.
By: Shaun Fuentes.[/size]
“I felt delighted for the team. This was a real Warriors Spirit”
So said midfielder Silvio Spann as he spoke of his feelings following Trinidad and Tobago’s 0-0 draw with Sweden on Saturday.
Spann, who was forced out of the team with a hamstring injury sustained in Manchester, said he was feeling good at the moment but was only in Germany to give his one hundred percent to the team.
He is convinced the “Soca Warriors” have what it takes to advance to the second round and he will be backing them from the stands in the remaining two games against England and Paraguay.
“Other teams will not understand but we have God on our side and the fight we showed made me believe we can go to the second round and more if we keep our heads together,” Spann told TTFF Media as he met up with some of the T&T players and fans at Rotenburg on Sunday.
“I had to leave in a sad way but my spirit remained with the team and I am here in flesh as well,” he added.
The former St Benedict’s College and W Connection man was positive towards his recovery but felt his chance to play again on any pitch would come at the right moment.
“I thought that I was recovering quickly but I didn’t think I would have been able to play in this game. I am very positive towards my recovery and it’s going quite well as we speak but I will only be around the team to give my support as best I can at the moment. I don’t want to think about the injury,” he ended.
Meantime, the “Soca Warriors” were back to usual business from midday on Monday as head coach Leo Beenhakker and his men regrouped for lunch before taking the training pitch for a two hour session which started at around 6pm and allowed time for a 15-minute window for media photos and other footage. Defender Marvin Andrews and goalie Kelvin Jack also did their workout with the medical staff.
The day also saw a contingent of fans from the Maritime contingent which came to Germany to see the games, visit the team hotel and they were thrilled to have the chance to pose for a few photos and get signatures as the players made their way out the parking lot on their bikes for the training pitch.
A sky television crew also spent much of the day getting shots of the hotel from the main entrance, also capturing the fans and the players on hand.
A media session will take place after training on Tuesday morning with a mix zone for player interviews and a large English contingent is expected there and also at the press conference involving Beenhakker and Yorke.
Also making a visit to extend his congratulations and best wishes to the team will be honourable President George Maxwell Richards who is expected to sit in for lunch with the team.
