WARRIORS hunt Miami 'GOLD'...based in Miami with Colombia, Honduras & Panama.
By: Ian Prescott (T&T Express).
Trinidad and Tobago's footballers takes a step up in class when they take on red hot Colombia, Honduras and Panama at a CONCACAF Gold Cup which runs from July 6 - 24 in the United States.
The Warriors will be based in Miami between July 6 -13, and will be using the tournament primarily to build on recent good form, before meeting the United States in an away World Cup qualifier on August 17.
Trinidad and Tobago's best performance in the tournament to date came in 2001 when Bertille St Clair led the Warriors to a semifinal spot where they lost 1-0 to eventual winner Canada.
The 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup will consist of three groups of four teams for the first round, with the top two from each group, along with the best two third-placed teams, progressing to the quarterfinals. The quarterfinal matches will take place on Saturday, July 16 (two games in Foxboro), and Sunday July 17 (two games in Houston). The Gold Cup semifinals are scheduled for July 21 at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, while the final will be contested three days later at the same venue.
Trinidad and Tobago have met the Colombians just twice, winning a friendly 4-3 in Miami (1999) and losing 3-0 in a 1996 friendly in Colombia. Matches between Honduras and T&T have always been close with T&T winning 1-0 the last time they battled in a 2002 World Cup qualifier in Honduras. T&T have a winning record against Panama, winning three and drawing two of their five meetings. T&T last met Panama on June 4 in a World Cup qualifier and won 2-0 in Port of Spain.
Lincoln "Tiger" Phillips, T&T's technical director, considers it a lucky break that the Warriors are involved in the Gold Cup at this point in their World Cup qualifying campaign. Phillips sees participation in the Gold Cup as being fundamental to achieving this country's goal of qualifying for the 2006 World Cup Finals in Germany.
"Before the last two qualifiers, we had difficulty getting good practice matches so we had to play Bermuda. Now we get to play quality South American and Central American teams like Colombia, Honduras and Panama...teams like that are quick and keep good ball possession. If we can improve against them, it will definitely bring us on par with teams like Colombia and Mexico," Phillips said.
Meanwhile, Jason Scotland, Angus Eve and Cornell Glen have been named among the players selected on Trinidad and Tobago preliminary list of players for the Gold Cup. Scotland scored probably one of the most memorable goals ever for Trinidad and Tobago when he banged in a bullet to give the Warriors a 1-1 draw with Asian powerhouse South Korea in a friendly international in Seoul last year . Since then, the Scotland-based Dundee United striker has not been seen in a Trinidad and Tobago national team shirt.
Phillips believes the Gold Cup presents the perfect opportunity for new coach Leo Beenhakker to have a look at those players which time constraints have not allowed him to scout.
"Beenhakker does not know all the players," Phillips said. "Although he's doing a tremendous job, he hasn't had the chance to look at everyone, so now the Gold Cup will give him that opportunity."
Phillips says the Gold Cup may give Beenhakker the chance to strengthen his squad and also finalise his line-up before the crucial final five World Cup qualification matches.
"We can't just play with 12 players. You saw what happen when we lost Kenwyne Jones for the Mexico game...he would have been ideal. We need to have a bigger pool of players to look at, and the Gold Cup will give us that opportunity. We need to look at Scotland, Glen and those guys who the coach has not seen. I see that Glen is back in the line-up (Gold Cup). He is a quick player and gives us a different dimension...you saw what happened when Sam (Hector) got into the game (against Mexico)... "The technical director was referring to Trinidad and Tobago's Gold Cup preliminary list of players which include Scotland, Glen and former captain Eve. There, however, seem to be a case for maybe the likes of Errol Mc Farlane Jnr, Andre Boucard, Silvio Spann, Collin Samuel and probably even Travis Mulraine, to be given a chance of catching Beenhakker's eye as well.
Mc Farlane, for instance, scored the early goals in the campaign which got the Warriors to the points where they are now, but had not been seen since the 3-1 loss to Mexico in the second round in Port of Spain. That day, Mc Farlane was the better of the starting strikers, but ironically was substituted, while struggling Stern John was kept on and eventually scored. These days Mc Farlane is said to be playing in Iceland and seem to have been exiled.
Samuel may or may not be up to the level, but he surely deserves a try at least, while Peterborough 's young midfielder Boucard looked almost as promising as newcomer Chris Birchall, but was never given a much chance to show his talents under coach St Clair. Spann , too, gave a wonderful debut performance in the 0-0 home draw with Costa Rica, but has not been able to grab Beenhakker's attention because of club commitments.
While Aurtis Whitley is doing a credible job as a holding midfielder some believe his natural talent is being wasted. He is not naturally a good defensive player and Brent Rahim , who replaced him in the last Mexico game, is even worse, and has very limited defensive skills. Rahim lunges in, and is generally a danger to his own team when in defensive positions and more feasible alternatives to Rahim (in that position) seem to be Theobald or Jabloteh hard-man Travis Mulraine.
Theobald will tackle and additionally will also distribute the ball well from the middle of the field, as in the second game against Bermuda. Mulraine, meanwhile, naturally plays the defensive midfield role for his club Jabloteh, where Whitley is used as a more attacking player. Mulraine it must be remembered was a national team regular until he and goalkeeper Kelvin Jack caused a "coup of sort" in seeking better working conditions a few years ago. Both seemed to have been in the doghouse since, until Jack's recent revival under Beenhakker.
Beenhakker's biggest problems is at left midfield where Theobald is being asked to play in an unfamiliar position and is doing a fairly okay job. But he is not a naturally left-footed player (nor is his replacement Hector Sam) and has to try to turn inside to cross the ball . That has given the Warriors' attack a one-sided nature with Carlos Edwards making most of the breakthroughs on the right.
The natural option at left midfield would have been Brazilian "lefty" Jose Luis Seabra. While 30-year-old Seabra might not have fitted well into the unorthodox structure under Bertille St Clair, at Vibe W.Connection he shows everyday that he can play well within an organised team. Rumour has it that Seabra has almost given up on playing for this country despite being based here for the last five years and having gotten citizenship. It's a pity, because at a time when our team is screaming out for the inclusion of a left-footed midfielder, we have one that can pass the ball well, has a powerful shot and is excellent at free-kicks . If England, wanted a Brazilian in their side, bet your bottom dollar their sport minister would have found a way to get it done. Here, we have one wanting to play for T&T, but no one having the gumption to do what it takes to see that it happens.
T&T'S RECORD AGAINST COLOMBIA
TEAMS P W D L GF GA GD
Colombia 2 1 0 1 6 4 2
T&T 2 1 0 1 4 6 -2
T&T'S RECORD AGAINST HONDURAS
TEAMS P W D L GF GA GD
Honduras 9 4 3 2 13 10 3
T&T 9 2 3 4 10 13 -3
T&T RECORD AGAINST PANAMA
TEAMS P W D L GF GA GD
T&T 5 3 2 0 11 2 9
Panama 5 0 2 3 2 11 -9
