Better news as Birchall & Avery now clear to face US.
By: Shaun Fuentes.[/size]
The Management Staff of the Trinidad and Tobago Senior Team got some news to feel a bit better about the day following the disappointing exit from the 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup after it was learnt that players Chris Birchall and Avery John would be available for the next 2006 World Cup qualifier against United States despite receiving double cautions in the Gold Cup.
It was earlier thought that both players would have to sit the game out as a rule in the Gold Cup stated that if a player had not serve a suspension in the current tournament, then it would run over into the World Cup matches which would mean that the two players, having received two yellow cards and not having to play another Gold Cup match would then miss the USA clash. However, Ted Howard, Deputy General Secretary of CONCACAF informed the T&T camp late on Wednesday that the rule only applies to players who received a red card and were unable to serve the suspension in the Gold Cup. So now both Birchall and John are available to face the Americans in Connecticut on August 17.
While Panamanian and Colombian players were both walking head high in Inter-Continental Hotel on Thursday with their passages booked to the “quarters”, some T&T overseas-based players made their exits out of Miami while the contingent scheduled to return to T&T on the same day were kept back at the Hotel due to cancellation of flights caused by Tropical Storm Emily. Head coach Leo Beenhakker and the rest of the local contingent are now scheduled to leave Miami on Thursday morning for a three-hour flight to home. Both Kelvin Jack and Chris Birchall headed back for London after learning via television that they had come out front in Fox Sports World’s “Play of the Day” and “Goal of the Week” ratings respectively.
On Tuesday night, Beenhakker didn’t shy away from T&T’s disappointing end to the Cup, making it clear that the focus would be on getting the “Warriors” sharpened for the Americans.
The players were very well aware that the criticism would come their way again after it took a turn for the better following their encouraging performances in the past two qualifiers against Panama and Mexico. But now it could all be back to square one regarding the views of the fans. Nigel "Tallman" Myers of the US-based Socawarriors.net crew which formed much of the T&T fan base at the matches, sent a letter to the team camp saying the fans were not just disappointed with the performance on Tuesday, but felt badly that the players did not acknowledge their presence in the stands after the loss. He said though that they were still hopeful of a rise in performance and would continue to support the team.
“We made a mess of ourselves and I know all the guys agree it was like watching an amateur team play even though we know we are all professionals and capable of putting in a professional performance,” captain Stern John admitted to TTFF Media.
”We never earned the right to play in the quarter finals with such a performance as we had today. I’m speaking for myself and the rest of the guys. It’s the third Gold Cup I have been to and then have to go home after the first round. It’s a worse feeling when you see that the other teams aren’t better than us. It really was a case where we beat ourselves. This can only be a positive for us because we played two good games against Panama and Mexico and then the expectations went high up. This Gold Cup performance has brought us back down to earth and make us realize that we have to be more consistent and work harder in all departments of the game.”
Beenhakker added “It’s down to us and how much we really want to achieve this goal of getting to the World Cup. Now it’s just down to the World Cup and the next job is preparing for the match against the USA in a month’s time. We would have had a chance to see our wrong doings in the Gold Cup and we realize that. We will work on it and move on. We must be able to get it right as a team again and not just do relatively good but good enough to get results.”
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News from the 13th of July 2005.Warriors take another early Gold Cup exit.
By: Shaun Fuentes.Trinidad and Tobago’s senior team, for the second consecutive Gold Cup, crashed out in the first round when needing a draw to go through to the next stage, by giving a lackadaisical display and conceding two second half goals to lose 2-0 to Colombia. The result knocked the “Warriors” out of the tournament as it meant they finished fourth in Group A.
Head coach Leo Beenhakker held his hands up after the match, saying it was clear that his team was badly out of sorts in the match. But all is not lost as the team still holds a decent chance of sneaking a spot in Germany and that journey continues on August 17 away to the United States.
“Colombia played well and they deserved the win,” Beenhakker conceded. “They also played well in the past two games but they didn’t get the luck. I think you could easily have seen that our team just couldn’t get prepared enough for this game which was 48 hours after the last game and it showed out there today. We didn’t have a lot of possession, we didn’t have much in offense and the truth is that our goalkeeper for the first seventy minutes saved the day for us,” Beenhakker told TTFF Media.
“Most of the time we never start too strong and today it was like that again. Colombia were strong from the first period of the match. Up to now I have not been able to change that. We played a little bit better in the second half but that doesn’t mean that we played well. Colombia played well and the deserved the win,"
Asked whether the conditions did not favour his team, Beenhakker said that should not be an excuse.
“I can’t change the heat and I can’t change the pressure. We have to be prepared to play these kind of matches. Once again, I am very pleased that everybody is going back to their clubs now especially the guys that play in Europe. They will start their preparation and start playing in their normal leagues so that for the next game we should not have any problems about players not being fully ready. At least we have half of August and then it’s off to the U.S. for our next qualifying game.”
When questioned on how he will now get this team focused and ready for the next qualifier having seen what some players could offer in the Gold Cup which can now only be seen as three warm-up games, Beenhakker said a lot will tell inside the last week before the game.
“You know how it is. Everybody is going back to their clubs now and I have to get them back five days before the USA game. That’s all there is to it. Hopefully everyone will be in good shape and then we regroup to get ready. We already said this week that our power up front is with three players, Stern John, Dwight Yorke and Carlos Edwards. Two of them were not able to play in this tournament. Hopefully they will be with us next month and the only thing I can do now is to look at the few local players before the last week before the game, ” Beenhakker added.
Probably the only positive note coming out of the last game was that Marvin Andrews received just a knock to his left ankle and not his knee as alarm bells were at first ringing especially after he went down a second time and had to be replaced by Atiba Charles in the second half. The ankle blow is not serious. When Andrews went down though, the Colombians continued to play around the penalty box, the Mexican referee Marco Rodriguez never blew his whistle until the play led to a foul atop the box which resulted in Colombia’s first goal.
On another note though, a rule in the Gold Cup showed that players who received two yellow cards in separate matches and did not serve the suspension in the same tournament, would have to do so in any other competition to follow which means that midfielder Chris Birchall and Avery John are both out of the next World Cup qualifier against United States. However, if a player picked up one yellow in the Gold Cup and already had a previous one from the World Cup qualifiers, he would have been allowed to play the next Gold Cup game as earlier cards were wiped out for the tournament. But those who had only one card before the Gold Cup and did not receive any during the tournament, still go back into the qualifiers with one caution to their name.
Up-Close With Flex:You can teach a player to be smart, but you cant teach him to play. I didn't expect us to win the Gold Cup, but I expected a little better showing and more grit from the players, to go down fighting and at least go through to the next round.
When I saw the starting line-up I taught we were going all out for the win, unfortunately I taught wrong. In the first 45 minutes we had one shot on goal, actually a header off a cross from Glen. Leo was quick to notice that he made a possible mistake with his line-up and made 2 changes at the start of the second half.
If we had made it through to the next round it would have done us some good, but say what, this elimination might do us better, we must go home and start work immediately. Our players lack fitness badly and concentration. A lot of miscommunication and man marking problems took place. If we keep chasing the ball then we are digging ourselves into a deep hole.
What I am also concerned about was the fact that we had to win this game and our coach decided to experiment with his line-up. We hired two big time coaches Rene Simoes and now Leo Beenhakker and still not much improvement as our team is still very inconsistent in their mental approach. This will be the second time in a row we fail to get out of the first round of Gold Cup qualification, in all fairness to the coach, maybe our players just aren't good enough. I don't expect overnight success and miracles, but at least a better showing, lets hope we save the best for the World Cup games. And a small note, yes, Leo Beenhakker is making a better difference, I believe he just needs more time and better preparations.
In a nut shell:Kelvin Jack: Looked good and saved us many times. I still don't think he should be our number one, but lets see if he will improve. Ince should be called back also. But really and truely, Jack did great today, having a good keeper on the bench or for our number one to compete with will only make the starting goalkeeper perform better, this is why I mentioned Ince or Shaka for a matter of fact.
Avery John: Tried his best, got a little aggressive coming to the end because of frustration and lack of support, made some nice long pass.
Marvin Andrews: Played great and looked as if he was playing the last 10 minutes with a slight injury before he was subbed. A good captain.
Dennis Lawrence: As always heart and soul. A good captain.
Cyd Gray: Made three terrible mistakes had it been for Colombia's poor finishing, they would have been up 3-0 in the first half. Definitely not a defender, however he did look ok when making forward runs.
Collin Samuel: Didn't do much on the right wing but when he was switched to the left wing, he did look better.
Silvio Spann: Have a deaf touch, he is a must for this team, his only problem seems his fitness level. But again, his one touch is class. Didn't have as good game as the last one against Panama but then again, who did.
Christopher Birchall: Good when he's up to it, but bad when he's not, very in-consistent. Still prefer have him over many because of his work rate, but work must be done, I love how he like's to take shots on goal, but it seems there's some static between the players because Birchall wasn't getting much balls pass to him, I could be wrong or maybe he just wasn't finding the space to get the ball, it seemed the heat was also a factor in his case ?
Cornell Glen: He should just stick to being a striker and a super sub, he didn't do good on the left wing.
Jason Scotland: Again, good lay off of the ball, dont know if he's playing under Leo's instructions, but an average player indeed.
Stern John: Fell down once in the first half, but represented his name "Stern Fall" in the second half, poor game, could have scored 2 goals for the least. His style of play makes it hard for him to play the lone striker role. He did look better than the previous 2 games though, but then again, he didn't get much service.
Subs:Angus Eve: Came on and didn't to anything special.
Brent Rahim: Came on and played good for the first few minutes, but faded a bit and it got worst when he scored the own goal, Jones should have replaced him. But to blame him for the lost, we cant, we lost as a team, keep ya head up Brent.
On the positive note, Dwight Yorke and Carlos Edwards will make a difference, I hope Atiba Charles is not in the dog house because he's wasn't used and isn't injured until Big Marv got injured then they had no choice but to play him. Brent Sancho may also help once fit. Then there's Clayton Ince and maybe Anton Pierre. Germany awaits us... have faith fellas, this was a good lesson, lets just hope we learn from it.
Final Score:T&T 0 vs Colombia 2.
Colombia Goal Scorers:Brent Rahim 76th, Hector Hugo Hurtado 79th.
Team Line-Ups:
TRI:21-Kelvin Jack, 24-Cyd Gray, 3-Avery John, 4-Marvin Andrews (2-Atiba Charles 75th), 6-Dennis Lawrence, 7-Christopher Birchall, 10-Jason Scotland (12-Brent Rahim 46th), 9-Silvio Spann, 20-Collin Samuel, 13-Cornell Glen (8-Angus Eve 46th), 14-Stern John (capt).
Booked:Christopher Birchall 48th, Kelvin Jack 57th, Avery John 87th.
COL:1-Farid Mondragon (capt), 3-Jose Julian De la Cuesta, 4-Humberto Mendoza, 8-Aldo Leo Ramirez, 13-Yulian Anchico, 15-Jaime Castrillon, 17-Jario Patino (16-Hector Hugo Hurtado 67th), 18-Martin Arzuaga (6-Juan Carlos Ramirez 78th), 19-Juan Fernando Leal (9-Wason Liberado Renteria 52nd), 21-Abel Aguilar, 23-Oscar Enrique Passo.
Booked:Farid Mondragon 48th.
Total Shots/Headers:Christopher Birhall (2), Collin Samuel (1), Stern John (3), Avery John (1), Total = 7.
Free Kicks:18 (TRI), 10 (COL).
Corners:1 (TRI), 10 (COL).
Colombia Shot/Headers:20.
Off-Side:1 (TRI), 3 (COL).
Other Results:USA 0 v CRC 0.
CAN 2 (Ali Gerba, Atiba Hutchinson), v Cuba 1 (Alain Cervantes).
HON 1 (Jorge Samuel Caballeros) v PAN 0.
A message from Tallman.We can accept losing. We don't like it, but it's part of life, you win some you lose some. What we cannot (and refuse to) accept is lack of commitment, purpose, energy and effort. We fans, many of whom travelled from different states and islands, came to support you (the team) and our country in our quest for success. Rightly or wrongly, we had heightened expectations due to the improvements that we saw in the last couple of games. What we didn't expect was a team that appeared to be disinterested in playing the game. We didn't expect a team that did not show the will to win. We didn't expect a team that took to its task in a nonchalant manner. We didn't expect a team who went out with a whimper. Three games were played and the performances grew progressively worse. At the end of the day, it does not matter who is present on the pitch, but it does matter that the people out there perform to the best of their ability. Overall, the team did not do that. You talked the talk, but you did not walk the talk, and this leaves us disappointed. We are named the "Warriors", but you did not display a warrior spirit. If you gave it your all and lost, at least we could say we put up a fight, but sadly, the body language that was on show (for all games) was not a testament to that. Lastly, we fans thought that it was disrepectful that you did not acknowledge us after the Colombia game. You simply bowed your heads and walked into the tunnel. We can understand your shame, but we beat drums, we knocked iron, we blew whistles, we blew horns and we shouted slogans enthusiastically for 90 minutes. You did not reciprocate on the pitch. We think we deserve better. We hope that you will regroup and recharge your batteries for the upcoming battles.
Onward Warriors !!!
