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.
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.
Poll