Cousin Saga Pinto,
First of all I want to thank you for introducing me to the Soca Warriors discussion forum last year on my arrival in the US. This forum has been an important link for me to keep in touch with my country and my sport. Jesse is also a frequent reader of the forum since he is always interested in learning about TNT football from the perspective of informed mature fans. I have, over the last few months, noticed comments made on the forum about Jesse and his perceived lack of ability at this level. I respect the right of people like Jah Goal and Touches to hold and express their particular views on Jesse. I would however suggest that we be a little more discrete about how far we go out of our way, to cry down and discredit our youth players.
My concern is not just for Jesse but for other youngsters who are merely doing their best to live up to the responsibility of representing their country. I remember reading some particularly unfair and unwarranted comments not too long ago on this forum, about the aspirations of another 16year old boy who has Trini roots, but is playing for a youth team in the UK. While access to express an opinion is restricted to private members, the forum is really a public place and is open to be read by all.
I have used the hostile sentiments expressed about him, to remind Jesse that he can’t expect everyone in life to like him, understand him or believe in him. He has to rise above criticism and do his best for team, inspite of harsh comments. As a former goalkeeper and student of technique ( I played for CIC 1st eleven for 3 years) I am convinced that Jesse has some ability and while in the opinion of others, he is “slow and makes bad decisions”, he is 100% committed to this team and its success, even as the “honorary” captain on the bench. As his father, I will always resist the urge to defend his playing ability or lack thereof, and will continue to allow him to speak for himself on the field of play. Hopefully, God willing, he will get an opportunity to do so at some point. Incidentally Jesse and Glenroy are very good friends and support each other, inspite of who actually plays. Before we moved to the US last year, Jesse would frequently ask me to go out of my way to pick up Glenroy on a Sunday morning to go to practice. Glenroy would always greet me, “ morning Uncle” with a smile and a handshake. He is a tremendous young man and deserves every opportunity he gets.
Finally Saga, I would like to comment on the current competition. To have any hope of qualifying for Korea, TNT needs at least 6 points, 2 wins. In my opinion the best chances of getting these have always been the first and last game. We had the element of surprise and complacency with CR playing them first. The CR coach did not know much about TNT and never bothered to really focus on us. I believe that his forgone conclusion was that CR drew with Honduras 3-3 and Honduras beat TNT 3-0, therefore they should do the same. Every team coming to this competition, including Jamaica, believed that TNT was good for at least 2 goals and an easy 3 points. This why in the first half, TNT took CR completely by surprise. The secret is now out and no-one, including the US, is going to take us for granted.
The US is the best prepared and strongest of all of the teams. Jesse and I had the pleasure of seeing them play the Brazilians late last year. The Brazilians were, man for man, far more skillful than the US, but the US forced 2 draws on the basis of pure bad mind, refusal to give up and rough play. They countered Brazil’s skill with pure aggression and came from behind twice to force a draw. It was a classic battle of boxer vs. brawler.
From the onset of the tournament I expected that the US will beat everybody by at least 2 clear goals. TNT got theirs last night.
I also had the pleasure of watching the Canadians play Jesse’s club/high school team (Weston Fury/Cypress Bay) last week Tuesday in Sunrise. The game ended 2-1 in favor of the Canadians although Weston was dominating for long periods and leading 1-0 at half time. The Canadians are an extremely well coached and organized team. They have 4 players of above average skill, a 6’ 3” defensive midfielder who is just unbelievable, their central defender and 2 “red” (black +white= red) boys playing upfront with plenty speed. The Canadians are very good at set plays and should score a high percentage of goals from corners and free kicks. Jesse’s coach at Weston is of the view that the way to beat them is to overload their left side, which is how Weston scored. I feel that TNT can beat Jamaica on superior conditioning but will have a real hard time getting past the Canadians. Not impossible, but high degree of difficulty. I believe that Daniel Cyrus will have an influence on the next two games.
Robert.