T&T Salvages late point in Gold Cup farewell.
By: Shaun Fuentes (TTFF).[/size]
Trinidad and Tobago’s Senior footballers managed to salvage a late point and provided a fair amount of hope for the coming months as they battled to a 1-1 draw with Guatemala in Tuesday’s closing group B fixture at before 25,000 odd fans at the Foxboro Gillette Stadium in Boston.
After the United States toppled El Salvador 4-0 in the opening game of the double header, T&T went into their encounter needing a win by at least three goals to have any chance of sneaking second spot. And despite a solid start to proceedings, commanding a better presence on the pitch in the early stages, a needless sending off toughened the task for the “Soca Warriors” before substitute Errol McFarlane headed home an 87th minute goal and almost snatched a late winner when his effort grazed the upright. The result was no doubt a welcomed one for the team with Anthony Noreiga in mind.
Head coach Wim Rijsbergen started with Gary Glasgow and Andre Toussaint up front using fellow strike Darryl Roberts on wide left position. Trent Noel came into the starting team to partner Densill Theobald in the middle and had a promising showing, seeing one of his free kicks bounce off the left post near half time. Glenton Wolfe also replaced Andrei Pacheco while Dwayne Jack came in for Noreiga alongside Keyeno Thomas in defense.
As early as the 6th minute under a downpour, T&T got a peak at goal when Silvio Spann squared a free kick for Noel but his blast went wide of the upright.
Neither team managed to surge ahead, not managing to create clear cut chances for the opening 20 minutes. Gustavo Cabrera then had Guatemala’s first clear chance on 21 minutes when a left side cross found him unmarked before he headed wide of the near left post.
Tragedy struck T&T in the 30th minute forcing them to change their initial approach to the match. Jack openly elbowed Cabrera after he realized the Guatemalan closed in on him and was given marching orders by Honduran referee Jose Pineda.
The blow left T&T having to take less risks in the search for goals now but it did little to deter their fighting spirit.
After a shove on Toussaint in added on time, Noel seized up and measured his free kick just less than perfect as it struck the left post and quickly bounced off an unready Toussaint and over the line for a goal kick.
Unlike the opening losses to El Salvador and United States, T&T held its shape in the second half and avoided further break down.
They needed some luck though in the 48th minute as a moment of craziness at the back almost cost them a goal after Williams casually played a ball into a Guatemalan before the attacked was broken down.
Guatemalan marksman Carlos Ruiz thought he put his side ahead in the 54th minute but the goal was ruled offside and T&T fought on, frustrating their opponents in the process.
Toussaint had a clear cut chance on 63 minutes when he worked his way inside the right of the box, evading a defender before trying to sneak it past goalie Ricardo Trigueno on the near post but the advancing man was up to the test.
Williams made another timely stop to prevent Ruiz in the 74th minute and the Guatemalans had another strike ruled out for offside in the 83rd minute.
T&T never panicked and played with purpose as the half progressed but the deadlock was broken by a piece of cleverness on Ruiz’s part.
Three minutes from time, the prolific striker collected and turned before poking the ball past players Christon Baptiste and Seon Power into the left corner of the goal.
The goal didn’t spell game over for T&T though as substitute Kerry Baptiste floated into the box from the right and McFarlane gladly accepted, clinically heading home to tie the scores.
Moments from the end the Superstar Rangers player almost snatched the winner when his effort grazed the upright on its way out. T&T ended the Group with one point as USA topped with a maximum nine points followed by Guatemala (4pts) and El Salvador (3 pts).
Guatemala: - Ricardo Trigueño, Henry Medina, Pablo Melgar, Néstor Martínez, Gustavo Cabrera, Leonel Noriega, Carlos Quiñónez (Mario Rodríguez 54th), Carlos Figueroa, José Contreras, Marvin Ávila, Carlos Ruiz (capt) (Hernán Sandoval 90th).
Trinidad & Tobago: - Jan Michael Williams, Power Seon, Dwayne Jack, Keyeno Thomas (Christon Baptiste 78th), Glenton Wolfe, Trent Noel, Silvio Spann (Kerry Baptiste 60th), Densill Theobald (capt), Gary Glasgow (Errol McFarlane 70th), Andre Toussaint, Darrly Roberts.
Rijsbergen pleased with fighting spirit.
By: Shaun Fuentes (TTFF).Head coach Wim Rijsbergen gave credit when it was due, not praising but complimenting his players for a fighting effort which enabled them to secure their lone point in the Gold Cup.
Speaking after T&T’s 1-1 draw with Guatemala at the Foxboro Gillette Stadium on Tuesday, Rijsbergen stated: “We had the only chance (to progress to second round) if we had scored a couple of goals, our plans were destroyed a little bit with the red card of Dwayne Jack but I can say that the boys worked very hard to get a positive result.
“Of course we had hoped for a win but I am glad that we got a draw at the end and they deserved at least a point for the effort.”
He stressed that he was pleased to see that the current squad understood the need to play with more determination but was still hopeful they will realize to do a bit extra for the international stage.
That is what we need… a fighting spirit to get better. And of course they understand we have to keep this level to get any further with Trinidad and Tobago.
“I am proud of these guys as they showed that they are wiling to work hard. I wish Guatemala all the best in the next round and we will try to continue working towards the qualification for the 2010 World Cup.
He added that he hoped that the players understood the need to work more as individuals as well, saying too that his eyes will be out for other available talent.
“Hopefully we will find some more players and get the best team together for the next set of games in the rest of year towards the qualifiers.
“Hopefully now and between end of year we will have some discussion with the boys, We will use this Gold Cup as a standard to get to the right level.”
Goalscorer Errol McFarlane was delighted to help T&T secure a point, saying that he felt it was important to salvage some kind of pride.
“As a player and as a forward especially the first job on the field is to score so to come and score is satisfying to some extent,” he told TTFF Media. “It was a bit disappointing that the team couldn’t progress on to the second round but we saved some sort of pride in that we came out here and didn’t lose every game and I felt that was important to this team.
“I didn’t play football for six months between the qualifiers and that ruled me out of the World Cup but now I have lost a considerable amount of weight and I still need more time to gain better fitness but I have all intentions of working hard to get back to full strength and hopefully make a bigger impact for the team,” he added. The team is scheduled to return home at around 9:30pm on Wednesday via Miami.
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