Lasana Liburd observes a football nation in reverse.
T&T Express (Lasana Liburd).Gold Cup-out.On June 10, 2007, less than an hour before kick off at the Los Angeles Home Depot Center, Trinidad and Tobago national football team coach Wim Rijsbergen and the national public should have experienced a moment of clarity.
His United States counterpart, Bob Bradley, sent out a team sheet for the Group B encounter that included just two starting players from their 1-0 win over Guatemala. Star players like the British-based trio of Clint Dempsey, DaMarcus Beasley and Tim Howard were rested, while home-based star, Landon Donovan, was only introduced in the second half.
It is highly unusual for a coach, particularly a rookie like Bradley, to take such a risk with qualification still at stake. Only Bradley knew it was no gamble.
And that was when Rijsbergen and a million-plus Soca Warriors fans knew the bluff was up.
For all the bleating from the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (T&TFF) and a scattering of misled journalists about the promise of the inexperienced class of 2007, it did not take Yesenia Gonzales to tell that the Gold Cup campaign would end in tears.
Rijsbergen, who begged for compromise between the T&TFF and 16 blacklisted players before the competition, knew it and so did Bradley and the rest of the region.
A gutsy 1-1 draw in the final group match against Guatemala, despite having just ten players on the field, showed the character of the national squad and there was enough to applaud from the boys in red, white and black.
Vibe CT105 W Connection goalkeeper Jan-Michael Williams, the 2006 T&T Pro League MVP, was predictably busy but gave further notice of his potential with sharp reflexes and steady composure.
Joe Public's Keyeno Thomas brought a reassuring physical presence to the defence, while Connection striker Andre Toussaint and Holland-based attacker Darryl Roberts-the lone overseas player in the squad-showed commendable team ethic.
CL Financial San Juan Jabloteh midfielder Trent Noel, Superstar Rangers striker Errol McFarlane and North East Stars left back Glenton Wolfe also made good use of the little time afforded to them.
Together, the Warriors played well in spurts but looked a team at the start of a cycle rather than primed for competition.
Rijsbergen's squad lacks menace down the flanks where Silvio Spann, for all his mastery at set pieces, is hesitant to commit defenders, while three different players were used on the left.
More might have been expected too from captain Densill Theobald and experienced striker Gary Glasgow.
Glasgow, Joe Public's speedy frontman, is respected for his application and speed of thought but was never a regular source of goals. He had six goals from 44 internationals before he won a recall from Rijsbergen and rattled off a further six strikes in just ten matches prior to the Gold Cup.
Glasgow might still be worth his place, even after the re-introduction of the likes of Stern John, Jason Scotland and Kenwyne Jones, but he missed the opportunity to prove himself at a meaningful level.
Theobald faced an immense challenge head-on but his own game suffered from the weight of the armband as well as his team's lack of width. The Caledonia AIA midfield organiser bears some comparison to former local standout, David Nakhid, for his appreciation of angles in receiving and releasing possession but he still lacks Nakhid's physical and offensive presence and on-field charisma.
At 24, Theobald-the sole World Cup player in the ranks-can still develop into a tremendous midfielder but there will not be many fond memories for him of the 2007 tournament.
It was a bittersweet competition for Trinidad and Tobago fans.
Spann's opening goal was the most powerful image of the Gold Cup and deserves a place on everyone's YouTube account.
Forty yards out, his cracking free kick fizzed one way before curling the next to lodge itself in the top left hand corner of the El Salvadorian goal. For the past two years, Spann has been regularly shooed away from the dead ball by past team captain Dwight Yorke. It is a rare blot on Yorke's leadership.
Spann smacked the bar direct from a corner kick in the opening match too and caused a buzz whenever he spotted the ball. But such exciting moments were not enough to book the Warriors a spot in the second round of a competition in which two-thirds of the 12 competing teams advanced to the knock out phase.
Three of the four nations eliminated-Cuba, Haiti and T&T-are from the Caribbean.
CONCACAF and Caribbean Football Union (CFU) president Jack Warner penned a congratulatory letter to the T&TFF-for whom he serves as special adviser-but his enthusiasm is not contagious.
Keith Look Loy, the technical director of Warner's own Joe Public, opined that the national team failed to match the standard set by the other competing nations, while Rijsbergen vowed to search for more players.
For the record, Trinidad and Tobago finished with the second worst record of all the Gold Cup teams-goal difference separated the Warriors from Cuba, who also managed just one point.
Could you imagine your response last June, after the Warriors' courageous performances at the Germany 2006 World Cup finals, had someone told you that T&T would be ranked alongside minnows like Cuba within a year?
Alarm bells blare at the T&TFF offices for a team in reverse. It is no time for self-congratulation.
STRAIGHT THROUGH: United States' striker Taylor Twellman, left, kicks a cross in between the legs of Trinidad and Tobago defender Seon Power during the second half of the CONCACAF Gold Cup game at the Home Depot Centre in Carson, California on June 9. The US won 2-0.
