Unbiased Here goes...
The game was a poor one, in quality and speed of play.
TT played in a 4-4-2 while Ja lined up in a 3-5-2.
Ja played the simoes game...knock around in the back amongst the three. From the time they arrived at the half the TT fwds moved to hustle the space the midfield..the back 4 and the 4 mids stepped up in a zone and JA played a predictable Long hoof ball to the flank.
If there was anything for the jamaicans to get excited about it was some scruffles in the mid of the park. Imagine the crowd going wild for some basic lil pull back beat, but TT doubled teamed certain players and JA were ineffective.
TT scored a LEGIT...LEGIT goal which was disallowed for who knows what. Had that goal stood the game would have changed dramatically.
A free kick was trapped and scrambled over the line with the attacking player skipping over the keeper...There was no offisde, the keeper was not touched, there was no interference...the referee and the linesman made a complete error and the commentators did not know what to say either. SImply that Ja dodged a bullet.
Now TT were playing sorfee in the 1st half...JA won most of the air balls and the challenges...The lil wing back..the 16 yr old was being exploited by the long ball...he was either too slow to cover the space or he was outmuscled...However he did not make any mistakes and this is a good learning experience...but he was singled out as the weak link and they were running him down.
Marlon King scored a class class goal...top notch, but it could have been avoided. Both defenders closing him down had the opportunity to clear the ball, they clashed, one retreated to cover and King "pongs" off the other defender..turn and hit a wonderful strike. EXCELLENT Goal.
TT played the offside trap but JA scored a goal that looked good. The commentators said it was even but JA did not dominate us for any period.
The second goal came with Marshall running down the flank, it looked like the youthman was on him but he was out pongs...Keon Daniel also tried to get a foot in but he get pong orf too. Then Marshall placed the ball far post past Jan Michael.
I must say that Jamaica with their plethora of stars looked poor. They did not string any passes together, their team had no chemistry, no cohesion, some of their big pros cannot trap or pass a ball and this "Skill" that our JA posters so like to say they possess was not evident. Marlon King is the only player who has a clue.
In the second half TT came out to play ball...we started in the end of the 1st half to put the ball on the ground and spread it around but the second half was a running passing game that JA had trouble dealing with. That said any chance we had was snuffed out by the JA defence as Roberts, Patterson and the rest all came under heavy challenges and were "pongs" off.
Football is a physical game and only Keyno Thomas, Hislop and Whitley dealt with it and handled their scene.
Now Telesford came on in the midfield and looked totally lost....He scored a goal..and a good one too...but the fella touch off, he give away the ball right tru...he bad pass...he hit a man a cap on the line....but he ent look up to std with the rest of players on the field.
Gay came on and try a thing...we scored the second from Whitley going into a challenge..shifting two men. Firing a shot that the referee skip and BOOM Goal...a real good goal...a proper purgers to silence the crowd.
TT nearly won it in the end a number 8 was in the box and he fired high over bar.
As I said vs El salvador...we will not do too bad, we stuck to our plan, played to our limitations and these youngsters put on a good showing. They playing to instructions and with time will only get better. We need for them to go away and bulk up.
As for JA they have plenty work to do. They have to learn to keep the ball..make passes and create space. Hoofing the ball long and relying on the physical prowess of your wingers and fwds will not cut it...they will be found out.
Even if we lost yesterday I found we played decent and it is a good sign...Maturana is a good fit for us and he working well with the players.