Dear Forumites,
Yet again I bring to you my dear readers a tale of doom and gloom. I would say this performance was marginally better than the England game. But truth be told it was a contest between two mediocre teams, quality play was few and far between and plenty work has to be done by both Coaches. It is tough being a TT supporter and its becoming even more expensive to witness yet another poor performance by our beloved national team.
I was upset at my teams performance, the opposition, the scoreline, but most of all the dim witted clown posing as a referee and his trusty assistants.
My arrival to the COE was greeting by no parking signs and a few vendors trying to get rid of bandannas and other TT paraphernalia. I went in the uncovered section and after purchasing a ticket at the security booth, I passed through the chain link gate, received a Bmobile rag and noisemaker from a modelesque TSTT employee and took my seat on the makeshift stand that was erected.
Folks I liked the temporary stand, metal and slabs of plyboard, it was a bit wobbly but there was an intimate feeling, many a die hard was in attendance, all of whom were quite vocal in expressing their displeasure at the players or the officials on the field. Additionally there were a number of mini stands and it was easy for a group to commandeer a section for themselves. The stand was also right next to the fence providing an excellent view of the field and within earshot of the comments on the field. There was another stand filled with plastic chairs, on the covered section. But there were few patrons sitting in these. On the southern side of the ground behind the other goalpost the After Fete stage and Performance area was erected. For those who collected tickets for the England match it was this area that was used.
But I must say there were a large number of vendors selling everything from geera pork to chicken foot souse, shark and fries, hot dogs, burgers etc. There was a good police presence, plenty bins and a temporary bathroom was created behind the scoreboard with port-a-potties.
The Laventille rhythm section set up in the stand directly behind the goal and they provided the most entertainment for the afternoon, changing the tempo to match the action on the field. I would estimate the crowd to be around 2000 Max. The price, the quality of opposition, timing in relation to our next WCQ and location being factors attributed to the few spectators in attendance.
Both teams were warming up doing the usual small sided game, shuttles between cones and the prerequisite stretching exercises. Jamaica had a number of solid looking players while their TT counterparts were smaller in terms of stature and height. Additionally, there is a big difference in size between the overseas pros and the local based players. To put it in perspective; Carlos Edwards is by no means a big person. However, his arms were comparable in size to a few of the TT local based players, shin-pads and socks included.
TT came out in the old red adidas kit. JA in a yellow kit, not quite sure of their sponsor. I would like to know why are we still wearing our old uniforms? Having celebrated our centennial match, I would have thought we would be outfitted in the new strips currently being sold in Francis Fashions, but this was not to be. Both teams did not have names on their uniforms and the TT kits also had some cheap looking generic numbers rather than the official Adidas numbering.
The Management learned a few lessons from The England game Flag fiasco and no flags were brought out on the field. Instead players and officials faced the flags that were flown on the flag poles near the scoreboard. Jamaican fans added an intimidating “BOOM” during certain parts of their anthem and the 100 or so odd supporters were quite vocal for the opening moments of the match and at the end. The TT voices that were present sang our anthem as loud if not louder than the crowd at the England game and pretty soon the match was under way with JA dominating the opening proceedings.
T&T Squad:
1.Clayton Ince; 13.Kareem Smith, 4.Makan Hislop, 6.Dennis Lawrence, 15.Akile Edwards (3.Ancil Farrier 77th); 5.Osei Telesford, 7.Carlos Edwards (11.Kevon Carter 72nd), 8.Khaleem Hyland, 19.Keon Daniel (17.Kevaughn Connell 72nd) (18.Stephan David 86th), 9.Aurtis Whitley (capt); 12.Jason Scotland.
Jamaica Squad:
30.Donovan Ricketts; 5.Ian Goodison, 14.Jermaine Taylor, 3.Simon Ford (18.Deon Burton 68th), 17.O'Neil Thompson (16.Omar Daley 46th); 7.Evan Taylor, 15.Ricardo Gardener (capt), Demar Phillips, 24.Rudolph Austin; 6.Marlon King (23.Jermaine Johnson 82nd), 10.Ricardo Fuller (21.Luton Shelton 61st).
TT lined up in a kinda 4-4-2/4-5-1 formation. To me it was as if Scotland was alone up top, with no support. The midfield consisted of Telesford ad the defensive mid, whitley and hyland the creative, Daniel and Edwards on the flanks and a back four of Smith, Hislop, Lawrence and Edwards.
Jamaica had a 4-3-3 formation. Allowing TT to knock the ball around in the back and putting pressure near the half line.
Both teams played a similar style playing patient football, slow build up and trying the flank or through pass down the middle.
Both teams were also suffering from an overseas pro vs local player disparity in quality sort of game. All the pros and their quality stood out for both teams, the supporting casts however were never on the same page. King and Fuller looked a notch above their JA teammates, while Lawrence, Carlos and Scotland proved why they ply their trade overseas.
However, Gardener for JA looked a shadow of himself playing on the flank and seemed uninterested. Goodison was steady at the back, Burton showed a glimpse of hustle and run with no end product and Shelton on his introduction showed speed but not too much upstairs. The rest of the JA team are a bunch of labourers, simply trying to get it right. Poor Rene Simoes must have been wondering what level of la la his team was running with their “Big Guns” on the field and Mr. Maturana’s honeymoon period is over with the obvious problems not being addressed, game after game.
Maturana my dear readers is simply “forming track for gouti to run” and with each passing game the tracks getting not only deeper, but resembling a carriageway, asphalt and shoulder included.
As mentioned before, it only takes so long before a player is found out. The bag of magic dust finishing if you will and Smith, Daniel, Telesford, A Edwards and to a lesser extent Hyland and Hislop all seem to be running on “E”
It is no fault of their own, they simply are not up to international World Cup standards as yet and our TT team is not a collection of the best XI in the nation but rather a training exercise, with the purpose of auditioning players for contracts overseas, providing comic relief for opponents and heart attack moments for nationals, whilst providing a hole in the pocket for the die hards of TT.
TT for the first 10-15 minutes could not come out of our half. Playing the ball around in the back..... as soon as the ball arrived in the middle the Jakan forwards closed down the space, put in the tackle and lack of support by the TT middle, errant passing or playing the ball back resulted in negative football. Ja to their credit attempted to hustle fwd but King was effectively dealt with by Lawrence and Fuller by Hislop or Whitley.
After 10 minutes the heavens opened up. Rain like fuss time and all of us in the uncovered stands ran for whatever shelter that we could find. Some sat and took the rain like champions. I with a few others climbed under the stands and looked at the match through the wood and metal. Funny enough you still had a good view of the field and none of the action was missed. After the rain subsided, there was a slight drizzle in the air but the pitch was still perfect. The surface was a bit slick so any advantage went to the outfield players.
The game was poorly officiated, TT not getting any calls, blatant fouls, corners, throw ins and advantage calls were not given. Additionally injuries to players were ignored. The ref allowing play to go on when serious fouls were committed, few yellow cards were shown and the TT players received them for silly things like Telesford kicking away the ball.
It was a real battle on the field, elbows, short jabs to midsections, late tackles etc were the norm and most challenges resulted in a player or two down for a couple seconds. I was also disappointed that we took so much abuse at home and only Whitley and Telesford stood up to the Jakans and dished it out. There were three moments in the game where fights threatened to break out, Whitley was involved in all, either standing up for his teammates or not being taken advantage off. From my vantage point there was a free kick incident and within the TT wall King decided to step on Whitleys foot and elbow him in his guts. The ref was being distracted moving the ball for the free kick and the linesman was talking to some players. Whitley and King squared off. King attempted to push/strike/hold whitley near his throat and whitley feinted and hit him POW in he eye. He then calmly turned and went back into his position in the wall.
The game was not free flowing and JA were not able to string more than 3-5 passes without the play being broken up or the pass being errant. TT allowed them way too much space and respect giving them the opportunity to reach the top of the box, but they were always short of ideas and wasted every corner, free kick or through ball opportunity.
Ince made a number of good saves, with Fuller or King hitting a few shots at goal. Ince also came off his line bravely a number of times to clean up.
Lawrence tried his best to talk to Smith, Edwards and Hislop who were all making last ditch tackles, losing the ball with no pressure, making the errant pass or not paying attention to the long cross field balls. We gave away a number of corners and throw ins and even at this level big men making foul throws giving the ball to the opposition in dangerous places.
I was disappointed in the wing-backs not using their room and going forward. With no players on them, time and space being afforded, they simply would hold up the play or knock it back. Giving a ball to a player in a pressure situation or losing the ball in the process.
We have no concept of a counter attack or long ball. Sometimes TT were faced with 1 v 1 or 2 v 3 going fwd on the break and instead of going to goal we would stop hold up the ball and negate any advantage or we would simply mess up the pass and give it back to the opposition.
In the first half we had one attempt = one shot = one goal.
An errant back pass was intercepted by Daniel. All he had to do was take on the Jakan last stopper 1 v1 at the top of the box. Instead he delayed, ran near the wing and passed it to Scotland with two men on his back. Scotland twisted and turned and to me it looked like the opportunity was gone as the Jakan defense came back. However he screened the ball well cut inside and set up the onrushing Hyland who with a neat bullet put the ball far post and out of the keepers reach.
The crowd went wild, The rhythm section start to get louder, men start to jump up and the Jakans were quiet.... not a peep from them both on and off the field. In fact that goal clearly disrupted all the plans by Simoes, TT gained a bit more confidence and we started to stroke the ball around more.But after a few passes we just played the ball laterally, lost it. Had nothing again going fwd and when not in possession, escorting players instead of tackling.
Keon Daniel has been found out. Another poor performance from him. He provided nothing defensively, limed whole evening on the wing, did not get past his marker once, only blade in he tail and just was ineffective. Everybody in my section was calling for him and Aklie Edwards to come off as the first sub.
Telesford is a poor mans Davids. He try to play the defensive mid role and I will give him some pips for the aggression. But the last ditch wild man tackles were due to mistakes he made and he trying to recover, poor positioning and his passes were poor.
Hyland and Whitley kept getting in each others way and it made no sense to play both of them in the same role. The understanding was not there, all of the mid-fielders were up under one another not giving each other the proper outlet or space to play. No off the ball runs. And they were not doing the simple play early enough. Additionally TT players did not want to shoot the ball. Passing the responsibility, falling down or just making a mess of things at the top of the box.
Hyland also learned today that to be effective you do the simple things first time. All the fancy beat and flick he try were dealt with by the Jakan midfield and he get some proper blade in he arse. At one point he got a two footed lunge and I swear the man foot break or he ankle mess up. The ref ent even watch him and said play on. For 3 minutes he on the ground rolling around and the medics cant come on the field.
Poor Carlos had another frustrating game, both he and Scotland. No support, nobody to pass to and just no cooperation from the other players. Carlos repeatedly was begging Smith to help him or Hyland in the middle. He beat one, he beat two and nuttin. Scotland beating his men nice whole evening screening three men at a time and nobdy inside to pass to or no midfield supporting him. A proper game of backs and forwards which we are yet to fix.
Half time came and went and the action pretty much the same as before. Ja having more possession and doing nothing with it. TT when in possession knocking the ball in the back and making mistakes in the midfield, no clue going fwd and bad passing in the final third or nobody inside becoming the order of the day.
Jamaica nearly scored a wonderful goal by King. Bad passing between Hislop and one of the wingbacks resulted in King picking up a loose ball, he beat somebody and in the 18 rifled a bullet that graze the V. A proper throwaway and TT held on for the rest of the game by a Hope and a Prayer. It is not that Jamaica were dangerous but simply our defenders made the simplest thing look hard and nerves started to kick in.
Maturana then made some subs which made a difference. Carter and Connell came on and immediately started to go forward, using the wings and taking on players. Carter then had a nice interchange of passes beat a few players and was through on goal scoring a nice side foot past the keeper. I was right there behind the linesman. It was a good genuine goal. Scotland did not touch the ball and was not interfering with the play. The lines man got some proper cuss from the crowd, and to an outsider one would think that the linesman would have a sibling in a few months time.
Hyland also got a good opportunity, passing neatly with Scotland and with a man on his back turned the defender in the 18 and slapped a bullet wide. It looked like sure goal and had it scored Ja would not have seen their way. With them already being on the back foot.
Connell then started to take on players and I was seeing a spark in this player. Then all of a sudden he make a bad trap. He make a bad flick under no pressure, he collect a jam and 5 minutes later that is the end of him. A shame really as he was looking good going fwd drawing players out of position and his pace had the jakan defence worried.
Carter had the wing back on my side hot with some nice footwork and push pull beat. However after getting past his man he simply had no one to cross to and the balls across the box went to no one. No supporting midfield as they were liming near the half line and the lack of support apparent.
Game then wound down, crowd start to get excited, it was the 90th min by my watch and people started to leave the game. All the Jakans quiet quiet knowing that all they Britz and big guns they had on the field couldn’t do nothing vs a poor TT outfit and they were shame with they tail between they legs. Even the players on the field seemed to concede defeat when a long speculative ball which should have been dealt with by the defence was left alone.
Shelton with his speed blow past the defence and Ince comes out to make the save. Shelton never had the ball under control, was never likely to get it and from my view Ince touches ball only and pushes it out of play and for some reason the ref blow and penalty is awarded. It was never a penalty. Men start to cuss..... Maturana off the bench quarrelling with the 4th official, the TT side drop they head and they dejected. Shelton score. The undeserved Jakan lifeline was celebrated and all there know how lucky they were to escape.
I never hear a stadium steups and cuss so in unison and with 2 minutes extra time to be played. TT instead of going for goal playing like they in their bedroom and knockin ball around at the top of the box instead of piping bullet.
At the final whistle I left the COE vex, with the TT performance, the JA performance and the scoreline. They get away, the killer instinct and passion just evaporated and the ref…..well he should not officiate a game ever again.
Folks the sheep have been separated from the goats long time. We know the problems and yet we still cant fix them. Both managers I am sure were disappointed by the performances and JA ent looking like they coming out they group. We probably right now only good to get past Bermuda and we will struggle. I cannot see where the goals are going to come from and our system of play is not creating any chances. Even with Stern and KJ there is no service, no bite in the middle and a shaky defence. Any organized team will exploit us.
However the positives are…1) Ince is a boss. 2) Carlos is a Boss, 3) Lawrence still have it, 4) a ¼ fit Scotland is still class and worries. 5) Whitley is a fighter and die hard, full commitment and we know what he could do. 6) Hyland have talent but have to mature real fast. 7) We could work with Hislop, Connell and Carter.
The rest of the team…..we up the creek without a paddle and sinking fast.
Till next time.
