ok, i might have the record for the fatest game report as i live so near the stadium.
Got there 1hr before the game and again with a heavy hand paid the $300 to get in.
Nothing much in the atmosphere before the game, even the Ja game was more vibesy.
Warm ups - T&T looking kinda sluggish, i telling meh partners like we eat a big lunch.
The bermuda players doing their warm ups on the other end only watching our players, almost like they in awe a bit.
Teams come out, bermuda anthem play, like them dont even stand at attention for they own anthem, everybody arms behind back looking lackadasical.Our turmn, the announcer say the sing lustily with patriotism, i say he vibsing up the crowd, next thing he start singing with no music, almost bawling over the mike,. Well the whole stadium crack up. But we find we aint hearing the music, wha u think, they aint have no instrumentals, we have to sing the anthem acapella yes. Well that was a first, but the announcer on the mike playing pavarotti and trying to sing with some serious notes, but it sounding real bad. whole anthem people laughing at the man.
Jack come out and meeting the players - fellas, i real maco how he greet the T&T players, u could clearly see he was not the least bit amused to shake their hands.It have real thing going on that we dont know about.He wass more friendly toward the bermuda players. U could see the tension when he shaking the T&T players hands, almost like he just doing it cause he have to..
Game time - T&T start decent, u could see the difference in team cohesion. i get a sense that the T&T players feel they were a class above the bermudans. Boy were they in for a surprise.
We have decent possession, the only weak link is the right back who i think might have been telesford. Is he being playing out of position? Cause he is a better player than that. Bermuda get a counter-attack, and like the right back usher and escort the bermuda winger to the t7t penalty box. cross whip over, nobody in the centre, one - nil.
Crown gone quiet.
The 7 bermudans in the crowd screaming.
Well we say no probs, it will make t&T play with more attacking purpose instaed of just trying to play possession. But u could see everybody tense cause of the away goal.
T&T then start to attack in sustained pressure, the bermudans playing on the break. Now Bermuda is a team that shock me. They have some very fast, strong players, who are individually not that far from our players. They have a fat man who playing last stopper for them though, i remember the criicket player they had for the world cup, but was handling his stories.
Carlos is now a shadow of his old self. Maybe its just he have the injuries in the back of his mind, but i expected more from him. He got a couple clear chances on goal and muffed it. At times he was caught over dribbling, at times, he was passing off too quickly. But he will still our most effective player. After some sustained pressure, a ball was whipped in the center to stern who chest trap real nice and in a sublime move held off the tackles and sloted past the keeper. 1-1, crowd gone mad.
The announcer make some announcement that stern scored his 67-68 goal and now tied or passed gerd muller for some spot on the all time record.
T&T then start to dominate even more looking for the second, u could see bermuda starting to wilt under the running and stress. Here is where i start thinking we would run them off the pitch, it was a big different in class.
then out of nowhere, they got a counter, again advantaging the right back and whipped in the cross. Ince went for it and fell clumisly/collided with some players and was out cold. The ball went out to a brmuda player who sized uo for the shot and like the T&T team waiting for the ref to blow for treatment to the keeper. but the whistele never came and the attacker slotted it in - 2-1.
Well is now the cussing start, players surrounding the ref, very reminiscent of the game vs jamaica last week.
Ince was out for 5 mins clear, but he got up and got a cheer.Still 2-1 now though.
Everybody was like oh gosh, but u could see the class in T&T above them, so no worries. I was expecting to go in the half 2-1 up, now i hoping for the equaliser, but it never came.
half time - 2-1 bermuda.
second half, u could see bermuda camping out in defense and playing on the counter. They are a dangerous team on the break as they have some powerful, smart players. So although we were attacking all the second half, we always had to be keeping an eye on the counter-attack. They are that good, they kept us worried all times.
We got about 3 clear chances to equalise, including stern in injury time, but he now has a candidate for miss of the year.
We looked good in spurts, but at times very atrocious. Bermuda ran us evenly, even pressuring us for moments, u could see the T&T team was better, but just lacking the final last touch to break the stubborn, camped bermuda defense. Scottie hit a man a nice spin cap from aball on the ground, that was the highlight. We missed hyland real bad in the second half, dont know why he was subbed, injury?
He and carlos were interchanging wings, reminiscent of the last WC campaign, which was nice to see.
But for all our team tactical superiority, we looked very dull right in front goal.
Still we should have won or at least drawn, based on our superiority.
Thoughts for the return - i am a bit worried. Bermuda will undoubtedly defend for their lives as we have to win by 2 clear goals...And we need to get that spark in front goal and work on finishing. It is possible, but bermuda have now shown that they can play football and defend very respectably.
I am extremely disappointed in the result, cause we should not be playing around with teams like this, and to be honest, anyone who saw the game will tell u a 2 goal win is not guaranteed in the return.
Bermuda celebrated as if they qualified for the WC, I really really hope we get our act together in front of goal.
The right back also must be dropped.
Lawrence and Hislop also have some kinks in cohesion and also with Ince.
Say allyuh prayers, its going to be a very very interesting return leg.
Waiting for Touches report.
