It is amazing how a team could be totally outplayed and outclassed, create no chances, have zero shots to goal and yet come away 2-0 winners.
The old adage Goals Win Matches was evident today, but Haiti were winners in their own right and have many positives coming out of this encounter.
To summarize team TT were for 60 minutes of the match sickening, 15 minutes just awful and for the remaining 15 plus three minutes injury time just ok.
I am sure Maturana ordered Dr Babwah to administer a dose of these at half time
Eventually, some of the worms and fecal matter were removed late in the second half, the addition of some useful subs and a bit of organization in the back allowing TT to come away winners on the night.
I arrived at 4:30 and was able to see the final minutes of the national under 20 vs Phoenix Fc game. A lot of attempted beat, jam, errant passes and boom kick were the order of the day but most of the players were tired and as such the game suffered. Jamal Guy was real roast but acquitted himself well for the few minutes I saw him.
The game comes to an end and there was no entertainment to fill the void. The rhythm section did not arrive as yet, the Bmobile tent and dj were sound checking, no eye food in the crowd…but at least I was able to get a good seat in the stands without a post impeding my vision.
After sipping on the beverage that is good for you, I was joined by my fellow forumites.
We all sat together and discussed the action as it unfolded on the field. Small Mag, Patriot, G, Ann3boys, Andre Samuel and Cowen. Brown sugar, weary, NYtriniwhiteboy and Omarldinho were also in attendance and I am sure all present…(especially Omar) could vouch for the accuracy of my report.
TT came out and began their warm up on the northern side of the pitch. It was very lackadaisical in nature, not much intensity and the shuttles and sprints that were done seemed very amateur at times. The TT team then played a small sided keep away game.
At the end of the warmup…whitley who was an active participant looked to be in a spot of bother and the medics came to his assistance. He did his final stretching separately from the rest of the team but it seemed that he reinjured himself or tweaked the hamstring that has been bothering him. He played no further part and was not included on the bench.
The Haitian team came out late and did an intense 5 minute warm up.
The teams took to the field at nearly 20 past 6 and kickoff did not actually take place till closer to 6:30. The Haitian players sang their national anthem, while TT finally got a copy of the anthem to play over the PA system.
The referee was from Jamaica and made some questionable calls to both teams throughout the game. Birchall was also off the field for a few minutes and was deliberately ignored by the ref and not allowed to return to the pitch for going off to have his fingers taped up. However all our goals came from free kicks he awarded and about 4 yellow cards were shown to various Haitian players for roughing us up.
TT started of in a 4-5-1
Marvin Phillip in goal….back 4 of Cyd, Hislop,Thomas and John.
Midfield of Baptiste, Theobold, Hyland, Me Mum and Kevaughn Connell
Glenn alone up front.
Haiti played a 3-5-2 .
The game kicks off and Haiti strokes the ball masterfully giving TT a lesson in ball possession. After 14 seconds, a through ball is misjudged by Hislop. It is misjudged by Phillip and the Haitian forward has an open goal to shoot at. However the bounce of the ball deceived him and let TT off the hook.
For the next 15 minutes TT could not come out of their half and balls were being whipped into the TT box with the Haitian forwards throwing away clear cut sitters unmarked in our area. Cyd was shakey, Avery didn’t find himself yet and Hislop’s inexperience and lack of quality showed in comparison to his counterparts at the back. To his credit he improved as the game wore on and did well coming down to the end.
One good sign is that we came out of this game with a clean sheet, however we were lucky the Haitian team left their scoring boots at home. Phillips was sloppy at times. He made some decent saves, but his distribution and kicking needs plenty work. He kicked out the ball at least 10 times and only found a TT player ONCE…in the 90th minute of the game. He simply gave the ball to the Haitian team each time.
Folks I wish we could look like Haiti….yes I said it.
They put on a polished, knocking, cohesive game, with a good brand, good plan, they did not panic in defence knocking the ball out under pressure and running rings around us in midfield. Sometimes two players would execute a one-two and run around 3-4 TT players in the middle. All kinda back flick, heel, wrong address was shared by them and they were fluid in going forward and organizing their defence. They share all kinda tollum, and we simply eat beat right tru. Worse yet we ent share nuttin, we ent rest no kinda blade on them, they rough us up and hit us some elbow and screen and while they got cards for these actions were were effectively off of our game.
TT created one dangerous moment in the first half where on a counter attack Connell beat 3 men and threaded a ball for an overlapping Cyd Gray who found himself One on One with the keeper. However the attempted shot was closed down as the keeper tackled him bravely and won the ball. Apart from that TT did not have a clue.
Possession was hard to come by…we chased Haiti for most of the first half and I would put possession at 80/20…..yes it was that bad.
When we did get possession we had no options going fwd…Glen had a bad game, his touch was off and he was completely locked down with no support. Hyland, Birchall, Theobold and Baptiste had no clue as to what to do in the middle.
Three players with similar styles and roles doing nothing. Nothing creative going forward. No closing down of spaces and any small passes being made by them were shut out. Of the lot, Theobold looked competent and stood head and shoulders over all the other players on the field…but his magic dust lasted for about 30 minutes and that was it. Jam after Jam, mis trap, bad pass and well dat was it for him.
0-0 at the half and it seemed all doom and gloom.
Birchall seemed frustrated for the entire time he was on the field. I detect something is not right. He was not given the ball by his teammates even when free. He was only used as an outlet or a last resort so all the balls to him were hospital balls. He tackled well and hustled but he did not win many tackles and was late. However he did close down the space and show the hustle we know. He gave glen some nice cross field diagonal balls but these were few and far between. His biggest asset and where TT scored were the dangerous balls that he whipped into the box. TT had about 6 free kicks from about 40 meters out and birchall dipped some curlers into the area which the Haitian goalie could not get. Thomas and Hislop were the men on the end but each time they did not attack the ball properly or follow up the play turning their back etc. However both goals came from free kicks floated in. The first was headed straight in by Keyno Thomas…the second the ball is played far and looks to be going out but is headed back across the goal by Thomas and Glen chests it in. The goal celebrations were muted and certain men you could see friendly with others.
Connell did three things well tonight…he beat three men and set up Cyd for TT’s attempt. He took the ball and ran at defenders and got kicked down resulting in the free kicks that Birchall took. But apart from that he may have played his way off the team. He was totally bun…
did not make a tackle, was ball watching, did not support the play and was the pullstones of the night. He not only pull stones, but he hung and swing on some a few times well. He was given a standing ovation when he was subbed and the poor fella actually thought it was a compliment, when in fact the crowd was showing appreciation that he was off the field.
Baptiste was as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike.
Hyland (who Andre Samuel said did not put a foot wrong) looked like he had both oars in the water…too bad they were both on the same side of the boat.
He played in the makalele position, but no kinda tackles pass, he intercepted a few but he also tee up some shots for the Haitian forwards as well. On his fwd jaunts he needlessly gave away the ball or provided a bad pass.
Theobold…good opening 20 -30 minutes…then the magic dust ran out….he got some serious tun up in the middle and is in his second trimester. Clearly unfit!
Glenn was as useful as a kickstand on a horse…failed to dribble past his markers, did not hold up the ball, made errant passes, touch was off….but he scored from a tap in on the line.(the irony)
Cyd and Avery…good in the tackle and shared blade. They both started slow and shakey, made some bad pass and sloppy trap…but they both go forward and overlap well. They have cemented their positions on the field.
Hislop got better as the game wore on
Thomas was decent..scored a good goal but does not track his players well and is a tad slow.
The subs were Wolfe, Toussaint and Abu Bakr.
Wolfe was very nifty and came on for Birchall. Both goals were scored already but he settled the game, hustled in the middle, spread the ball around and was penetrative going forwards and supporting the play well. A good sub.
Toussaint had 10 minutes to skillfully trap the long balls kicked to him…only to beat his marker stink once…and lose the ball or fall down right after. You could see he has skill but is suited to small goal and futsal. Not effective on a big field.
Abu Baker got a 5 min corbeaux…he was slotted in the back and TT played 5-4-1. Cannot rate him due to limited playing time.
TT started to pass the ball around and look like we had an idea in the last 10 minutes of the match. Haiti were desperate and throwing everything forward and they made a number of subs as well.
Haiti created at least 4 clear cut chances in the game and had a number of shots…good bullets too saved by Phillips. They were unlucky not to score and were the better team on the night. I honestly think with some better forwards they could qualify for the Hex and they will only get better.
TT I just ent know boy…this side not improving and looking worse each game. A decent opponent run rings around us and showing up all the glaring deficiencies. The midfield ent wukking, the lone fwd ent wukking, the defence shakey…and yet still we keep a clean sheet and score 2.
Hard to explain, yuh just have to see it for yourself.
I guess the coach is still looking at players and new ones in the mix but I find plenty players ent making sense and you know for sure who getting drop when the foreign based come back. I ent know where to put Hyland on the field he becoming less and less effective, I ent know where Daniel will go and it’s a battle for me mum, theobold, whitley, yorke and Clyde leon in the center.
I think they should call back Patterson to run the left wing or put Theobold back there…or Whitley.
Sad but we need Yorke to stabilize this side.
Haiti will give us run for our money across there and I would not be surprised if the scoreline is in their favour.
I not seeing the improvement and time is drawing closer. More questions are being asked each time we see this team play and the answers not forthcoming. I feel more and more uneasy with this group each time I see them.
Oh well…once we win ent!
Till next time.
