Maturana: We must beat Guatemala.
By: Ian Prescott (Express).
T&T UP AGAINST IT
The Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF) website reports that T&T's head coach, Colombian Francisco Maturana, said to press officer Shaun Fuentes that he is unhappy with his team's 3-0 defeat to the United States in a World Cup qualifier on Wednesday night in Bridgeview, Illinois, after earlier refusing to speak to the international media at the end of the match.
Posting a few brief quotes on the TTFF on-line website, Fuentes reported that Maturana had no time for excuses, but definitely will need the next 20 days to find solutions before T&T travel to play in Guatemala City on October 11.
"What is there to say except for we didn·t play well and we lost the game. I was not happy with our play," Maturana said. "We have to go and try to win our next match now and take it from there."
Asked whether he felt Trinidad and Tobago are now in a must-win situation against Guatemala and whether he feels the same about the USA game four days later in Port of Spain, Maturana responded:
"Before this round we saw that Mexico, USA and maybe Costa Rica would always be among the top three and all the other teams would have to try and compete for fourth and even the third spot. The same goes for the second place in our group.
"I think there is a possibility that whichever team wins the next game (T&T vs Guatemala), they will advance to the next round. Right now I do not think about the match against USA (on October 15), but we have to focus on Guatemala.
"I don·t talk too much about players as whatever team you have you try to do the best possible (in response to skipper Dwight Yorke·s late withdrawal). It did not work in our favour tonight. I do not make any excuses but we have to work at it again and pick ourselves up in order to dig deep for our results," Maturana added.
On the other side, at the media briefing after the match, US midfielder Landon Donovan boasted that Wednesday's game was the most dominating performance he has been a part of.
"It·s ideal, right? We were excellent tonight. The first half was one of the most dominating performances I·ve ever been a part of. We were good all over the field," Donovan said. "Their defence wasn·t comfortable coming in with Beasley and Dempsey. And if they did come, our outside backs did a good job of getting around them and making it difficult. Time after time, we found little seams, we could turn plays and be dangerous almost every time we had the ball. Getting that third goal killed the game. They didn·t want to get embarrassed, so three goals is enough."
USA coach Bob Bradley also commented that Wednesday's game was the easiest one the Americans had for the year.
"We·ve not had a game like that in a while," Bradley noted. "We had a few last year, but so far this year, that·s not the game we·ve been in. So it·s good to get things going in the right way."
Questions over Warriors' tactics, personnel.
By: Lasana Liburd (Express).
Ex-players, coaches weigh in.
Former Trinidad and Tobago international standouts and T&T Pro League coaches yesterday lamented the tactics and personnel used by present national football coach Francisco Maturana in Wednesday's 3-0 South Africa 2010 World Cup qualifier away to the United States.
The defeat was the most lopsided in competitive action against the US and left the "Soca Warriors" third from four teams in Group C-they are level on points with Guatemala but trail on goal difference. The top two teams progress to the final CONCACAF qualifying round.
CLICO San Juan Jabloteh assistant coach, Trinidad and Tobago's most capped player and local television analyst, Angus Eve, suggested that the Warriors paid the price for their negative approach, while Jabloteh head coach and former England World Cup player, Terry Fenwick, agreed.
"The coach did not believe that his team could go out and beat America," said Eve, "and it showed in the team that he put out. I think America's reputation got into the coach's mind and we ended up paying them far too much respect."
World Cup 2006 goalkeeper and recent Hall of Fame inductee, Shaka Hislop, felt the team played badly no matter the instruction and was particularly concerned by their defending. He singled out Clint Dempsey's item in the 18th minute, which left the visitors two goals down.
"Dempsey played the ball to Damarcus Beasley who was in eight yards of space just on top of our penalty box," said Hislop, who attended the qualifier as an analyst for ESPN International. "Beasley had time to take a touch before making a pass that went under the foot of Keyeno (Thomas) and then Dempsey and Brian Ching were both free in our box with only the goalkeeper to beat. How is it even possible for Beasley to have had that much space on top our box and for two strikers to be alone in the box at this level?
"Even if you argue that they tried to play too defensively, they still did not do what they were supposed to do."
Eve and Hislop, who were teammates during the 2006 qualifiers, targeted the defence for not tracking their opposing runners, although the five-man midfield was also knocked for failing to pressure opponents.
"There is only one ball," said Eve, "so, if you put pressure on the ball, the runners are irrelevant."
Hislop felt that the Colombian did himself no favours by ignoring six foot seven defender and 2006 World Cup veteran Dennis Lawrence, who was on the substitutes bench on Wednesday.
"I do like the faith Maturana has shown in the local players, which is something we have not had since 1989," said the former Newcastle, West Ham and Portsmouth goalkeeper. "But, if you look at the spine of our team, we are short of experience and I think Dennis was a big miss and should have been used... The fact that two goals came from set pieces shows up Dennis' exclusion."
W. Connection boss and two-time T&T Pro League Coach of the Year, Stuart Charles-Fevrier, was surprised that Maturana apparently made little effort to fight back once behind.
"I thought they could have taken a bit more risk after we were two goals down at halftime," Fevrier said, "by introducing (Andre) Toussaint and (Jason) Scotland. Toussaint played a good 45 minutes (against Guatemala) and his confidence should have been high, while the conditions suited Scotland and he would have wanted to show what he can do in such a critical situation.
"I think the coach missed out by not giving Scotland a chance. At the minute, he must feel the coach has no confidence in him."
Hislop agreed that Scotland should have been used.
"If (Maturana) has a personal problem with Stern (John), he should have used Scotland against the big, strong Americans," said Hislop, "because he could hold up the ball while Cornell Glen could have started his runs from a deeper position."
Still, the four men felt that the Warriors could improve and Hislop suggested they are doing marginally better than the crop of 2006 at the same stage in the campaign.
"I think this team is doing marginally better after the results against Cuba and Guatemala," said Hislop. "But I think there are fundamental flaws in terms of player personnel and how they are used."
But Eve insisted that the team must play with the belief they had under his last national coach, Bertille St Clair.
"If we bring in a foreign coach, he must think that we can win and not that we are minnows," he said. "I think Joe Public showed the other day what you can achieve if you go out and play believing that you can beat these teams.
"We must respect every opponent but we must not fear them."
All is not lost.
By: Fazeer Mohammed (Express).
A teaspoonful of perspective should easily dilute the gallons of outrage generated by Wednesday night's cut-tail.
Never mind what we think about their boring, direct, one-dimensional style of play or how talented our players are by comparison, the fact remains that Trinidad and Tobago have NEVER defeated the United States in a senior men's World Cup football qualifier. So even if the manner of the 3-0 loss in Bridgeview, Illinois was especially disappointing, the result itself would only be a major surprise to the growing legion of fly-by-night, big-up-de-boys, stripes-on-they-face, flag-waving neophytes.
To be fair, it was only in 1985 that the teams first met in pursuit of a place in the World Cup finals (we lost 2-1 and 1-0), so we can only speculate how earlier sides, like the 1973 one that was robbed in Haiti or the squad of the late 1960s that earned a silver medal at the 1967 Pan American Games, would have fared against the fledgling American outfits of that era.
But that is supposition. What is fact is that whenever we go up there to play a World Cup qualifier-the notable exception being 1989 when Hutson Charles' strike earned us a 1-1 draw-we lose. Sometimes narrowly, sometimes agonisingly, but we still lose.
However, in the context of the recent run of encouraging results (beating El Salvador 3-1 in a warm-up in Washington DC, taking three points off Cuba with another 3-1 result in Havana, and even last Saturday's 1-1 draw at home to Guatemala), it is still reasonable to ask what went so badly wrong in this game that we were made to look as if the semi-final stage of CONCACAF qualifying was a step too far up for us?
Before we address the issue of personnel, which is significant, it is only reasonable to expect that coach Francisco Maturana explains why he opted for such an overly-defensive posture?
By giving up so much space and possession to the Americans, it was at times a virtual backs-and-forwards exercise. And it's not as if we have a history or even a recent reputation for sturdy, well-drilled defences.
Look, every man Jack and his tantie know that we have always been vulnerable to aerial crosses, whether in open play or dead-ball situations. So why give the Americans ample opportunity to exploit those glaring weaknesses?
Okay, so there were a couple of chances which, if capitalised upon, would have presented a different picture. But honestly, the way we were scampering and scrambling in defence, you just felt that if they really had to push for an equalising or winning goal, the Americans would have gotten it.
It just didn't seem to make sense. But I will happily defer to Senor Maturana, via his interpreter presumably.
Hopefully, the head coach will also do what West Indies cricket selectors hardly ever facilitate the public with: specific reasons for team selection and, more precisely in this case, the omission of Dennis Lawrence from the heart of the defence.
Was he injured? Did he pass on his gold filling to a teammate without the boss' approval? What?
Of course, we also have to take into consideration the fact that previous captain and key midfielder Aurtis Whitley has been sidelined by injury. Also, Stern John has apparently been discarded for good, while Chris Birchall was dropped for the last two qualifiers. But those were choices, not unwanted situations forced upon the technical staff.
In contrast, the absence of Dwight Yorke was out of their control and, not surprisingly, Roy Keane has been promoted to public enemy number one among the local football following because of the Sunderland manager's decision to recall the influential veteran player immediately after the Guatemala fixture, even though the FIFA regulations mandate that players must be released by their clubs to represent their countries in competitive fixtures like World Cup qualifiers.
I don't know if the Irishman is just another pompous English Premier League boss who really has no respect for small nations such as ours. He consented to Carlos Edwards staying on, didn't he?
Somehow I suspect there is more in the mortar than just the pestle on this one as it is quite possible that Yorke's one-year extension of his contract at Sunderland was conditional, as a then retired international footballer, of him being totally committed to the cause of the club up in the north-east of England. Then again, Keane might just as well be a heartless, arrogant so-and-so. Maybe we'll find out the truth before October 11.
Why that date? What happen? Allyuh give up already?
That's the day qualifying action resumes for us with a potentially decisive trip to Guatemala City to face the team that is now in second spot in Group One, five points behind the runaway Yanks, and ahead of Trinidad and Tobago only by virtue of a better goal-difference.
Even with a home game against the United States to follow four days later, a draw against the Guatemalans will definitely keep us in the running, especially as the opposition in our last semi-final round qualifier--at the Hasely Crawford Stadium on November 19--will be the cellar-placed Cubans.
So our fate is still very much in our hands to claim the runners-up spot in the group and advance to the final, six-team phase of qualifying for South Africa 2010.
It may seem so after Wednesday's dispiriting performance, but all is not lost.
There's no leeway for any more performances like that, though.
Maturana ducks and runs.
USA defeat Soca Warriors 3-0.
By: Ian Prescott Bridgeview, Illinois
It was the poorest of lame excuses. But it was the only explanation offered by Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF) press officer Shaun Fuentes as T&T coach Francisco Maturana showed his back and walked away from 30-odd reporters following the Soca Warriors' embarrassing 3-0 defeat to the United States in a CONCACAF World Cup qualifier on Wednesday night at Toyota Park, Bridgeview, Illinois.
Apparently, Trinidad and Tobago assistant coach Anton Corneal had lost his command of Spanish and cannot interpret for Maturana as he did when the Colombian first took up the T&T head coaching job.
Trinidad and Tobago had just suffered their biggest-ever defeat to the USA in 17 meetings and Maturana was not in a talking mood. And neither were his players.
T&T captain Cyd Gray simply refused to speak to the media; defender Dennis Lawrence had an upset look after coming all the way from England to sit on the bench; and striker Cornell Glenn, the only man with the courage to talk, offered no excuses.
With his coach shirking responsibility, Glen became the team's spokesman.
"It's going to be tougher, but I think it's going to be a good thing for us as well," Glen said.
"We know that we have to work harder now to get the points...especially against Guatemala. So, we have a job to do, and we have to just forget this game. Put this game behind us, and look forward to the next game."
Following the mid-week victory, the United States have almost certainly qualified for CONCACAF'S Final Round of World Cup qualifying after moving clear atop Group One with nine points.
And Guatemala's 4-1 victory over Cuba has pulled them level with T&T on four points, and ahead on goal difference.
The two teams meet on October 11 in Guatemala, in a showdown which may well determine the final qualifiers in the group.
Glen said despite exhaustive work on a game plan, the Warriors had suffered because of mistakes.
"We just didn't stick to plan, and three mistakes cost us today," he said.
"We started...I wouldn't say poorly, but we didn't start like we wanted to. The first goal we got was exactly what we worked on yesterday. That is one of our weaknesses and it's hard to see that we got a goal like that."
Glen was referring to the soft goal which gave the Americans a 1-0 advantage in the ninth minute.
Michael Bradley's opener was embarrassingly easy, the US midfielder ghosting in unmarked behind the T&T defence to re-direct Landon Donovan's free-kick past keeper Marvin Phillip with a slight touch with the outside of his right foot.
Glen felt that Sunderland midfielder Dwight Yorke's absence was a slight team distraction, but also believed that replacement Osei Telesford did a capable job.
The T&T striker, a former MLS professional, also defended Maturana's decision to use him as the single forward, consequently allowing the American defenders to smother him.
"I like to play with a second striker, but that is the coach's job," he insisted.
"That is the coach's job! We won against Cuba and we almost won against Guatemala using the same system we used against the USA. It was just three mistakes and it cost us. I think we missed a couple of players well. Avery (John) and Dennis (Lawrence) at the back.
If Maturana maintains that his defence is solid, then his midfield is definitely porous.
The Americans exposed Trinidad and Tobago's faults in a big way.
First, none of the midfielders challenged the player with the ball, allowing their hosts time and space to pick off runners up the flanks.
Also shown up were players who refuse to sacrifice for the team.
But, what the Americans exploited mostly was a lack of urgency and poor work ethic.
Before a crowd of 11,452 fans, the Soca Warriors' performance bordered on embarrassing and many Trinidad and Tobago ex-nationals who came from New York, Boston and elsewhere left disappointed.
Unlike Maturana, US coach Bob Bradley liked what he saw of the T&T team.
"It's good to have gotten this round off to such a good start," Bradley said after his squad had registered their third straight victory.
"We found a good rhythm and did a good job moving the ball and finding the little seams in their defence. I think that set the tone for the game. It was a good win, and halfway through this round I think we continue to improve and that·s what it·s all about."
The Americans destroyed Trinidad and Tobago in the centre of the park and particularly on the left side.
But young Defence Force player Aklie Edwards does not deserve as much blame as the man in front of him, Keno Daniel, who barely lifted a foot to help the defender.
The United Petrotrin midfielder spent 90 per cent of the match in no man's land, allowing inexperienced Aklie Edwards to be terrorised on the flank.
At one point, Daniel simply allowed Sasha Kljestian to stroll past him unchallenged, forcing Aklie Edwards into an awkward tackle as the American outpaced him.
Daniel had done the exact same against Guatemala, allowing their number 7 to run at Avery John.
But it was the far more organised Americans who showed up defensive weaknesses throughout the Trinidad and Tobago line-up.
Like any good coach, Maturana usually shields his players from blame. But by sparing the rod, the child is often spoilt.
Former T&T coach, Dutchman Leo Beenhakker, would not have stood that nonsense from wide midfielders Daniel and Carlos Edwards, as the easygoing Maturana is apparently willing to.
The right flank was harder to breach, but only because defender Gray held his end well and prevented Da Marcus Beasley from getting behind him.
Ahead of Gray, Carlos Edwards only sparingly helped his defender.
And, because none of the midfielders regularly challenged the man with the ball, the Americans were able to easily pick out their people.
It came as no surprise when Dempsey gave the USA a second goal, taking Beasley's straight pass behind Keyeno Thomas and hitting a low shot across Marvin Phillip to the far post.
It was only for a ten-minute spell early in the second half that the Soca Warriors competed and forced a few corners.
During that period, when the visitors finally started to run at their opponents, the Americas looked unsettled.
Uncle Sam's Army got a scare in the 53rd minute, when a cross from Gray was deflected by defender Oguchi Onyewu just outside the near post, and from the corner defender Steve Cherundolo cleared the ball off the goal-line.
Trinidad and Tobago did have the ball in the American goal in that period, substitute Anthony Wolfe netting from an off-side position, after US keeper Tim Howard only parried a stiff shot from Glen.
But after surviving a spell of pressure, Ching put the ball in an unprotected net in the 57th, pushing the American lead to 3-0.
Once again, it came from a defensive error, T&T central defender Thomas' laboured jump allowing Onyewu a header onto Beasley's free-kick.
Keeper Phillip pushed the ball into the air, but the rebound fell to an again unmarked Ching.
Disappointed, their egos battered and bruised, Trinidad and Tobago's Soca Warriors carried the same long look as they did a year ago when Costa Rica whipped them 4-0.
But, they have since bounced back with a series of good victories.
Statistics say otherwise, but I'll make a brave prediction that T&T will defeat the USA when the teams meet again in Port of Spain on October 15, just four days after the Guatemala showdown.
TEAMS:
USA: 1-Tim Howard; 15-Heath Pearce, 3-Carlos Bocanegra-capt., 5-Oguchi Onyewu, 6-Steve Cherundolo; 17-DaMarcus Beasley, 12-Michael Bradley (4-Rico Clark, 67), 16-Sacha Kljestan, 8-Clint Dempsey (7-Eddie Lewis, 78); 10-Landon Donovan, 11-Brian Ching (9-Eddie Johnson, 67)
Subs Not Used: 18-Brad Guzan, 2-Frankie Hejduk, 13-Maurice Edu, 14-Danny Califf
Head Coach: Bob Bradley
T&T: 1-Marvin Phillip; 3-Akile Edwards, 5-Keyeno Thomas, 9-Makan Hislop, 8-Cyd Gray; 17-Keon Daniel, 4-Osei Telesford, 2-Clyde Leon, 7-Carlos Edwards; 12-Densil Theobald (14-Anthony Wolfe, 46), 13-Cornell Glenn
Subs Not Used: 18-Jan-Michael Williams, 6-Dennis Lawrence, 10-Andre Toussaint, 11-Jason Scotland, 15-Kerry Baptiste, 16-Julius James
Head Coach: Francisco Maturana
