Don't know if the team was overconfident coming into this match but for the first 20 mins it was ALL Costa Rica, as they dominated play and posession, keeping us pegged in our 1/2 throughout. Unlke vs Canada we weren't allowed time on the ball, and SOME players tended to panic when under pressure... this showed itself with yellow cards to Cyrus, Primus and Gonzales, with the latter two earning their second of the tournament, meaning we will play with a completely new central defence vs Mexico... I'm guessing David and Walker, if he recovers will replace them, otherwise Cyrus may drop back into defence as he did in the Under-17 WC. But getting back to the game, after a nice knock in the 21st min we put together a decent attack that resulted in two shots at goal from first Captain Paul, then De Silva... one just over, the other wide.
In the second 1/2 there was a turning point when first CR got reduced to 10 men after a CR player who had been booked earlier received a 2nd yellow after a cynical tackle on the T&T captain who up to that point was the fulcrum for most of our attacks with his mazy, dribbling runs... showing quick feet and plenty determination given his height and frame. Late on, after Molino replaced David, T&T were finally exploiting the space created by CR being a man down. We launched wave after wave ourselves and were unlucky not to go a goal ahead after a snap header by Louheed was brilliantly saved by the CR keeper... but the T&T striker would soon be replaced by Daniel Joseph, who looked lively, but IMHO, he should have taken the place of #19 Grosvenor, who must have touched the ball twice in the whole of the 1st 1/2 and seemed determined to make up for that in the 2nd 1/2 as he held onto the ball TOO long, and usually ended up losing it! T&T were almost made to regret that in the 86th min when a rare CR raid resulted in a a shot rocketing off our crossbar with Samuel a mere spectator, although he DID recover to save the rebound! There were two free-kicks just outside the box, one by Primus which went just over ad another by De Silva that the keeper held. In the end a draw could be considered a fair result, because CR ran rings around us in the 1st 1/2 while we showed determination and grit to hold them at bay, with the reverse being true for much of the 2nd!
Molino impressed me when he came on, his link up play with Leston Paul was good and he added some much needed zest to the T&T attack... but picked up a yellow for simulation. He should chat with De Silva and get some advice on how to gain HEALTHY weight ie MUSCLE tho, as his tiny frame will not cut it at International level.
It's a mystery to me why Grosvenor gets as much playing time as he has so far - 75 in the 1st game and a full 90 tonight... he was out of the game and barely touched the ball in the first 1/2. and held on waay too much in the 2nd.
Cyrus seemed a spent force since the 32nd min after he made an end to end run and put in a defence-saving tackle. Thereafter he was frequently holdng his waist and made little forward runs.
Leston Paul showed glimses of his potential, but he too seemed to run out of steam towards the end of the game...understandably so tho, as he worked hard in both offence AND defence.
Other than a 1st 1/2 fumble, goal-keeper Samuel was relatively solid.
De Silva, like his Captain shined in spurts and worked hard, but had some frequent lapses, losing the bal in midfield, but he made some brilliant cross-field passes and delivered a couple pin-point crosses as well.
Overall, we faced stronger opposition than Canada provided, and panicked in the earlies, eventually when we settled down, we looked GOOD and matched the CR's. I expect this team to beat Mexico and depending on the result of the CR/Canada game, finish 1st or second in our group...the GOOD thing is, we have the advantage of playing AFTER them, so we'll ALREADY KNOW what we need to do. Irregardless of THAT game tho - once we do NOT lose to Mexico, we are through! EGYPT HERE WE COME!!!