ONE KICK…..ENDS 2010 WORLD CUP DREAM???----

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I don't think there's a single T&T football supporter who HASN'T wondered to themself "what if that penalty was scored, where would our WCQ campaign be now?"

Berris?

[Socapro]

SPORTS: DANCING BRAVE COLUMN FOR MONDAY  29TH JUNE, 2009

By Andre E Baptiste

One Kick, One Kick …..that is all it takes to win a football match.

For Trinidad and Tobago’s Soca Warriors, it seems as if this One Kick may cost us an opportunity to enjoy a return to the World Cup Finals (South Africa 2010), after Germany 2006’s historic experiences.

The Month was February , Carnival was a few days away and all of Trinidad and Tobago was about to explode, as Trinidad and Tobago led El Salvador by 2-0 at half time in the cauldron that is El Salvador’s football stadium.

When in the second half, Trinidad and Tobago were awarded a penalty, most of this country were already celebrating 3-0 and some among us were already considering, how would we pay for our adventure to South Africa with the Soca Warriors.

Stern John though , and not Dwight Yorke ( who coincidentally had scored the penalty in the first half when Stern John was brought down in the penalty areas) stepped forward to kick this our second penalty on the night .

There was no reaction from the Trinidad and Tobago coaching staff. They all appeared to sit or stand by and await the inevitable goal. It did not seem to matter that Yorke was the designated penalty taker according to the team’s practice sessions.

What Happened next, will remain with me and several hundred thousands persons in this country and elsewhere.

Stern John ran up to the ball and blazed his kick over the bar.

Let me just repeat this please, Stern John , Trinidad and Tobago’s all time leading goals corer , ran up to the ball and blazed his kick over the bar.

 One last time , if you readers will permit , Stern John who has been out of form with his club in England , but is still Trinidad and Tobago’s Leading goals corer , ran up to the ball and blazed his kick over the bar.

When Stern John turned and looked his captain Dwight Yorke in the eyes, there was a sense that even their close friendship could be tested here. By the end of the night, Trinidad and Tobago did well to hold off El Salvador and earn a draw (2-2) and one point.

However, this is where it all went wrong, because that one point should have been three points and would have been the perfect start to the campaign. Instead on the night , that ONE KICK not only cost us three points , but it also caused Yorke to become so upset that after the match was blown off , he said something to the referee and was given a red card. Yorke was to then miss our next two matches. A lackluster home draw to Honduras and comprehensive whipping from the USA.

Two other defeats since to Costa Rica and Mexico meant that at the halfway stage in this ten match series, Trinidad and Tobago is pegged to the bottom of the six team group with only two points.

Now, do you all understand, what a difference those first THREE points would have made in not only the players minds but our position on the table...

So what can be done?

The Football Federation finally parted company with Francisco Maturanna and some of his team and belatedly handed over the reins to Russell Latapy, but even he could not stop us from losing ground on the other teams.

We played positively against Costa Rica, but were short in quality in midfield and defence. In Mexico we were woeful and were it not for Clayton Ince’s heroics in goal, we would have been trounced.

Latapy’s has a task, which even Mandrake the magician would have trouble convincing his followers despite someone placing Merlin the sorcerer at his side. So this time around, the little Magician only has his aging friend Yorke at his side. And aging has become the nom de plume of our current soca warriors’ football team.

Perhaps, that ONE KICK school lesson is still to be convincingly taught. Friendship and sports are not bedfellows..

It is already late in our campaign and maybe that is why Austin Jack Warner seems to have changed his mood and opinion. He is no longer as optimistic as he was four years ago in 2005, when we were in a similar position and Leo Beenhaker was brought to our shores. Warner was always confident then of our qualification.

These days, Warner appears to have resigned himself to the fact that qualification for South Africa looks slim and very difficult and that in itself is probably why it appears to a lot of persons we are just going through the motions, with not much preparations being put into place for the reaming five matches.

If indeed that is the case , now is the best time to allow some exposure to our younger players and to say a courteous goodbye to those elderly statesmen still walking ( rather than running) the curbs of our football.

Latapy needs support otherwise, he may decide it is better to pack it in and look elsewhere for a coaching role. Falkirk , his former club are looking for a new manager , so let us be careful in assuming that Latapy craves this job so much , that he will accept anything that he is given, just so others can say , “ Another local coach , has failed at the international level.”.

So as we look ahead to August 12th and El Salvador, one can only imagine, what a difference six months makes in football and also hope that Stern John’s great footballing achievements for this

Country will not be tarnished by the now infamous – One Kick-.

Remember , just as in 2005 , our last game is against Mexico at home , but this time unlike 2005 , Mexico are struggling for survival, so will most likely send their best team.

Oh for another chance to revisit that ONE KICK….I know what I would do , I would let…….take it.

 

:: AB

ASSNESS

Tell A.B. stop his petty moaning! 

The end justifies the means! If we had won that game then the Cobo man would still be with us & in my book that is far worst than our current position even if had 2 more points!

At least I can keep my hair rather than be doing this when the team is selected and this during all our remaining games in the Hex!

If we win all our remaining home games, put in progressive performances and still doh qualify I will be reasonably happy!

If we fail to qualify chalk this failed campaign down to JW and his blacklist, leading to us quickly losing Leo & eventually Wim!

Too much non-sense going on with JW & the TTFF! 

[Brownsugar]

And I am one of those that felt he should not have been fired and that he is a good coach. 

Whaaaaatttt??!!   .....blasphemy!!!!....

[Bourbon]

So...wait. Am I to understand that.....not getting 3 points was worth it because then we woulda still have Maturana as coach?

[Arazi]

So...wait. Am I to understand that.....not getting 3 points was worth it because then we woulda still have Maturana as coach?

forgive them bourbon..their hatred has clouded there vision towards the colombian for quite a while..logic will reach only a few in minoirty..they see only four games that maturana coached the 2 US games in the US, bermuda in the MLS and the game the Grenada loss in the digi...

the fact we made to the hex under him means nothing...the fact that we never lost to a team speaking spanish under him means nothing..the fact we had a healthy winning record under him also means nothing...

[Babalawo]

Yorke gets away with no punishment for giving Stern john to take penalty. think that can happen under Beenhaker? only in trinidad eh

[kicker]

Yorke gets away with no punishment for giving Stern john to take penalty. think that can happen under Beenhaker? only in trinidad eh

 

And what should that punishment be? 

[Disgruntled_Trini]

Yorke gets away with no punishment for giving Stern john to take penalty. think that can happen under Beenhaker? only in trinidad eh

 

And what should that punishment be? 

No Zen in hats and slippers for ah month.

[palos]

Yorke gets away with no punishment for giving Stern john to take penalty. think that can happen under Beenhaker? only in trinidad eh

Dem woulda never dare try dat shit under Beenie in de fuss place.

Which is why Maturana bears the ultimate responsibility.  Basically, dem did have no respeck fuh de coach and is up to de coach to command dat respeck.

Dat is sumting Latapy have to learn when he doh sub Yorke in games when is patently obvious he needs to.

[Daft Trini]

Yorke gets away with no punishment for giving Stern john to take penalty. think that can happen under Beenhaker? only in trinidad eh

Dem woulda never dare try dat shit under Beenie in de fuss place.

Which is why Maturana bears the ultimate responsibility.  Basically, dem did have no respeck fuh de coach and is up to de coach to command dat respeck.

Dat is sumting Latapy have to learn when he doh sub Yorke in games when is patently obvious he needs to.

Yuh preachin but few listening, when yuh close up the ark... yuh go see how much ah dem go call yuh Noah. 2014 is the only reality we could look forward to 

[daryn]

Yorke gets away with no punishment for giving Stern john to take penalty. think that can happen under Beenhaker? only in trinidad eh

Dem woulda never dare try dat shit under Beenie in de fuss place.

Which is why Maturana have to take he share a de blame too.

which leads me to wonder why it so hard to believe that the men on the field were not going against instructions.

Against Mexico in '05, ent is Stern who get chosen to take the kick ahead of Yorke (and Latas)?  now we know that there wasn't any "pardner thing" involved then so for whatever reason we know that Beenie had no problem with Stern being the penalty-taker.  So why is it such a stretch to believe that Maturana had given either player license to take the kicks?  Or that he had given the captain free rein to make the decision?

I doh know if I miss something or if you have behind the scenes information.

[Arazi]

Yorke gets away with no punishment for giving Stern john to take penalty. think that can happen under Beenhaker? only in trinidad eh

Dem woulda never dare try dat shit under Beenie in de fuss place.

Which is why Maturana bears the ultimate responsibility.  Basically, dem did have no respeck fuh de coach and is up to de coach to command dat respeck.

Dat is sumting Latapy have to learn when he doh sub Yorke in games when is patently obvious he needs to.

we hope and pray...

[Arazi]

Yorke gets away with no punishment for giving Stern john to take penalty. think that can happen under Beenhaker? only in trinidad eh

Dem woulda never dare try dat shit under Beenie in de fuss place.

Which is why Maturana have to take he share a de blame too.

which leads me to wonder why it so hard to believe that the men on the field were not going against instructions.

Against Mexico in '05, ent is Stern who get chosen to take the kick ahead of Yorke (and Latas)?  now we know that there wasn't any "pardner thing" involved then so for whatever reason we know that Beenie had no problem with Stern being the penalty-taker.  So why is it such a stretch to believe that Maturana had given either player license to take the kicks?  Or that he had given the captain free rein to make the decision?

I doh know if I miss something or if you have behind the scenes information.

stern was the designated kick taker back then..i think it was najjar who said back in the day stern WAS the best at taking penalites back when he was coach..after that miss..yorke started taking pks

[daryn]

Yorke gets away with no punishment for giving Stern john to take penalty. think that can happen under Beenhaker? only in trinidad eh

Dem woulda never dare try dat shit under Beenie in de fuss place.

Which is why Maturana have to take he share a de blame too.

which leads me to wonder why it so hard to believe that the men on the field were not going against instructions.

Against Mexico in '05, ent is Stern who get chosen to take the kick ahead of Yorke (and Latas)?  now we know that there wasn't any "pardner thing" involved then so for whatever reason we know that Beenie had no problem with Stern being the penalty-taker.  So why is it such a stretch to believe that Maturana had given either player license to take the kicks?  Or that he had given the captain free rein to make the decision?

I doh know if I miss something or if you have behind the scenes information.

stern was the designated kick taker back then..i think it was najjar who said back in the day stern WAS the best at taking penalites back when he was coach..after that miss..yorke started taking pks

first of all, it's not as if we was getting penalties in every game.  Off the top of my head, Yorke take a penalty in a friendly against Iceland under Don Leo and against the US under Maturana.  I might very well be forgetting some.

secondly, who had been taking is not really that the matter at hand here.  Palos is making a claim that the players went against the game plan.  (Again, I might very well be forgetting a penalty but) the fact that Yorke had taken the penalty against the US is very thin evidence that the coaching staff had designated him as the sole penalty-taker for the El Salvador game.

edit: further, the fact that Don Leo also chose Stern to take the kick in a very important situation leads me to believe that Stern show some quality that would lead a coach to believe he's a suitable candidate.

[palos]

first of all, it's not as if we was getting penalties in every game.  Off the top of my head, Yorke take a penalty in a friendly against Iceland under Don Leo and against the US under Maturana.  I might very well be forgetting some.

secondly, who had been taking is not really that the matter at hand here.  Palos is making a claim that the players went against the game plan.  (Again, I might very well be forgetting a penalty but) the fact that Yorke had taken the penalty against the US is very thin evidence that the coaching staff had designated him as the sole penalty-taker for the El Salvador game.

If Yorke hadn't taken the penalty AND SCORED against El Salvador IN THE SAME GAME, was STILL ON THE FIELD when the second penalty was awarded & played the entire 90 minutes, you MIGHT have had a point.

[kicker]

Yorke gets away with no punishment for giving Stern john to take penalty. think that can happen under Beenhaker? only in trinidad eh

Dem woulda never dare try dat shit under Beenie in de fuss place.

Which is why Maturana bears the ultimate responsibility.  Basically, dem did have no respeck fuh de coach and is up to de coach to command dat respeck.

Dat is sumting Latapy have to learn when he doh sub Yorke in games when is patently obvious he needs to.

Unless you know exactly what conversations took place behind the scenes regarding that penalty kick, this sounds like speculation disguised as fact.  

[daryn]

first of all, it's not as if we was getting penalties in every game.  Off the top of my head, Yorke take a penalty in a friendly against Iceland under Don Leo and against the US under Maturana.  I might very well be forgetting some.

secondly, who had been taking is not really that the matter at hand here.  Palos is making a claim that the players went against the game plan.  (Again, I might very well be forgetting a penalty but) the fact that Yorke had taken the penalty against the US is very thin evidence that the coaching staff had designated him as the sole penalty-taker for the El Salvador game.

If Yorke hadn't taken the penalty AND SCORED against El Salvador IN THE SAME GAME, was STILL ON THE FIELD when the second penalty was awarded & played the entire 90 minutes, you MIGHT have had a point.

we know that yorke took the first penalty.  that is all well and good but you're not actually addressing the question I asked.

How do you know that the coach hadn't said to yorke that either he or stern could take kicks?  Or that the choice would be up to him?  or that someone else should take a 2nd kick if the situation arose?

[Fyzoman]

So...wait. Am I to understand that.....not getting 3 points was worth it because then we woulda still have Maturana as coach?

forgive them bourbon..their hatred has clouded there vision towards the colombian for quite a while..logic will reach only a few in minoirty..they see only four games that maturana coached the 2 US games in the US, bermuda in the MLS and the game the Grenada loss in the digi...

the fact we made to the hex under him means nothing...the fact that we never lost to a team speaking spanish under him means nothing..the fact we had a healthy winning record under him also means nothing...

de fact dat ah went to Chicago to see meh country play for the first time in bout almost 15 years, and end up see ah scrimmage means something.

de fact dat ah drive 10 hours to Nashville to see meh country play, again another scrimmage for de US means something at least to me

but seriously i think it's worth it, for having gotten rid of pacho, JMHO!

[jai john]

..all yuh of course know dat Stern or Yorke, or who ever, cudda score de penalty and we still lose right ? ..and dat de Salvadoreaneans and  Hondureaneans cudda put away some more an dey chances and we cudda be in ah bigger ole dan we are now right ? ...ah not even going to comment further on how de USA was teeing up Altidore to get ah hattrick against we !

All dis ..if we did do dis and if we did do dat ....ting ...is only spending time in fools paradise ...the fact is we did not do what we aught to have done !

We making it look like we eh get no breaks !! all yuh did see Spann handle de ball in de area ? ..but allyuh see Pique in de eurocup right ? nobody eh consider dat Jones was lucky to get at penalty award in de first place ?

What about de goals we scored ...starting from dat same El salvador game .....the ball slipped through the keepers grasp from a shot way out by edwards .... what bout hyland goal .against de run ah play vs honduras ? ...he shot sstraight to the keeper and de ball slipped thru again !
What about all dem chances em other eams throw away against us ??
Mexio beat us 2-1 bt what about if we look at ow many exico missed ?? all yuh eh tink dem saying de same tings too ??

if we wanted to we could extrapolate and say if we scored all our chances and the other teams did not we would be soaring on top right now !!!

Ah really eh see where dis discussion going ...is it just to assuage our hurt feelings that we dabble in the fictitious ?

I could just hear de brazilian /trini fans saying ...if ronaldo didn't get sick before the game we woudda win another WC ! ....but de French fans would be sure to say ...ZZZZZZZIIIIDDDDAAAANNNNEEE !!!

Let me go yes ...I too old to be discussing nancy stories created by  andre baptiste . An kyah believe I responding to something that is even remotely connected to the one who opens his mouth fearlessly and removes  all doubt.

[palos]

first of all, it's not as if we was getting penalties in every game.  Off the top of my head, Yorke take a penalty in a friendly against Iceland under Don Leo and against the US under Maturana.  I might very well be forgetting some.

secondly, who had been taking is not really that the matter at hand here.  Palos is making a claim that the players went against the game plan.  (Again, I might very well be forgetting a penalty but) the fact that Yorke had taken the penalty against the US is very thin evidence that the coaching staff had designated him as the sole penalty-taker for the El Salvador game.

If Yorke hadn't taken the penalty AND SCORED against El Salvador IN THE SAME GAME, was STILL ON THE FIELD when the second penalty was awarded & played the entire 90 minutes, you MIGHT have had a point.

we know that yorke took the first penalty.  that is all well and good but you're not actually addressing the question I asked.

How do you know that the coach hadn't said to yorke that either he or stern could take kicks?  Or that the choice would be up to him?  or that someone else should take a 2nd kick if the situation arose?

What we do know is that it was a COLOSSAL MISTAKE for Stern to take that penalty.  It cost us 2 points in WCQ.  That is undisputable.

Nex ting we end up in a situation where 2 points is the difference between qualifying for SA and satyin home and watchin it on TV.

[palos]

Let me go yes ...

Please. 

[Dinner Mints]

It cost us 2 points in WCQ.  That is undisputable.

That is very disputable because it is nonsense.

[kicker]

It cost us 2 points in WCQ.  That is undisputable.

Maybe in a rumshop...

[jai john]

What we do know is that it was a COLOSSAL MISTAKE for Stern to take that penalty.  It cost us 2 points in WCQ.  That is undisputable.

Nex ting we end up in a situation where 2 points is the difference between qualifying for SA and satyin home and watchin it on TV.
[/quote]

we also know dat it was a good decision for Daniel Alves to take de free kick  for Brazil in de confed cup with all dem stars around ...and dat it was a colassal mistake for terry to take de penalty in the euro final ...and dat yuh kyah leave Messi unmarked in de area because he doh head ball right ? ...yes Palos hindsight is 20/20..but you good at that .
what we should know is dat Stern John cannot solely be blamed for the position we find ourselves in any more  than the captain for getting himself suspended after the final whistle was blown ...and had to miss two crucial games when we needed him most.
you could keep fooling yourself for as long as you like but for me dis time around is paradise lost !

[Socapro]

What we do know is that it was a COLOSSAL MISTAKE for Stern to take that penalty.  It cost us 2 points in WCQ.  That is undisputable.

Nex ting we end up in a situation where 2 points is the difference between qualifying for SA and satyin home and watchin it on TV.

we also know dat it was a good decision for Daniel Alves to take de free kick  for Brazil in de confed cup with all dem stars around ...and dat it was a colassal mistake for terry to take de penalty in the euro final ...and dat yuh kyah leave Messi unmarked in de area because he doh head ball right ? ...yes Palos hindsight is 20/20..but you good at that .
what we should know is dat Stern John cannot solely be blamed for the position we find ourselves in any more  than the captain for getting himself suspended after the final whistle was blown ...and had to miss two crucial games when we needed him most.
you could keep fooling yourself for as long as you like but for me dis time around is paradise lost !
[/quote]
 

The ultimate blame for us losing that game is now back in Columbia pulling people teeth out rather than still here in T&T pulling we stones!

Fellas lets stop crying over spilt milk, the Cobo man is gone and I say lets rejoice and be happy with Latas in charge for now once we continue playing the more organised attacking brand of football that we played in our last two games.
If Latas could better organise our defense and get less mistakes from our defenders and we strikers could start doing their jobs then we in business!

[ProudTrinbagonian]

interesting article but this campaign may come down to the final game, not the outcome of the first...all is not lost.
i'm sure there may have been many a "one kick" that could have changed the outcome of T&T making italia '90.  But we remember only one game....the last game

[weary1969]

interesting article but this campaign may come down to the final game, not the outcome of the first...all is not lost.
i'm sure there may have been many a "one kick" that could have changed the outcome of T&T making italia '90.  But we remember only one game....the last game

Agree dat game v Mexico go b d decider once we strt to win.