We did it, we did it and we did it!! It’s now only one more (or in essence two more) hurdles to cross and we will be singing and dancing on the streets of heaven (I mean Germany).
Fellaz, the day didn’t start off too good. Ah couldn’t sleep last night, real pressure, bad dream and headache but the hours just keep going. Cowen and I organize our business and left sando around 3pm. We reach up Port of Spain around 4pm and got one of the precious movie towne parking spots. We nearly aint get it cause de guard see three of us in red jerseys parking inside de people car park and tell us that she aint feel tuh give we ah spot cause we only taking de spot for football. But we tell her dat we come tuh shop and we only wearing red to contribute toward the patriotic vibes!
Start to walk in de gates around half four! Bounce up touches and we meet troy piloy and oconnorg with some beers sharing out. Party start! Me, touches, cowen and two other pardners buss way them beers fast fast and head in de stadium.
All de man and dem who had bogus tickets were in for a surprise!! The TTFF ent make joke. They were scanning de tickets at three different checkpoints, some men even get frisk down. We all passed de test and it was now time to organize we seats!! We swarm down on ah area fast, pee on some seats tuh mark it and fling out de pack ah cards. Afters seeing touches and he pardner beat up some rookies, me and cowen jump in and just like last time share some serious licks. We had man running with dey tail between dey legs and man stat tuh call we uncle andre and uncle cowen.
Tallman fall in de dance and the socawarriors.net crew started tuh assemble! If you see woman in de stadium, man only bawling “if ah get dat†every five minutes. The pre-game show began and the crowd start to vibes it up!! Great performances from my soon to be wife destra (although she aint know dat yet), and maximus dan who had de crowd jumping and waving for about ah hour before de game!
Every man jack in de stadium had thunder sticks and when de warriors came out to do their warm ups, the noise was deafening! The starting line ups were announced and all the warriors were cheered loudly (probably with the exception of cyd gray cause people was shocked that he was starting).
The warriors were playing 4-5-1. Stern up front, Carlos on the right, “de general†on the left, Birchall in front de defenders, Yorke behind the striker, and Whitley roaming in the middle. At the back were Avery, Dog, Tallest, and Gray!
Tweeeeeeeeeeeeet!! Game start and we looking good, real movement from de boys and you could see the motivation in the team. We had the Mexicans under pressure and the crowd was into the game. We were forcing corner after corner and we in the crowd knew that it would only be a matter of time before the Mexican defence cracked!
News of the Guat-Costa Rica game were coming into us as well be we tried tuh keep it as under wraps as possible cause we ent want no fool to create ah panic since we heard that the guats were leading 2-0 early.
Whitley was playing ah gem! Reinserted into the starting lineup after being left out against panama, Whitley played like ah man possessed. He played with his “PFL†confidence and showed why many regard him as the best local-based player. He played a more central role and was toying with Mexican defenders as if they were from Tobago Utd.
Also evident was the frequent interchanging between Latapy and Edwards who switched flanks at least twice in the first half. In the 31st minute, came a defining moment. After another corner (or dangerous freekick) there were some pushing and shoving in the box and the Honduran referee had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. Penalty!! Up stepped Mr. Stern John to take it, crowd jumping and waving, beers up in the air, and….and…..and it’s ah GOA…..SAVE!! It was now time to hear a pin drop as all the stern haters came back out of their shells! “dat man miss dat!!†“I never did like stern†“ent ah tell yuh he is ah shit hound†“sub on number 14†“take him off†(and my favorite) “yuh ent see how he grab de ball from latapyâ€â€¦.lol (trinis really sweet)
Then a series of events occurred start showing that when it rains, it pours! After stern’s penalty miss, we found out that Guatemala scored their third goal, and were now leading 3-0 and the Mexicans made a rare foray into our half and scored a nice chip over Jack’s head! The cry face competition was now on!! And the winner by a unanimous decision was Touches. Touches cry face woulda make anybody forget about football and drop ah five dollars in his cup!
Much to their credit, the warriors fought hard and continued to dominate. Latapy was pulling strings on the left and Carlos was conducting ah (how tuh take beat) course on the right. Up stepped Whitley, who ran at some Mexicans, skipped three tackles and unleashed a right foot rocket that struck the upright and stern tapped the ball in to redeem himself.
GOOOOOAAAAAAALLLL!!!! Beers in the air and baby powder in our eyes, but we didn’t care because we were back in de game!! Thunder-sticks were back in use and de stadium get back sweet! Stern then got a nice pass in the box, he chest the ball and beat the defender and with the goal keeper at his mercy in de six yard box miss kick de ball. To his defence, he was falling over, but he is an international footballer so he supposed to score dat!
HALF TIME: TT – 1 MEXICO – 1
Jack got subbed at half time due to an ankle injure he picked up earlier and within one minute of shaka on the field, he had to dive to his left to save a low drive. The second half was the Carlos Edwards show. Carlos is likely to be sued after today’s game due to the fact that he damaged the neck, ankle and lower back of the #18 and #19 who had the task of defending him. “De general†was his usual best and showed the Mexicans where Carlos learned to turn men inside out! The warriors, who obviously were told the half time score of the other game, pressured the Mexicans and dominated the second half. The movement within the team was sweet and everyone was at the peak of their powers! IT SURELY ONLY HAD TO BE A MATTER OF TIME!!
In the 62nd minute came that matter of time. A defensive blunder saw the ball end up at the feet of Stern John on the top of the 18 yard box, he took one touch and blasted the ball into the roof of the net with is left foot. A goal of the week candidate for sure!!
Now it was time to listen to de stern haters “ent I tell u that de man good†“he is my favorite player†“I following him since MLS days†(and my favorite) “I knew he was going and score all alongâ€â€¦..lol (trinis really sweet)
It was standing room only for the remaining 20 minutes as de chanting continued for the rest of the game. Stern almost had his hattrick when some great work by Marvin Andrews, was almost capped off by a goal. Andrews took up the ball in his half and ran and didn’t stop, beat about four or five Mexican defenders and crossed the ball to stern who tried a nice back heel flick that hit the post. Oh lard!! “If dat did scoreâ€
The Mexicans came into the game now as we sat back and defended our lead. There were a couple of “ify†moments in the box but we held on and held on well
TWWEEEEEETTTTT, TWWEEEEETTTTTTT, TWWEEEEEEETTTTT! The sweetest whistle I ever heard in my life! Game done and we win!! The warriors did a lap of honor and the ram crammed stadium stayed back and saluted their heroes!
Big up to the crew who fall in to make the lime sweet. Oconnorg, Troy Piloy and dey crew, Touches, Pouchet, Shota, Tallman, Cowen, Gary, and the other twenty people or so in de mix!
AH LOVE IT!! (ah have to patent that cause men want tuh use it too much)
PLAYER RATINGS
KELVIN JACK – 8 – improved on his coming off the line for the ball. Not sure if he was to blame for the goal.
AVERY JOHN – 8 – Raised his game tonight, he tackled really hard and had plenty respect on our left hand side
DENNIS LAWRENCE – 9 – I didn’t see any mistakes tonight from tallest and he looked our most solid defender. He doesn’t go into tackles hard but somehow always comes up with the ball.
MARVIN ANDREWS – 9 – seemed to be bored at the back so he made two solo runs into the Mexican half that almost resulted in goals. Great game from the DOG!!
CYD CRAY – 7.5 – didn’t give carlos much help going forward as spann would but he held his own at the back and stayed on his feet. Good game cyd, keep it up!
CHRIS BIRCHALL – 8 – his passing improved tonight, he did really well and I am sure his “mum†would have been proud of him. Ran like a real warrior tonight
AURTIS WHITLEY – 9.5 – easily his best game in a national team jersey and he made the difference tonight. He showed is true ability.
CARLOS EDWARDS – 9.5 – I lost track of the amount of times he turned his marker inside out. Definitely his best game! He had the waggonists bawling! (cause dat is what they like tuh see)
RUSSELL LATAPY – 9 – de usual…nuff said
DWIGHT YORKE – 9 – took a while to get into the game but held things together nicely! A true leader of this team
STERN JOHN – 9 – well done stern! U came up big when it mattered! He showed a lot of commitment tonight. There were no hands on hip and quarrelling with teammates even when we were down. He was alone up front; he fought hard and made things difficult for the Mexican defenders. Well done!! He had many people eating their words.
Gehen KRIEGER Gehen………â€go warriors go†in German!!
WE GOING AND RAIN SOME GOALS ON BAHRAIN!!
Ah love it!!