Well, at least we on de board! And if things work in our favour and panama get hammered, we could be off de bottom!
Up-Close With Andre Samuel.
St Clair played a 3-5-2 system with Lawrence, Pierre and Charles at the back, Yorke and Eve in the middle, Spann behind in the defensive midfield role, Rojas and Edwards as the wing men and Glen and Stern up front ! Ince got the nod over Shaka.
As they did against Guatemala (I had the privilege of seeing that game last night), The Warriors started brightly, Spann was playing Fitzpatrick’s role well but with a bit more creativity, and Eve and Yorke was linking well. Lawrence looked very shaky in the back but got the job done. The first half was even stevens with no team with a clear advantage. Costa Rica looked sharp going forward but unlike the Guatemala game, we covered them better. Carlos Edwards was the player of the first half, while Rojas was the opposite. Edwards ran his heart out. He sent in about eight crosses in the first half and did a lot of tracking back and covering. He always seemed to be running in the space. Unfortunately most of his crosses were directed to Stern who was probably trying to put himself in the record books for the most offsides in one half. Fellas, Stern John is woefully out of form. It reach to the point where he struggling real bad to time his runs and he straying offside at every possible opportunity.
Going back to Rojas, I think he just unpicked himself for for rest of the qualifiers series. He was poor, he made one foray late in the second half but he is not up to standard and should be dropped for Avery John. He wasn’t effective going forward, he wasn’t tracking back and he wasn’t running in the spaces which made it very hard for the defenders/midfielders to get the ball to him. The fact that Edwards was the complete opposite made him look even worse. Anton Pierre showed why he forced his way into the team tonight. He put up a brave and determined performance against the Central Americans and communicated well with “shakeyman” and Atiba Charles.
In my opinion, the second half was all about Dwight Yorke and his value to this team. “ah we boy” was tackling hard, running in the spaces, holding the ball in the middle, making the incisive pass and talking to the fellas (although I think that both him and Glen had a fall out on the pitch, because Yorke was bawling at him to pressure the ball and Glen must be didn’t like that and start to throw up his hands). Costa Rica had two shots on target which were brilliantly handled by Ince who put on a very competent display! Every time Dennis Lawrence was on the ball, the crowd got frighten. He didn’t make any major mistakes but redeemed himself for all of them with a very competent man marking display against Paolo Wanchope (who came on after 70 minutes). Everywhere Wanchope was, shakeyman Lawrence was there also! St Clair's first change was Fitzpartrick for Spann and then followed that up with Hector Sam for Edwards (lord alone knows why). Then came the big one! Glen pulled up lame and St Clair decided to bring on Nigel Pierre. St Clair put Stern John on the wing! Lard! Sam looked nippy and seems to be a good asset to this team coming off the bench. It would have been nice to see Kenwyne Jones on the wing for Carlos Edwards……….but I am just a fan and St Clair is the “big coach”. The closest the Warriors came to scoring was around the 70 something minute when Stern John (??) had a “chest-shot” on goal that the keeper scrambled to clear off the line. Also, in the 90th minute Stern John, coming in from the right wing, cut inside and unleashed a left foot shot that unfortunately was straight at the keeper!
Overall, it was a good performance by the warriors who looked a very competent bunch. I know we only have one point from three games but, we seem to be heading in the right direction!
Have seen both games (Guatemala and Costa Rica), It is clear to me that St Clair eh going no where because the team playing competently!
Ratings:
Clayton INCE:
9 – A great game, made a great save with his legs to deny de ticos in the first half. He also made a few interceptions, but was largely untroubled.
David Atiba CHARLES:
7.5 – Seems a very skillful player, very comfortable in de ball and could be very useful on the wing!
Anton PIERRE:
7 – Very solid at de back, never gave up on those 50-50 balls and even when he was beaten, ran back hard to cover other players.
Dennis LAWRENCE:
7 – His rating is largely influenced by his handling of wanchope. He still looked the shakey but made a few timely interventions.
Marlon ROJAS:
3 – Not up to standard, poor passing, poor man marking, a game he will want to forget.
Carlos EDWARDS:
8 – Was a gem on de right flank, he made space for himself all de time! Got subbed as he started to tired!
Silvio SPANN:
6.5 – Great addition to the squad, made too many bad passes and was a bit too rough in his tackling, but showed david nakid-like ability and was composed on de ball!
Angus EVE:
7 – Eve didn’t look too bad but drifted out of de game for long periods. He is starting to show his worth. He linked up well with Yorke!
Dwight YORKE:
9 – Our best player on de night, he put on a world class performance for his country and I hope all the Yorke haters appreciate what he is doing with this team. He is using his experience and looks extremely calm on de ball!
Cornell GLEN:
5.5 – Was found to be liming with stern too much! Didn’t make much of an impact.
Stern JOHN:
5 – Needs to be benched! C’mon bertile, grow some balls and do it!
Leslie FITZPATRICK:
6 – His lack of speed was exposed today! I am sure that he only came on to prevent Spann from picking up a second yellow!
Hector SAM:
7 – Did what Glen did against the USA, was not afraid to attack, and had the Costa Ricans back pedaling on a couple of occasions!
Nb: Costa Rica got all the 50-50 calls today, and the stadium had about 8,000 people. I met-up with Patriot and Touches.
Ah hope alyuh enjoy de read
Ah love it!
