Sancho impressed by Warriors coach Pfister.
By: Stephon Nicholas (Newsday).
Former national defender Brent Sancho says he was impressed by the tactical awareness showed by “Soca Warriors” coach Otto Pfister in yesterday’s 1-0 victory over Bermuda in a World Cup qualifier at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo.
Trinidad and Tobago started the first half a bit sluggish and Pfister, looking to inject a bit of life in the heart of the team, brought on midfielder Keon Daniel for Khaleem Hyland in the 36th minute.
The move paid dividends as TT began to create goal-scoring chances and eventually got their goal in the 45th minute through their captain Kenwyne Jones.
“I was very impressed. He realised something wasn’t right tactically and made an early change. We needed a bit of creativity in the middle and he brought on Daniel to provide that. It takes a lot of guts to do something like that in just your second game,” he said.
The North East Stars chief executive officer said the sub-par performance of the team was a result of their inactivity and believes they will improve with more games under their belt.
TT played just one warm-up match under Pfister which featured just the local-based players while for the overseas pros this was their first match played under the German.
It was also the first time many have worn national colours since the end of the 2010 World Cup campaign.
“We didn’t play how we would like in terms of our strength on paper. We have to take into consideration this was the first outing under Pfister really so there will be some teething problems,” he said. “A win is a good result and a clean sheet is even better.
In modern football, three points is all that matters. In world football there are no minnows, everyone comes out to play. The most important thing is to keep on picking up three points and keeping clean sheets,” he added.
Sancho noted, however, that the team must play quicker and keep possession of the ball better as they continue their march towards Brazil in 2014.
“The fluidity needs to improve. We played a bit slow but a lot of the players played out of position. A lot of the mistakes we made were not punished but that must be corrected,” he explained.
The ex-“Warrior” praised the efforts of his North East Stars players Seon Power, Anthony Wolfe and Stern John who all featured for the national team.
“Power was very aggressive and won all the air balls. I would like to see a bit more composure in terms of bringing the ball out of defence but he will get better.
Stern held the ball up well and played smartly. Despite the tragedy (of losing his mother), he played with pride for his country. Wolfe was also very solid,” he pointed out.
Sancho was also in high praise of Jones and believes he put in one of his best performances in national colours on debut as captain.
