Well peoples, ah make sure ah reach the stadium early, only miss about 10 mins of the first game. I have two things about the first game:
1. The wrong SVG team showed up today. They were mostly dominated bu Suriname and should have lost by at least 3 or 4 goals.
2. Suriname is not as bad as the first 5-nil loss indicated, but they cannot score to save their life...their only goal in this tournament came from their goal keeper via a penalty.
Nuff said about that. Got a copy of the starting line up and realize, much to me despair that Hashim Arcia playing, I guess we short of players. Charles keeping faith with Roy and it seems that Joevin Jones staying as an attacking midfielder.
T&T starting line up vs Cuba: 1.Jan-Michael Williams (capt); 4.Kern Cupid, 6.Kareem Moses, 20.Seon Power, 8.Aubrey David, 18.Densill Theobald, 3.Joevin Jones; 14.Hashim Arcia, 16.Keyon Edwards, 7.Hughton Hector; 13.Richard Roy.
Game start and TnT looking solid. Charles seems to have them playing a solid defensive structure. They marking and tracking back and keeping their shape....
This was the mode throughout the game with the both teams content to sit back and defend the ball when they were not in possession. This game was a real chess match. Theobald was leading his team with composed and controlled possession playing from between the two stoppers. And when we lost it the transition to defense was quick and efficient.
Now there was no Carlyle Mitchell due to suspension so No. 6 Kareem Moses started and he did not look out of place.A few mistakes were made and there was the occasional lapse in concentration that allowed Cuba through, but between Power and Jan Micheal Williams, we kept them out. And we had the occasional chance too but we were not able to find the break through.
Jan Micheal Williams seemed to get stamped in the first half, so it was not a total surprise that he was replaced in the 2nd half by Marvin Phillip, although it might just have been to give him some meaningful time between the sticks. He too did not look out of place and made a few saves to help preserve the clean sheet.
Charles them made the change of the game, bringing on Atulla Guerra who proceeded to run on to the field and run straight into the penalty box and score.... It was fantastic, he was hungry and fought through a tackle loose the ball and get the rebound off of Edwards and rifle the ball pass the Cuban goalie. The Stadium was on their feet. 1-nil we up.
I must say that until he was replaced Arcia actually had a better game than on Firday night, but the Tobago crowd did not forget him and once again he was wildly cheered when he was replaced.... by the time the cheering had stopped the ball was in the back of the net.
After that Charles replaced Richard Roy with I believe was Curtis Gonzales, who played wing back in the first game. This time he was deployed as a defensive midfielder alongside Theobald to shore up the defense. This worked like a charm and the chess game that was this match was ours after that. Edwards was served up one on a platter by the off and on trickers of Huton Hector, but by this time he was so tired, now as the lone striker that he could not muster the energy to push anything but his chest to the passing ball with the goal at his mercy. That would have been 2-nil game over, but TnT hung on to the 1-nil scoreline and the rest they say is history.
We have won the group with 7 pts with Cuba also going through with 4 pts.
Tonight this TnT team showed me something that I have not seen since Don Leo days....popper defensive structure. I can hardly wait till Charles has more players to chose from, and the time to get the team playing like this. This sort if display is what is going to be needed to beat the likes of Jamaica. The team can only go up from here....once Charles has the resources to do so.
Now let me tell you about Seon Power...... the boy remind me of Aurtis Whitley. He have the fight, the ability all the attributes to go very far with this team. He as stopper has the licence to spread the ball to all parts of the field. The ball will be knocked around the back and he is the one to make the forward pass(long). Once it going short it is through Theobald. Power in some coaches' opinion could even be deployed in midfield if we have good enough cover at the back. On a few occasions he has picked up the ball in defense and made it all the way to the opposing penalty box. His vision, skill with the ball, work rate and never say die attitude make him my player of the tournament.