Guerra sinks Cuba as Warriors top group
By Lasana Liburd (Wired868.com)Trinidad and Tobago midfielder Ataullah Guerra transformed the Dwight Yorke Stadium into a love nest tonight with the decisive goal as the “Soca Warriors” advanced to next month’s 2012 Caribbean Cup finals in style with a 1-0 victory over Cuba 1-0 in Bacolet, Tobago.
Guerra hopped along the running track, blowing kisses to the crowd. And the patrons screamed back at him with adulation. It was Trinidad and Tobago football’s best moment this year so far.
The Warriors had qualified before the opening whistle thanks to a surprise 1-0 win for Suriname over St Vincent and the Grenadines at the same venue. St Vincent coach Cornelius Huggins did the hard work with his team, which managed successive 1-1 draws with Trinidad and Tobago and Cuba, and then left Tobago to attend a coaching symposium on his own island.
Only Huggins can say whether his decision was based on misplaced optimism or forced by his employers. Either way, the result was dire for “Vincey Heat” and there might be some awkward conversations when Huggins next meets his players.
In contrast, Trinidad and Tobago interim head coach Hutson “Barber” Charles was beaming with pride as he addressed the media after the final whistle.
“We are very pleased to top the group,” said Charles. “We grew from strength to strength after every game.”
Trinidad and Tobago has now gone six games without a defeat while the win also means that the Warriors will avoid Jamaica in the group phase next month. Instead, captain Jan-Michael Williams and his men will play hosts Antigua and Barbuda, Martinique and the runner-up from another qualifying group that includes Haiti, Grenada and French Guiana.
Williams insisted that his team’s ambition is to regain the Caribbean title for the first time since 2001.
“The most important thing for us is to make the country proud,” said Williams. “We want to put Trinidad and Tobago back in its rightful place at the top.”
Trinidad and Tobago’s last two Caribbean Cup excursions ended in group stage elimination under veteran coach Francisco Maturana in 2008 and novice Russell Latapy in 2010. It would be a stretch to say that the current squad has distinguished itself from either of the previous teams on the field yet.
But, mentally, the current crop seems primed for achievement. Arguably, they should not even be here.
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