Hart: TT Gold Cup exit painful.
T&T Newsday Reports.
STEPHEN Hart, coach of the Trinidad and Tobago football team, has described Saturday evening’s Concacaf Gold Cup quarter-final defeat to Mexico as painful.
Hart was speaking in an interview on the TT Football Association (TTFA) website, after the national team fell to a 1-0 loss to the Mexicans, courtesy of an 84th minute goal by Raul Jiminez, at the Georgia Dome, Atlanta, United States.
“It’s always painful when you lose a match whoever you play but tonight is particularly painful because of the fact that it was against a team like Mexico which we managed to put up a very good fight and then had to concede so late in the match,” Hart said.
“More than anything else I felt the hurt for the team because it was a hurdle I wanted us to cross and I felt we were close to doing it which was to get a victory against Mexico away from home in a tournament of this nature.”
Hart, who took over the reigns as coach a month ago, continued, “all in all I think we are leaving the Gold Cup with a lot of positives which is what we set out to do from the onset.
I thought the team grew in many departments as the tournament went on and we must now try to maintain and build on this momentum.”
Already missing the suspended Kevin Molino and having to do without Belgium-based midfielder Khaleem Hyland, TT were forced to go into the match without Carlyle Mitchell who picked up a ligament injury in practice and Joevin Jones who suffered a hamstring strain.
This meant Hart had to introduce Aubrey David at left back while Keon Daniel started in the middle of the park with Andre Boucaud. Carlos Edwards also got a starting nod along with Seon Power, Cornell Glen and captain Kenwyne Jones.
During the post-match press conference Mexican coach Jose Manuel De La Torre said, “it was not an easy match for us today. They (TT) fought very hard and they created some problems for us. But we played to our plan and we got the victory which was most important for us.”
The TT team, minus eight overseas-based players, were scheduled to arrive home last evening, along with Hart and recently-appointed Director of Football Leo Beenhakker.
