2023 Concacaf Gold Cup Thread

[pull stones]

when i watch football i see it from a coaches prospective and i know most of you do too, but as a small time wanna be coach, don't you guys get annoyed when things that are so obvious, gets cloudy to the management as well as the coaching staff?

in all honesty how could we continue on with players whom we know are habitual strugglers in the game that has never risen their level of play and understanding of the game? you making passes to a player that is heavily marked only to lose possession, as peong reiterated this is bone headed football. in real big games this almost never happens, which brings me to sheldon bateau, when are we going to thank this man for his services and move on?

for almost 12 years now i'm watching this central defender make all sorts of errant mistakes which almost cost us every single time he plays, on that first goal he miss kicked the ball in the box causing antonio to make the pass to gray, aubrey the same thing, these guys play football with zero intelligence and skill level, and at the international level you cannot afford to miskick and misread plays in your defensive third.

on the second goal no one was watching bailey, a guy with incredible speed on and off the ball, and yet again bateau played him on side, and for sure that keeper had no right to rush out, i always say that great GKs when they rush off their line as the last order of defense they always get piece of the ball or disrupt the rhythm of the attacker, it's very rare that you see a great GK rush off his line to get beaten by an attacking player so easily without making him work hard for his goal, let alone twice in a game.

i think that we have some good nifty little players, but we need a solid back line, and the only one that i would keep thus far is tristan hodges.....and maybe.....just maybe alvin jones whom in my opinion is a very basic players to say the least, but bateau , moses and david should not be an option in serious tournament games going forward, these guys come apart way too easily and it's been years of the same ole same ole. don't our coaches get fed up of this nonsense?

[Preacher]

I felt for Eve there. He over calculated. I've done it. The changes should have been quick. 2-0. after 30 minutes. Changes. You can't leave Molino and Jovin on the bench.

[pull stones]

another thing i wanted to highlight, don't these concacaf referees frustrate you? i was so annoyed when shaw was bundled over by the jamaican defender, literally pushed down off the ball only for the play to continue which resulted in the first goal?

and on the third goal the same was apparent when fortune was kick down, and yes the player got the ball, but he also got the player,  and again no call which resulted in another goal.

this type of piss poor officiating never happens in euefa or comebol, like the qatari coach exclaimed, this is very poor officiating, they were robbed two goals...which were obvious penalties, yet these referees are allowed to officiate in big games despite their constant ineptitude, especially that bow legged jamaican referee, he tries hard...i give him that, but you can clearly see that he makes tons of terrible decisions that cost deserving teams points. jamaica beat us yes, but they got lots of help from bateau and the referee.

[Preacher]

Pull stones. I agree 100%. If the players being manhandled were US, he would have been blowing that whistle. I have never seen a rougher game. And TT were so physically outmatched.

[Trini _2026]

Pull stones I agree I wonder how Moses i was never impressed with him .. The main quesion is who are we going to replace them with? Luke singh not ready as yet  are we scounting for players ? who  is in the pipeline

[asylumseeker]

Pull stones. I agree 100%. If the players being manhandled were US, he would have been blowing that whistle. I have never seen a rougher game. And TT were so physically outmatched.

Didn't seem like a rivalry to me. We didn't even target certain players for rough housing.

[asylumseeker]

I felt for Eve there. He over calculated. I've done it. The changes should have been quick. 2-0. after 30 minutes. Changes. You can't leave Molino and Jovin on the bench.

I am empathetic, but he hadda hold a tap or two as well. Ah not even invested in explaining why. Yuh could see the pain on his face. He wasn't expecting that dismantling.

[asylumseeker]

I felt for Eve there. He over calculated. I've done it. The changes should have been quick. 2-0. after 30 minutes. Changes. You can't leave Molino and Jovin on the bench.

Preach.

[Peong]

Hackshaw lack of conditioning was on full display. From about 65 mins he was done, and even before that he was using his energy sparingly.
I gonna rewatch this game tomorrow, I thought the challenge for the first goal was not a foul at the time. Did not notice a foul for the 3rd goal. To tell the truth I felt we played too soft, not ready for contact and falling over when it came.

[pull stones]

Hackshaw lack of conditioning was on full display. From about 65 mins he was done, and even before that he was using his energy sparingly.
I gonna rewatch this game tomorrow, I thought the challenge for the first goal was not a foul at the time. Did not notice a foul for the 3rd goal. To tell the truth I felt we played too soft, not ready for contact and falling over when it came.

TBH i am quite fond of hackshaw and i'll tell you why, the man has a footballing brain in his head, something 95% of our players both past and present lack, and had it not been for him and triston hodges that defense would struggle to even get out their own half of the field.

the problem is that our midfielders are over worked, and that's because our attackers have a hard time holding on to possession, did you know that last night we only had two shots on goal, and our turn over rate from offense to defense were at a staggering rate?

last night you could have seen that andre ramperad couldn't go another minute, that defense over worked that man and ever so  often he had to be on both attacking and defensive mode because levi and auvery would turn over possession without even a shot on goal then the jamaicans would be quick on the counter attack leaving the defense in disarray.

alvin jones also need to take some of that blame because he was caught out of position on many occasions leaving hackshaw and rampersad to pick up the pieces, on that first goal he was way down field while grey and bailey were free as a bird to link up.

our performance last night was one the the worst defensive displays that i've ever seen from the TT national team, for sure. trust me jamaica ain't that good, and i wait to see how they fear when they come up against real organized teams like costa rice and panama.

[pull stones]

Pull stones I agree I wonder how Moses i was never impressed with him .. The main quesion is who are we going to replace them with? Luke singh not ready as yet  are we scounting for players ? who  is in the pipeline

I got to be honest here mate, nothing ever hurt me in football as that beating last night at the hands of an okay team. i wouldn't have mind if it was a top notch team, but to lose in that soft manner to another caribbean team who if they were clinical enough, could have routed us quite easily. believe me it was extremely tough to bare. i don't know if angus is really the man for this job, seem like he could only beat teams in nation B and C.

we need top shelf academies and an equally top shelf league if we are to ever progress from these kind of F class performances.....but i know that no one is even listening , let alone paying attention.

[lucky4life]

At the hands of a OK team😅🤣😂 don't be little the Jamaican team, did you really watch the game Trinidad only manage 3 shot on goal!!! With 1 on target Jamaican have 12 shots on goal, with 7 on target Trinidad could've got about 8 Last night if it's was not for bad scoring of gold Bailey miss 2 clear chances Reid miss one and gray miss one also, our so- call team draw against USA a game that we should've WIN!!! Well since we're a ok team that draw with USA let see how Trinidad do against them, Trinidad is lucky that the Jamaican strikers in not clinical in front of goal, it  would've been a  embarrassing nigh for you all

[Trini _2026]

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/6tsCpElyO4" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/6tsCpElyO4</a>

[Trini _2026]

Sancho Rants The powers that be does not want to bring in .... 
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/_6tsCpElyO4" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/_6tsCpElyO4</a>

[Preacher]

I am empathetic, but he hadda hold a tap or two as well. Ah not even invested in explaining why. Yuh could see the pain on his face. He wasn't expecting that dismantling.


   True.

[Flex]

Eve takes blame for nervous Soca Warriors.
By Nigel Simon (T&T Guardian).

Soca Warriors coach Angus Eve says he is to blame for T&T’s 4-1 loss to Jamaica in their second Group A match of the Concacaf Gold Cup at City Park Stadium in Saint Louis, Missouri, USA, on Wednesday night.

The Jamaicans sealed their first win in 12 matches and the first in three matches against T&T, who suffered a first defeat in eight matches.

The Reggae Boyz got a pair of goals from England-based winger Demarai Gray in the 14th and 30th minutes on his 27th birthday while another English-based player Leon Bailey was also on target in the 18th for a 3-0 lead at the half-time whistle.

Canada-based midfielder Andre Rampersad pulled a goal back for T&T in the 49th with a clever back-heel from a right-sided Levi Garcia centre but two minutes into added-on time, Jamaica got a fourth goal via a shot from 17-year-old Dujuan Richards, Chelsea FC's new player, which deflected off T&T defender Kareem Moses and wrong-footed goalkeeper Nicklas Frenderup to move to four points from two matches, the same as USA who trashed St Kitts and Nevis, 6-0, in the second match on Wednesday night in Missouri.

Commenting after the loss, Eve first defended his decision to make the four changes to his team to the one that started the 3-0 victory over St Kitts and Nevis, saying it was needed due to injuries.

He explained, “Triston (Hodge) had a tight hamstring, Kevin Molino is just coming back into football, and he complained he was really tired and I didn’t think he could start, and Auvray (Kaile) had some little knocks and bruises so we rotated the three changes.

“We were trying to keep the game a little tight in the first half, so we could probably go and get these players on in the second half, to express ourselves a little bit more.

"From the time the score became 3-0, I formulated a plan for the rest of the game but unfortunately, we seemed to be a little bit nervous tonight (Wednesday), and I think names probably scared us, and we really made some bad mistakes, but all in all I take full blame for the result because I’m the coach of the team.”

Looking ahead to the must-win match versus the USA at Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, on Sunday (July 2) from 7 pm, the 51-year-old Eve said, “We have to pick the guys up. The dressing room is very dejected as this is the first match we have lost in about nine matches for the season, and we don’t normally concede goals but I thought that in the second half when we went back on, I thought we were really in the game and created a lot of chances."

Asked what he can take from the loss forward to the match against the Americans, Eve said, “I thought the second half, we were more positive as it seemed like we settled down better.”

The T&T coach also alluded to the gap in class between both teams and the players at the respective coaches disposal saying, "Credit to Jamaica and the type of players that they have in the team. We don’t have that type of quality and it’s always going to be a struggle for us.

“But when you give away soft goals as I thought we give away a lot of soft goals very early, we had to dig ourselves out of a hole and credit to them for the way they started as we started really slow, and as I said I take full blame for it as I tried to keep the game as tight as possible, but we just didn’t defend well,” stated Eve.

The Reggae Boyz and St Kitts and Nevis also meet on Sunday from 7 pm at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California

WATCH Rampersad: We suffered but we must get up and push on

WATCH Levi: We need to Rise Above

WATCH Angus Eve at the Post Match Press Conference - Gold Cup 2023 TT vs Jamaica

WATCH Jamaica 4-1 Trinidad Post Match Press Conference

[pull stones]

At the hands of a OK team😅🤣😂 don't be little the Jamaican team, did you really watch the game Trinidad only manage 3 shot on goal!!! With 1 on target Jamaican have 12 shots on goal, with 7 on target Trinidad could've got about 8 Last night if it's was not for bad scoring of gold Bailey miss 2 clear chances Reid miss one and gray miss one also, our so- call team draw against USA a game that we should've WIN!!! Well since we're a ok team that draw with USA let see how Trinidad do against them, Trinidad is lucky that the Jamaican strikers in not clinical in front of goal, it  would've been a  embarrassing nigh for you all

hold on to your hat mate, no one is saying that TT are world beaters or even a formidable opponent, in fact as it stands we've been running on fumes the last 10 years or more, but it still doesn't change the fact that jamaica is just an okay team, and the proof is that this is your first win since last year, so don't get ahead of yourself.

football is on the day, and even big teams suffer humiliating loses to teams they normally would beat, case and point brazil vs germany 2014 at home in brazil, germany scored 7 goals routing the world champions, and they could have scored more.

i'm not saying that we are a better team....not at all, i'm not that naive. if my opinion counts for anything i would say that TT is in total shambles all the way around. our defense is rubbish, especially in central defense and our attackers are aging, so no, ATM jamaica is a much better team than us, and whenever we're not in a competition i personally route for other caribbean teams, especially jamaica.

so hold on to your hat mate, when you beat a full strength usa, mexican or canadian team, then i would shower praises on your precious jamaica, but for now you'll have to wait until then.

[reggae-fan]

Jamaica is in a rebuilding process, new coach, new ideas, and with that we are also seeing more EPL caliber players with fading hopes of playing for England now showing interest. Jamaica is one of the few, if not only CONCACAF nations that can field a squad comprising entirely EPL players if it desires, but that comes with its own set of issues that our third world level Administration might not be equipped to deal with.

Yes, the new coach has not had success since taking over, but when you look at the caliber teams he's played since taking over - World champions Argentina, Africa champions Morocco, Cameroon, Qatar, Mexico etc.  you will quickly realize that the games up to this point were tough ones and played with experimental squads.

The coach has not selected a single player from the domestic league, a strong indication that he does not have much confidence in the leauge.
The lone local based selection is from the Manning Cup - Schoolboy football. Let that sink in.



 

[asylumseeker]

I'm sort of discouraged that Eve didn't acknowledge / delve enough into the fact that (and no reporters made him address that) even in the 2nd half, we were deficient  -- if the whole game were played that way, most likely we would have come out a 3-1 down or something like that.  [in-game adjustments have to be better].

(Oh: "Big name players frighten the players").

I  hope he does realize what it is and fixes. I like that he didn't hedge this time early on and said on the record the goal is to get to the quarter final stage. That now means beating the US. 
As the Shaw interview suggested, everybody comfortable, practiced and know what to do when they play the ball on the ground [and Auvray, Jones, Molino (used to be Poon and Muckette as well) -- 2 out of 3 at least] could hold the ball with a midfielder or two on their backs, yet still make a good pass (Messi being the paradigm for this). No half-hearted park the bus BS, can't get the ball out of the back - so hoof the ball - long ball crap. Don't play the US like that please, cuz I sure it will be 4 again.

Post-match media interactions with T&T NT coaches are generally "dolly house and almshouse".

[asylumseeker]

1 868 I am thinking the same thing ...Patrick may be a good coach for us .

Well, Sunday! Tell him reach.   

Looks like Sunday he will be in Strasbourg or en route. He good for a lime in Baden-Baden or Stuttgart.

[ABTrini]

Here We Go… Again
Strike a pose with the team
Front page headlines making the scene
new kits and thing
man ready to shout and sing
We still celebrating 2006
despite legendary licks
Frozen in time
yet we bussing ah lime
hoping fuh the best
despite all the teams unrest
But now we cruising on Gold Cup dream

Ohh
Here we go again
Life's a dream
'Cause it's never what it seems
But we would  rather try and fail with tears
Than never show at all
So here we go again
 We are SocaWarriors
and we go fight



  What do people really expect?  By FIFA ranking we should handle St Kitts  likewise Jamaica should handle we and the USA should  have a feast.

The operative word is should  not withstanding that in sports  some results are unpredictable-  Could we still have an upset? for sure but  what ought to occur?

In my opinion we still have a legacy of wanting to play ' pretty ball'  we like 'beatiing'  and frankly we are TOO SOFT- Jamaica has always played with a physicality which we seem to lack. These are the intangibles.

Coaching- still not convinced that this head coach is  knowledgeable and a tactician for the international game.

One more intangible- the power of belief - rising against the odds and performing  above expectations comes from within each player. Until we could develop this mental toughness we would forever be mired in an illusionary dream.

[Sam]

Kareem Moses is pure tata....

Joevin done, he cah make.

Rampersad is a boss.

Malcolm Shaw is a boss.

Auvray is a boss.

Ajani Fortune is a boss.

Gomez is a boss.

Hackshaw is solid just lack speed.

Love Hodge but he lil to wild.

Want to see Luke Singh, Ryan Telfer, Kadeem Corbin and Real Gill play vs USA.

We go beat USA if Eve stop foocking experimenting.

-----Frenderup
Alvin--Bateau--David--Hodge
--Hackshaw--Rampersad
-------Levi---Gomez
----Shaw---Telfer

[maxg]

Auvray for Gomez, Gomez for Rampersad ( if he’s injured).

[Cocorite]

Eve took responsibility for the loss. But you don’t get the feeling that he really accept that he:

1) Crippled the team by putting the fear of the “big names” in his players. He himself lacked belief that T&T could stand toe-to-toe with that Jamaican team. And when your leader lacks that belief, you can’t mask it. It will come out in your speech. “They have Antonio so & so and we have who we have.” Something like that he said to them.

2) Put out too many inexperienced players to start a game against a team admittedly stronger that your own. Madness. Bringing them on to run at them in the latter stages of the game & to give your older, more experienced legs a rest would have made more sense.

When we learn to believe in ourselves, we will stop playing into the hands of beatable opponents. Period!

Pull Stones, I appreciate your observations and analysis.

I also saw Hackshaw reading the game and putting in a good shift.

Lots of misunderstanding in the backline. I thought we had our defense in order. I was disappointed.

[kounty]

lovin the vibez and inputs

(ent have much to shuffle but i say to start)

-----Frenderup
 ---Singh[Moses]--Bateau---David-
Alvin --                         Joevin [Molino]
            Hackshaw--
           Rampersad [Hodge]--Auvray [Fortune]
-------Levi- Telfer [Gill/Shaw]

...hard game to debut for Singh, so maybe not...but hopefully Moses have the game of his life.

[asylumseeker]

Eve took responsibility for the loss. But you don’t get the feeling that he really accept that he:

1) Crippled the team by putting the fear of the “big names” in his players. He himself lacked belief that T&T could stand toe-to-toe with that Jamaican team. And when your leader lacks that belief, you can’t mask it. It will come out in your speech. “They have Antonio so & so and we have who we have.” Something like that he said to them.

2) Put out too many inexperienced players to start a game against a team admittedly stronger that your own. Madness. Bringing them on to run at them in the latter stages of the game & to give your older, more experienced legs a rest would have made more sense.

When we learn to believe in ourselves, we will stop playing into the hands of beatable opponents. Period!

Pull Stones, I appreciate your observations and analysis.

I also saw Hackshaw reading the game and putting in a good shift.

Lots of misunderstanding in the backline. I thought we had our defense in order. I was disappointed.

The delivery of "I accept responsibility" registered as you described.

AE's flirtation with reality TV isn't delivering the flattery Mirror, Mirror on the Wall would, but is insightful as to the qualities of his communication and more.

This rounds @pull stones has been exceptionally lucid and tempered in subjectivity/anger. Ah registering 90%+ concurrence with his observations and find statistically insignificant dissonance.

As far as the experience/inexperience balance, I think the same players could have achieved more with a different tactical orientation from the onset.

[Trini _2026]

Stop fighting down a black coach! Eve attacks “critics” before T&T/ USA clash

Trinidad and Tobago Men’s National Senior Team head coach Angus Eve waded into his perceived critics—and, in particular, a former football administrator, the parent of a national player and a 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup player—in the build-up to Sunday’s decisive group match against the United States

http://wired868.com/2023/07/01/stop-fighting-down-a-black-coach-eve-attacks-critics-before-tt-usa-clash/

[Tallman]

Nothing to lose: Soca Warriors take on USA for spot in Gold Cup 2nd round
By Ian Prescott (T&T Express)

THE PRESSURE is off Trinidad and Tobago and rather, on an expectant United States home team for today’s 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup clash at the Bank of America stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina, from 7 p.m.

T&T’s Soca Warriors go into their final Group A preliminary match with three points, one behind Jamaica and the USA, having won 3-0 over St Kitts and Nevis in their opening match. They are therefore still in with a chance of going to the knockout phase, provided they defeat the Americans.

With the USA ranked #11 in the world and the Jamaicans #64, a full 37 places ahead of his team, Eve reasoned that pre-tournament odds suggested that his Soca Warriors—not even ranked among the top 100 teams in the world - would have exited at the group stage. However, Eve said that the belief in his team is that they can defy the odds and move forward.

“Nobody expected us to get out of the group, nobody,” argued Eve at yesterday’s pre-match press conference.

“Anything that we do is a bonus,” he stated. ”We still in it going into the last game and I think that of itself is progress.”

Eve is banking on a faster start and a braver performance from his team than last time out, during a sobering 4-1 defeat to a Jamaica team stuffed with England-born and overseas-based footballers, five of whom play in the English Premier League.

Eve said the good thing about sport is having a second chance to do better and he is focused on today’s meeting with the USA, having learnt lessons from their dismal first-half showing against Jamaica three days earlier. Eve said the greatest improvement he hopes to see in the Soca Warriors is in self-belief. “To start with the belief that we didn’t start with against Jamaica” stated Eve. “For 30 minutes we looked shell-shocked. But I thought that after, in the second half of the game. I thought we settled in really nicely and we started to show ourselves.

“Our second half in both matches were excellent second halves,” Eve concluded. “In the Jamaica game, we created a lot of chances without taking the opportunities, and in the St Kitts game that is where we really took over the game.”

The United States have rested their Europe-based players for this tournament and have fielded a team made up mainly of United States-based Major League Soccer (MLS) players. The USA go into the match following a 1-1 draw with Jamaica and a 6-0 win over St Kitts and Nevis.

Despite having not yet played at this version of the tournament, veteran T&T goalkeeper Marvin Phillip was very confident.

“It’s not going to be an easy game. It’s going to be tough. But I think once we play to our full potential, we will get bast the USA and go on to the second round,” Phillip stated.

Likewise, Eve felt that the match would be very competitive, but possibly also winnable. He dispelled any notion that the USA are very much weakened, having not played all of their best players in the tournament.

“This is going to be a difficult game,” Eve said.

“I don’t think the USA put out a team to lose. This team is very competitive. All of the players are playing in good teams in the MLS. The goalkeeper is playing in Europe. So, it not an easy team as some people may make it sound like.

“There is a reason America is probably one (or) two in CONCACAF, because they have depth. They can lose some players and still perform at this level,” the T&T coach concluded.

[ABTrini]

 Let me take a look at  how our coach instills confidence by what  is quoted from his statement:

Likewise, Eve felt that the match would be very competitive, but possibly also winnable. He dispelled any notion that the USA are very much weakened, having not played all of their best players in the tournament.

“This is going to be a difficult game,” Eve said.  So it is winnable but difficult what does this mean? would it be difficult to win?

“I don’t think the USA put out a team to lose. Sop did we put out a team to win or to lose? This team is very competitive. All of the players are playing in good teams in the MLS. The goalkeeper is playing in Europe. So, it not an easy team as some people may make it sound like.  What does this mean? by comparison our players are not on par?

“There is a reason America is probably one (or) two in CONCACAF, because they have depth. They can lose some players and still perform at this level,” the T&T coach concluded.  So while we may not have depth, we are not able to perform at this level? This coach always seem to  be making excues prior to a challenge.


Why not approach this game as a challenge where we could ris to another level " The tide rises all ships' Find some inspiration for the team to consider possibilities if we bring a game like no other? find a way to put it all out on the filed? consider the greatest upset in your life and what that may look like? look at possibilities rather than all the credit to the opposition. Respect each opposition but look within your self  to find  the  possible.

There is no time like now to consider  TnT teams  of the past who took down giants among minnows. If you keep thinking small, you will get small results. Think beyond and let your dream scare you.

[asylumseeker]

Prepare for takeoff and landing: hope this match endures longer than Piarco to Crown Point.