National Under 17 head coach Anton Corneal says he will welcome a more fiery approach from Peru in Saturday’s second match as promised by his opposite number.
As Peru’s Under 17 players walked off the field at the Ato Boldon Stadium on Thursday after their 1-0 win, head coach Juan Jose Orea told reporters that his team would adopt a different line of attack on Saturday.
“I was happy with the result today but we will be having another player joining us and we will come out to attack more and give more in Saturday’ second game,” Ore said.
And Corneal later smiled at his comments, adding that he was disappointed that the Peruvians took a bit off their game midway through the second half.
“Of course! That’s what we wanted. They took the life out of the game ten minutes into the second half. I hope if he says fiery on Saturday … it is something we will accept and hopefully we can replicate the same. It’s going to be a true surface (Marvin Lee artificial pitch) and challenging for both teams,” Corneal said.
Reflecting on the game itself, he stated: “Generally I thought we did not lose value to where we are right now. It’s a good feel for us. It’s a team that comes out of a group with Brazil, and Argentina and when you saw what we did today, it wasn’t that bad.
“Of course we have been doing some strength training, three weeks of it and endurance wise they (T&T players) surprised me today because we were not way off. We didn’t see a spark but I didn’t expect a spark right now. We kept the intensity and closer to the tournament we will step up the intensity,” he added.
He maintained that the eyes will continue to be on the look for further talent with a couple of new faces in the current team which is expected to depart for Venezuela next week for another encounter.
“I would like to push them in parts of the game. The first 15 minutes is important for us because we will like to start well. We played out of the back four a lot more today than we did in Jamaica and that was encouraging. We have some new faces that we will look at as well as try players in different positions,” Corneal added.
Peru are in Trinidad for the two matches as they prepare for Group A action in the World Championship with hosts Korea, Togo and Costa Rica. T&T meantime are getting set for Germany, Ghana and Colombia. Saturday’s game kicks off at 5pm at the Marvin Lee Stadium, Macoya.