With Trinidad and Tobago sitting at the bottom of the six-team table and being the only nation without a point, Wednesday’s 2006 World Cup qualifier has now been set up as one in which the “Warriors” must demonstrate true character if they are to avoid falling into a dug hole on the “Journey to Germany”.
With Mexico and United States meeting on Sunday and both with three points each, Guatemala moved to the top with four points, Costa Rica fourth with three points and Panama with one ahead of T&T.
Dwight Yorke, wearing the captain’s armband in Saturday’s 5-1 loss to Guatemala, for the first time since netting a hattrick in a 6-0 win over Panama during the 2002 qualifiers, urged his teammates to pick themselves up and get on with the task ahead.
Yorke and company were left in a gloom position following the heavy defeat but he refused to throw the towel in.
“It’s not like we can’t get the job done and get results but at the same time we’ve got to look back at where we have gone wrong and try to correct these mistakes and move on. We’ve got to pick up and go again and it starts from Wednesday when we play Costa Rica,” Yorke told TTFF Media.
Coach Bertille St Clair said it was one of the more untidy performances he had seen since taking over in February 20004.
“It was in fact one of our most disappointing performances,” St Clair said in the post match press conference. “We came here wanting three points and we didn’t get that but it got even worse because we conceded five goals. They definitely showed that they wanted it more than we did and they played fairly well at the end of it all. We have eight more games to go and we must get up and move on. It’s a sad loss but I do not think we should dwell on this result.”
Missing key defender Marvin Andrews who sustained a knee injury while Ian Cox was also ruled out with a hamstring injury left Brent Sancho having to anchor the defense. But the night turned out to be a long and miserable one for the Scottish-based defender and his fellow men at the back.
“We just didn’t get it right and it’s simply a matter now where we have to reflect on the loss and see how we can take it further and get ourselves back in shape for what is a very important match for us against Costa Rica on Wednesday,” Sancho said.
Striker Cornell Glen missed the match due to an ankle strain while playmaker Densill Theobald was also out with a fractured instep. It is left to be seen what amendments, if any, will be made to the team for Wednesday’s encounter at the Hasely Crawford Stadium.
The T&T team was scheduled to depart Guatemala City on Sunday morning and arrive home during the night via Miami.