Trinidad and Tobago coach Leo Beenhakker admitted that his team was “out of rhythm” in Wednesday night’s 1-1 draw with Honduras in the 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup fixture at the Orange Bowl.
Panama’s 1-0 shocker over Colombia in the opening match stoke the spotlight but the T&T faithful may be a bit of a relieved bunch with the point after Honduras pressed them for much of the 90 minutes.
Despite Chris Birchall’s 27th minute stunner from 25 yards out to put the “Warriors” ahead 1-0, Honduras took the game to T&T and hardly eased off the gas leaving goalie Kelvin Jack needing to come up with some vital saves. Before T&T even went ahead, Stern John missed a sitter when his free shot from the top edge of the six yard box was saved by the goalkeeper. On 43 minutes, Jack was beaten by a thunderous free kick drive by Maynor Figueroa and then substitute Collin Samuel’s ripper went out off the top of the crossbar and goalkeeper Victor Coello dove to save and fell awkwardly, dislocating his left shoulder in the process. John didn't do too much and strike teammate Jason Scotland, despite playing the ball off well, did not deliver what Beenhakker had been expecting while Densill Theobald hardly troubled the opposition from the left side apart from his early volley which was deflected just wide of the far right post. Right side midfielder Brent Rahim deserved some credit for a gutsy second half performance.
As a result of the sustained pressure, Beenhakker said he was happy with the end scoreline.
“We played a hard game despite the fact that we were not too good in this game and I was pleased with that,” Beenhakker said in the post match conference.
“Most of our players are just back from a vacation and we had about eight days to train and we were a little bit out of our rhythm,” Beenhakker explained.
“I think we can only get better as the tournament goes along. I will be the first to confirm that we did not play well today. We lost a lot of balls and we did not have the sort of organization that we wanted. But once again, with six or seven players just coming out of holidays and playing the first game in a month, it is obvious that we need some much time. In football, you cannot look for a solution in training. It’s a method that you have to use in playing games and in that respect I was happy with the result. Honduras gave us a very good match but I expect that the team of Trinidad and Tobago will give a better performance in the next game,” he added.
When asked about whether it was a ploy to hit the ball into the strikers and home for others to play off them, the former Saudi Arabia coach said it occurred because of the players not being in the best condition.
“We made a lot of errors in keeping the ball and that is what I meant by talking about the consequences of not playing a game in a month time. We were not controlling it in the midfield and as a result we were using more of the long balls in some points of the game.”
Birchall, for his efforts including his maiden goal for T&T, was named the Miller Lite “Player of the Game”.
He was questioned by reporters about his thoughts on the match and also whether he was out of steam regarding a certain play when he almost turned the ball into his own goal
“We went into that game with a certain formation and we played to that but Honduras also played to a plan and they did pretty well against us. They did not make it easy for us and hopefully we can only get it better for the next game,” Birchall said.
“For me personally it was a bit of both with some fatigue. Luckily a goal didn’t result from it but we can only be better for the rest of the tournament,” the Port Vale player ended.
T&T will train on Thursday morning at Barry University Ground and a second session is also scheduled in the evening at the same venue.