Though there was obvious feeling of disappointment in the dressing room and back at the team camp at the Blue Haven Hotel following Saturday’s 3-2 loss to Costa Rica , there was still room for an upbeat feeling among the squad members as they prepared for an evening training session at the Dwight Yorke Stadium on Sunday.
“It’s not over by any means. I know this was the game to have won and based on how the other games have gone then we would be right up there with the rest of them. But there are a lot of positives to take from it and we must ensure that we maintain this and keep our heads up at all times,” Yorke said.
Goalscorer Carlos Edwards thought T&T let themselves down by not continuing from the bright start which led to his 30th minute goal.
“I thought we had our best start in all of the matches. We also started well in El Salvador when I opened the scoring and the same thing happened tonight. This time though I thought we were better for longer periods which is a good indication of how well the preparations went and the state of the team at this time. But we didn’t hold on to the lead and the Costa Ricans proved that they were good enough to punish us at crucial moments in the game,” Edwards told TTFF Media.
“It is important that we maintain this spirit right now because even though we loss I think we are more disappointed because of how well we played and we were beaten by a good Costa Rican team. The spirit is still upbeat in the camp and now we have to head over to Mexico in search of a good result,” added the Sunderland man.
Defender Marvin Andrews, a strong optimist and believer in the team, isn’t counting out T&T’s chances of going to South Africa .
“It’s still too early to say we are out of it and especially after our performance on Saturday, regardless of the fact that we lost the game, I think we have even more reason to believe we can do it. I know a lot of people will think well it’s a big hill for us to climb now. I strongly believe that we can reach to the top of it,” the Raith Rovers defender said.
Jack Warner also told reporters after the game that he was optimistic even after the loss.
“I was pleased with what I saw… that kind of performance and fight from the Trinidad team left all of us optimistic and pleased. Nobody wants to lose but at the end of the day we played the best team in Concacaf today and they showed tonight why are they will be the first team to qualify for South Africa . But for Trinidad , I must say I was impressed with the way Latapy had the team playing. But we need to start winning matches if to keep alive South Africa dream,” Warner said.
San Jose Earthquakes striker Cornell Glen will not travel with the squad having picked up a second yellow card on Saturday and Joe Public striker Kerry Baptiste will replace him. The T&T team will stay at the Radisson Hotel in Mexico City . Team assistant manager Peter Rampersad arrived there at the start of the weekend to ensure all arrangements were in place prior to the team’s touch down there.