National coach Bertille St Clair was back on the field again yesterday with the Trinidad and Tobago senior footballers, getting ready for the upcoming Digicel Cup preliminary round starting Wednesday at the Marvin Lee Stadium, Macoya.
With a spot in the final round of the CONCACAF 2006 World Cup qualifiers sealed, the "Soca Warriors" will be hoping to get their heads back in order following what they admitted was a below-bar performance in last Wednesday's 2-1 victory over St Vincent and the Grenadines.Several of the players, including Angus Eve, who scored the winner, put their hands up after the match and St Clair also confessed there is much polishing to be done ahead of the next stage.
"The performance was not what we were hoping for but I guess we can't play worse after this game," St Clair told Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (T&TFF) media officer Shaun Fuentes.
"I tried to move around the midfielders to get something clicking and it seemed as though it was the worse thing I ever did in my life," he added.
With former England manager Graham Taylor likely to intensify his input with the St Vincent match out of the way and several local technical officials scheduled to meet at the Dr Joao Havelange Centre of Excellence today to discuss the way forward for the Soca Warriors, St Clair is hopeful that the right remedy will be found.
"It is important that we have the team together more often. I am hoping that the players who will be getting the chance now can step up. We have a pool of players to work with and then we have some players who will be selected based on their performances. But there will be some changes. We have to go to Germanyand we really have to find the right remedy going into the next stage," he said.
Eve, captain of the team, was left on the bench for the first time in the current campaign but came up big with his late winner.
"It was important that we won the game but performance-wise we were poor. The coach opted for a more defensive style and it backfired because there was no one to pass the ball to in the middle of the park," Eve said.
He is hopeful that the Digicel Cup can help some of the other players to up their game.
"The selection policy must change because the local players must get a better chance to? vie for a spot. Definitely, the chance will come for this in the Digicel Cup." Young Wake Forest University striker Scott Sealy also voiced his disappointment. It was after he brought some life to the attack that the game swung in T&T's favour.
"It was disappointing because we were the ones playing at home but yet we seemed timid out there. They were the team needing to come away with three goals and instead we were the ones playing under pressure and this is something we need to be careful of going into the next round. This was an unacceptable performance at this level, especially with the kind of experience in the team," said Sealy.
St Vincent and the Grenadines coach Zoran Vranes, though saddened by his team's exit, wished T&T well in the next stage.
"It was a sad end for us but I felt good about having a good performance. Unfortunately, it didn't turn out the way we wanted. But for Trinidad I am happy because this is like my second home and it will be a great achievement for them to go on to the World Cup," he said.
T&T ? will? kick off their Digicel Cup campaign against Puerto Rico on Wednesday from 5 p.m. at the Marvin Lee Stadium, with Suriname tackling Grenada at 7 p.m. at the same venue.
