"Overall I am satisfied with the work they did. On the other side there is a lot of work to do and there were a lot of unforced errors. It was our first outing with some new guys and of course, everything was a surprise to all of us."
Ian PrescottDutchman Wim Rijsbergen, Trinidad and Tobago's head-coach, was commenting following a credible first performance by a new-look T&T team who drew their opening Digicel Caribbean Cup match 1-1 with Barbados on Friday night at the Hasely Crawford Stadium.
Missing all but Densill Theobald from the World Cup squad, the young Soca Warriors team sparkled at times, but missed many easy chances.
Early on, Barbados were made to look quite second rate, as T&T kept them pegged backed and penetrated regularly through the wide positions. But Barbados lifted their game in the second half, when the Soca Warriors midfield fell apart.
It was only after Barbados equalized in the 67th minute and later had a man sent off, that T&T regained control and missed several more chances. Rijsbergen felt that apart from Gary Glasgow's 32nd minute goal, his team created at least five clear chances to score again.
"We have created a hundred per cent chances," the Dutchman stated. "If you don't put them in the net, you give the opponent a chance to come back in the game. That is exactly what they did. Hopefully we learn from these mistakes and we do not repeat them in the next game."
Rijsbergen was referring to a must-win match-up with Martinique, who are also desperate for points following their 1-0 opening loss to Haiti. Rijsbergen felt his team needed to revert to keeping possession of the ball for long periods. He said ball possession was key to the Soca Warriors' World Cup qualification and would be emphasizing that his team hold onto the ball.
"We need to hold into the ball. That was what we did good before. A lot of balls were lost in midfield," the Dutchman said, while explaining the repercussions of handing the opposition the ball too easily.
Rijsbergen also felt improvement was needed defensively. He stated: " I am pleased sometimes. But, I am not satisfied when we started with the ball in the back-line. "
The Dutchman felt Tobago United stopper Ian Jack had obviously limitations, but did well enough regardless. Rijsbergen thinks Jack needed to play simpler football and get the ball quickly to his team-mates. He also said that United States-based defender Osei Telesford had a good senior team debut. Telesford put in a couple of timely tackles and was also a presence in attack.
Rijsbergen also noted that his team did not play as well in the second half against Barbados. He said much of it had to do with physical fitness following the late assembly of his squad. He felt physical fitness was also a problem that had to be worked on overall in the local Pro League, which he said had not yet taken the local players to the top level of physical preparedness.
Meanwhile, another former national coach was pleasantly surprised by what he saw of the young T&T team. Jamaal Shabazz, now coaches the Guyana men, but the Trinidadian has had stints with the T&T men's team as well as the women's outfit. He said the makeshift T&T team did well.
"It was a pretty decent showing by the youngsters," Shabazz commented. " It shows that there is some depth in Trinidad and Tobago football, if they can put out such a credible effort without some of their best foreign and locally-based footballers."
Asked what he thought his Guyana team can do against the Soca Warriors, Shabazz said such thoughts had not yet entered his mind and that his main concern was winning their opening game against St Vincent and the Grenadines.
