Trinidad and Tobago coach Bertille St Clair fired out at members of the national squad during a team meeting at the Marriot hotel in Edinburgh on the eve of the team's departure for home yesterday.
News Source: Trinidad Express
"The guys really did not give the effort that is required at this level and we cannot just sit down and allow things like this to occur. If you cannot give us 100 per cent out there then this will not work out as we want it to," St Clair told Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (T&TFF) media officer Shaun Fuentes yesterday morning at London's Heathrow Airport.
T&TFF technical director Lincoln Phillips also didn't hold back, but preferred to call for more cooperation among all concerned.
"As a team we were way below par and the only thing I am not disappointed with now is that that sort of performance came at this time and not later down the road. We as a people from Trinidad and Tobago get carried away easily at times. Sometimes we may be on a high after winning and we think we are way on top.
"So we may beat Dominican Republic in the first qualifier (on June 13) and think we are ready for the later stages. But also we struggle to get back up when we are down. That is the important part of our preparations now going into the qualifiers. We must be able to display that character and will to achieve better things. For far too long we have settled for less than what is really needed," said Phillips.
"I think we need a shake up to get the team really going, more like a way of having the guys lift their game and even I was able to come across some ways in which I can make an extra contribution following the meeting," said T&T and Birmingham City striker Stern John.
FIFA vice-president and T&TFF special adviser Jack Warner was in a disappointing mood following Sunday's game, saying he was hopeful that St Clair's men could pull themselves out of the hole and is hoping for a much improved performance against Northern Ireland at the Dwight Yorke Stadium in Tobago on Sunday.
The team returned to Trinidad yesterday evening and will journey to Tobago on? Thursday and could be joined in training by striker Dwight Yorke, who expressed some desire to train as he arrives home this week.
But he made no comment about returning to the international scene.
Yorke was in the T&T dressing room after the Scotland game and had some words of encouragement for the players.
"It was a big occasion for the guys because even me as a player never had the chance to play for my country against a team like England or Scotland, so in that regard it was wonderful for them to have this opportunity.
"I only saw 40 minutes of the match, but while the result was obviously a disappointing one I think we got to pick ourselves up and go again because there are going to be days like these," Yorke told Fuentes.
