Well the Gold Cup is over but it ended on a relatively high note. The team fought well and played their best game of the tournament. Inexperience again counted as Dwayne Jack was sent off in the first half and left TnT with the tough task of putting 2 past Guatemala with a man disadvantage.

Despite the loss TnT looked good and Trent Noel hit the woodwork near the end of the first half. As TnT pressed more in the second half Guatemala had more opportunities on the break and after threatening twice with disallowed goals they finally scored with less than 10 minutes to go. TnT then came back with a late goal by Mc Farlane, who also had a chance to score a winner at the death.

That is the game, in a nutshell, as I saw it. I must admit that I didn?��Ǩ�Ѣt see the entire thing as there were several WN related things to be done on matchday.

The turnout was good with two sections of fans supporting the Soca Warriors on opposite ends of the Stadium dwarfed by a sea of Guatemalans. There were easily about 25 to 30 times as many Guatemalans as TnT fans present and they made themselves heard until Mc Farlane silenced them late on. It would be nice if one day we get that kind of support for a TnT match, that is not at the World Cup.

My thanks to all the fans and forum members that came out to make it a fun experience. Plenty forumites went a long way to get non-diehard supporters, many of whom knew nothing about the tournament, to come out to the game and have a good time. I also have to praise the management of Foxboro Stadium and the New England Revolution as they were very accommodating to the WN as hosts. They opened up a section for us, despite our small number and allowed instruments so that we had a decent rhythm section going in one of our sections.

After the game I was lucky enough to attend the press briefing by the coach. He didn?��Ǩ�Ѣt really say anything new. He was pleased with the improvement in the players?��Ǩ�Ѣ passing and positioning but acknowledges that we have far to go. He also believes that as much as you can coach a lot of the development and improvement lies with the players and he used the sending-off as an example of the lessons that we have to learn as individuals that will benefit the team.

As for tactics, we starting with three strikers but Wim conceded that our team cannot play football in the other half of the field. This was not a diss. He merely referred to the fact that we are not as good, as yet, at maintaining possession in attack. He used the breakdown of the play that led to the Guatemalan goal as an example. Although we took a lot of crosses in the 2nd half most of them were not good enough and we are just not there yet. Most importantly for me was the fact that is committed to 2010 and willing to work under trying circumstances.

We also got an update on Noreiga from Shaun Fuentes and that was appreciated. The details are similar to those in the recent press release. I wish the young Warrior the best with his recovery.

At the end of the tournament, as predicted, everybody wonders what would have been if we had Carlos, Jones, Sancho, Jack and company. In a tournament of upsets TnT would have been well-placed to make a splash but it was not to be.

Hopefully the TTFF could stop messing about and do what is best for the football and resolve this dispute and/or just select the best damn players.

Well what to say
Today we lacked determination in one word
Our fellas were 3 steps behind d whole way and looking real sluggish
I not sure if the ball crossed mid line before 35 minutes to tell you the truth

Quick observations:
MY OPINION: Gary Glasgow was missed, his off the ball speed and ability to stretch the defense was noticeably absent
Roberts needs to take a rest, start Glasgow and Toussaint next match up front
The injury real set us back. Switching dem men position so early was a big problem
Power to central mid and Spann to back caused problems.
Spann, boy for all the good work you do Thursday, he take the total wrong angle to the ball on the first goal. All the man had to do was run at he to the corner and cut the man off and there was no goal on that play. Apart from that he left the back post man wide open 3 times.

IT was obvious from the stands they were always lagging both mentally and physically.
At the press conference Bradley the US coach made a great point; When it comes to international ball, its much faster than what these men are use playing. They have to make the adjustment to individually step up and raise their game both physically and mentally to the next level in order to survive at this level. This is something TNT clearly needs to work on

You could see we were behind is pace and mental decisions the whole match. In fact there were some stretches where you could throw a blanket up and cover 5 TNT players one time.

Then on to Baptiste. Man had perfect feeds in the box and had dreadful first touches on both. A World class player (cough Stern) would have one timed both of those balls. If they go in or not is another question, but oh gosh man do something with it nah. I was talking to Patriot about it, why that first touch, why not hit the damn ball ,and he tell me: “boy you answer your own question….”

the team just seemed to be doing more walking than running right from the get go

this is a brief report, more to follow

I would personally like to thank Vashti on behalf of he Warrior Nation. Dhalin, if you read this, on behalf of the Warrior Nation thank you so much for taking us in and treating us to a wonderful time in LA

That leads to my next point

Today made me understand something
Being a Trinbago supporter is not all about the football alone
It?��Ǩ�Ѣs about bringing together people with a common passion… the country, the people, the lime, the music, the food, the ol talk
Its about being Trinbagonian, a wonderful unique culture we should all be proud of
So for allyuh talking boycott this, Jack that…..BIG STEUPS, ride off and find another team to support
Allyuh who chose not to attend real miss out, the Boston crew who go will understand what im saying.

Ricky out

EDIT: I owe Spann an apology
I thought that was he that got blown by on first the goal, not Power
we were behind the goal on the other side in the last row and I didnt see a replay until now

well ppl, today is the big one.
Im heading down with Feliz and Tallman in a few minutes
Expect a larger support section for TNT today, we went to lime at Treehouse last night and most of dem men said they were going.
Place was bumping pretty good
Feliz took us on a missed exit tour of LA after Treehouse last night and spend 2.5 hours getting back home LOL
Today I not walking with the laptop, the Pressbox is rather small so i wont be able to get a spot with a view of the field. But rest assure Patriot and myself will be hitting the buffet first
Ill take in all the action and file a report later

Well fellow Nation members, here goes my first blog attempt
By no means can I match touches grand reports but here goes

The day started in true Trini fashion with us finding out that our Warrior Nation tickets had been issued for the wrong section. The Nation was to be sitting in section 103; upon looking at our tickets we found them to be 139. Pressure. Feliz like a mad man spend the whole morning running around to organize the correct tickets and contact other WN members to get them the new tickets in time for the match. As it turned out, it would not have really mattered. We were told by the home Depot Center that over 300 tickets had been sold in the TNT section (103), what we were not told was they were sold to El Salvadorans and Guatemalans. My best count of Trinbagonian support at the stadium would be less than 50. Was this a boycott due to the blacklist? Perhaps, but it was sad to see the lack of support. The announced crowd was about 21,500 of which my guess would be 90% Latino. it was a true road match for our Warriors. The central American support was quite loud and even had a small rhythm section of their own behind the north goal. The Central american fans would be very loud almost everytime one of their players touched the ball. Neutral/USA fans seemed to be supporting the Warriors, this was noted in the 2nd half as they seemed to enjoy how we were playing the match. The WN crew consisted of DeSoWa and his 2 friends, Feliz, Alberta Trini and his 2 sons, myself and PAtriot. There were about 20 other Trinis sitting by us who were brought to the game by a local LA Trini named Vashti who has been in contact with the WN

Ok on to the match, I linked up with Patriot and we headed up to the press box for a nice pre game meal and set up. The box was rammed pack with the USA match still on so we were forced to sit up on a little corner behind the camera and could hardly see the field. An official looking man with a FIFA jacket who looked like Jack Warner?��Ǩ�Ѣs brother had 3 empty seats beside him on press row. I approached him to ask if we could sit at those seats and was very rudely declined. Oh well what to do. The press box coordinator of HDC was very helpful to us and was even rolling his eyes at the man and apologetic. In time the man left and Patriot and I set up about 10 minutes into our match.

On to the game?��Ǩ��we started with a 4-4-2 made up of JM Williams, Keyeno Thomas, Thomas Nickcolsonm Seon Power, Anthony Norigea, Romauld Agrullera, Andrei Pacheo, Slivio Spann, Densil Theoblad, Gary Glasgow, Darryl Roberts
We were a little surprised by the exclusion of Toussiant and Baptiste but they were brought on as subs later

I wont go into full match details as Patriot will be a better technical writer about the match, but the game started with a cracker for us. 8th minute Mr. Silvio Spann hit one of the best free kicks I have seen a Trinibagonian take. 40-yard cracker top right corner out reach of the out stretched hands of a diving keeper. WHAT A GOAL. If you could believe, I actually missed the goal having my head in the computer, but was made aware of it by Patriot jumping up and down yelling “goal boy” and running down the press box to high 5 fuentes
1-0 TNT
We held our own for most of the first half. Seon Power had a dreadful giveaway in the 4th minute that lead to an ES chance, but after that Power settled down and played a really nice game, apart from the 2nd ES goal which was a big mix up. EL scored their 2 goals as a result of dreadful back line mistakes. The fist the came off a free kick in the 38th minute. The kick was punched away my JM Williams to ES# 21 Quintanilla. Quintanilla fumbled the touch and looked like the danger was over, but to his credit he pounded the ball back into the area and a very nice back flip touch was made by #16 Larios to a wide open #14 Sanchez who put the ball into the open goal. Some nice touches by the El Salvadorans on the goal, but the main culprit was suspect back line defending by The Trinidadians that left Sanchez WIDE OPEN

The second El Salvador goal came in the 81st minute by the Miller Lite player of the match Dennis Alas. Again dreadful back line coverage and handling of the ball resulted in the ball coming free to an open Alas who calmly placed the ball in the net.
Trinidad and Tobago really showed no signs of getting back into game after that point.
We had some good chances through the match and at the post game press conference Wim seemed pleased with the effort of the lads but was disappointed with the lack of back line focus that cost us the 2 goals.

Now it?��Ǩ�Ѣs on to the USA. This will be a very hard match for us. Even though the American will be without the large center back Onyewu who picked up a red card against Guatemala, it will be difficult for TNT to get a result. But as one member often says ?��Ǩ?�god is the boss?��Ǩ�� and anything could happen. This was a very winnable game for TNT and the fact we let the 3 points slip away puts us in a very hard situation, but the boys will keep plugging away and not give up. For my liking the El Salvadorans left the back post open all the time and we did not have the bodies there to take advantage. I would like to see Noriega get more involved. Even though he moved up for the dead ball kicks he was a non-factor. He is a very large body and should be able to get some heads on the ball in the attacking area. I was pleased with the play of Gary Glasgow apart from the chances he missed, he held the ball well but took a little to long to distribute after that. People will fault him for not hitting the target but he worked hard to get into positions at the correct time. He had a wonderful chance right before being subbed in the 67th minute. Looks like Gary took a knock earlier in the half and that hindered him the rest of the way. Hopefully he will be ready for the Americans.
Slivio Spann was on pace for a man of the match performance had TNT got a result; he was subbed out in the 73rd for Kerry Baptiste. This looked like it may have been due to injury as I saw him talking to the bench and shaking his hand right before the move
Ill leave the other player ratings for Patriot

I took some audio recordings during the day; they will be posted on the site soon.
Being rookies at this, we went to the post game press conference, in which the El Salvadorans were asked tons of questions by Spanish media. By the time they were done the TNT team had already left so we were not able to get individual interviews?��Ǩ��. we will have this sorted better for the USA match

MATCH STATS SLV TRI

GOALS: TRI 16?��Ǩ�Ѣ Spann
SLV: 38?��Ǩ�Ѣ Sanchez
81?��Ǩ�Ѣ Alas
BOOKED: SLV: #21 Quintanilla 86?��Ǩ�Ѣ, TRI: #14 Roberts 5;, #20 Noriega 45+

Goal Attempts (7)15 (5)11
Saves (2)4 (1)3
Fouls (5)8 (7)13
Corners (2)4 (4)8
Offsides (3)5 (0)0

Ref: German Arredondo (MEX)

Well it’s 1/2 time and we are holding our own against an El Salvador team that looks beatable! T&T deserving took the lead in the 7th minute with one spectacular free kick by Silvio Spann. A volley from about 40 yards out that cannoned off the keeper’s right upright, giving him NO chance.

While T&T took control over proceedings in the early stages, I think we allowed the Salvadorians to get back into the game by playing defensively and seemingly sitting back on our slim 1-0 lead. When I saw the starting line up I felt sure Seon Power would be our archilles heel at right back, however he is playing at LEFT-back and as much as I don’t rate him (Wim clearly DOES!), he’s doing a decent job going forward AND covering a lot of ground. What we lack in midfield, is an organizer, also we lack spped on the flanks. Pacheco playing in his more favored left back position has delivered some nice crosses and Aguilliera’s combative performance in midfield complements Theobold’s passing of the ball. I find Denzil’s passes to be TOO many back and lateral, as opposed to forward, but obviously he is playing to instructions and within his limitations. The El Salvador goal resulted from some slack marking in the center of defence where not one but TWO El Salvadorians were FREE in the box and after BOTH lunged at the ball, it was scrambled in pass a stranded JM Williams. He was really left at sea, as both his central defenders were TOO slow to react to a ball played acroos.

I have to say that the team is playing some decent ball, trying to maintain possession, playing very disciplined football and a compact defence. However with the score at 1-1, in a game we must win, our chances are going abbegging. Glasgow threw away twice in the box, shooting tamely in the early part of the game and again OVER-dribbled just towards the end. We have won more corners that the Salvdorians, but have NOT used the height advantage of K. Thomas and Noreiga.
ALL in all as the 2nd half is about to begin, I can see the game going either way. Wim, to my mind will bring on Touissaint and Baptiste to trouble the Salvadorians if the score remains tied, and possibly McFarlane for his aerial ability. Otherwise I expect him to continue with who’s he’s got.

Okay folks, the Gold Cup is here.

I am going to beg forgiveness in advance for this blog which will most likely be filled with errors and done at the last minute. Kinda like the TTFF preparations for this tournament. Although, to be honest, they pass the late stage when it comes to sorting out the players?��Ǩ�Ѣ bonus payment dispute. They just failed to get it done and now we going into the tournament without a recognized, full strength squad.

This is sad because, coming off a WC qualification campaign when we were the fourth-best in the region, I would now be mightily pleased if we just make the final eight. After qualifying for the WC and then improving under Don Leo, I know most fans would have been looking to this Gold Cup as an opportunity to show how far the team has come since 2005 when Don Leo had just taken over the side, and was more focused on getting the team ready for the final WC qualification push.

We played some of our most productive football during those wins against Guatemala, Panama, Mexico and Bahrain and my one lament is that That Side never got a chance to play against Jamaica or the US. Both of those would have been satisfying matchups to measure how far the team has come. We would have had a chance on Saturday but unfortunately the TTFF had other ideas.

I am not going to dwell too much on the disadvantaged position of Wim and his players because enough has been said about that situation. Instead I am looking forward to the tournament for several reasons.

On the footballing side this is the Gold Cup. We have never done well in this tournament and although we have taken stronger teams, this team has been well-prepared and playing together for the last dozen games. The faces are new but some are very promising. Darryl Roberts will raise some eyebrows and Spann and Theobald are experienced players. The biggest fear is always defence and goalkeeping which is not battle-hardened like Tallest, Sancho and Jack. I expect these new players to make the kind of mistakes that those guys did just a few years ago. It is unavoidable when inexperienced players get dropped in at the deep end of the pool, no matter the talent level.

On the support side, you are always happy, as a Trinbagonian on the outside, when you can get to see the team play. There is the added bonus this time that the Warrior Nation will be out in force. Two years ago against the US in Hartford, there was no Warrior nation. A bunch of Forumites were lucky enough to bounce up and the lime was nice. This time we have a section where members can congregate and (hopefully) celebrate. There will also be a Boston-based Trini cultural group, the Engine Room, that will be in the section and they should be bringing a full riddim section. The people at Foxboro still talk about these guys from the last time TnT played the US there in 2001. Hopefully we can represent just as well this time. We also have media accreditation so hopefully we can give the WN members and forumites more access to the team and players. I know that my fingers are crossed that Camps or Groden would show dey face to answer questions in Foxboro.

For tonight I hope to be able to follow the El Salvador game which is either ?��Ǩ?�must win?��Ǩ�� or ?��Ǩ?�must not lose?��Ǩ�� depending on who you talk to. The game is at 11.00 pm and I have to be up at 4.30 so that is a challenge but we will see. I will try and catch some early sleep and get up for the second half. Hopefully when I get up I will hear that we are a couple goals to the good.

Good luck to the Soca Warriors.

Well fellas, I reached LA last night in time to see the Ducks win the Stanley Cup (haha had to throw that in for Palos)
As I type, Feliz is on the way to pick me up and we will head to Home Depot Center and get set up. Ill be walking with my laptop and digital voice recorder on the off chance I will be able to provide live updates from the pressbox via internet. If anything I will make a post about the event later tonight or tomorrow.
Keep checking the site for more updates as I am able to provide
Thanks, T and T…WE WANT A GOAL

Building on the excitement experienced in following the Soca Warriors at last year’s Gold Cup, the Soca Warriors Supporters Club is rolling out extensive coverage of this year’s Gold Cup in the United States. With CONCACAF-approved media personnel in place, members of Warrior Nation Media are ready to bring supporters of the Soca Warriors worldwide, exclusive coverage of all Gold Cup games. Reporting live from California and Boston, and if necessary Houston and the other cities, should we progress beyond the First Round, the Warrior Nation website will be the hub of our Gold Cup coverage.

Some of the features of our coverage include: blogs from our reporters at the games; audio interviews of players, officials and supporters following the team; exclusive photos; the best players database in TT football; football trivia and updated team standings.

We look forward to you joining us for the WN’s exclusive online Gold Cup 2007 coverage, and look forward to your suggestions as the tournament progresses.

Beginning yesterday, Warrior Nation members started arriving in California to see Trinidad & Tobago play El Salvador and the United States in the 2007 Gold Cup. Yesterday, Patriot made his way from T&T and settled himself in Carson, approximately one block from the Home Depot Center. Leaving Edmonton, Canada at midnight last night was Ricky the beer guzzler. Feliziano is heading to Minneapolis tonight to catch a flight to Los Angeles tomorrow morning. Imagine Feliz has to drive three hours to reach the airport, so yuh know we relly living in de bush.

Well yes, ah heading to Miami International Airport in ah few minutes to ketch ah flight to T&T. Tomorrow I and about 350 supporters will be going directly from T&T to Frankfurt. Right now ah wolfing down some Ital before de taxi reach, talk bout kicks. Keep tuning in for de details as we embark on dis historic journey.

GO WARRIORS, GO!!!