Let me first thank Christiano again for providing the WN the opportunity to sit in covered stands and take in the action. You get a nice view on that side, the protection from the elements better, the toilets in better shape and the food (both eye and stomach) is a level higher. However, yuh cyar beat the vibes and $h!ttalk of grounds.

Secondly, we have to give Wim a real big round of applause for using players within their limitations and getting the best from them.

Third, Denzil stepped up his game big time and before he faded in the second half, played the proper Captains role. Good work, keep it up.

Digicel jerseys, footballs, cotton candy and a free water was given to patrons on arrival. The crowd was a bit better considering it was a holiday and we were in the final. I estimate about 1500 people.

Tassa Drumming to celebrate the Holiday filled the air and the group also entertained the crowd at half time.

I must ask the question….. did FPATT use the opportunity of two local games to inform the fans of whats going on. Have shirts for sale, merchandise, have up banners or provide fliers to the die hards and the corporate community that was at the game. I did see Alyson Ayres and Kelvin at the game and I saw a camera man interviewing a white fella with a bald head. But to the casual fan. I ent think they know about FPatt yet. Does Fpatt acutally need fan support or does it now need player suport?

Anyways the score after I took my seat was 1-0 in favour of Haiti and woeful finishing and heroics from the Vincy Keeper kept the score respectable. It ended 3-0 with the second goal being scored by a Haitian capping two men in a row..walking into the box raising the ball and blasting a shot past the keeper. Nice skill…the third goal was some neat one-two and some composed finishing by the Haitian that was running up the flank. Vincy and Haiti looked to be using understrength teams.

TT and Mexico come out on the field and the PA system in the HC was piss poor. The powers that be did not announce the starting line up for either team (if I am wrong I stand corrected) and both anthems got cut orf. Better than that. I would have thought the faulty PA system would have been corrected since it happened on Mon.

The game starts off at a decent pace and the ref was clearly officiating in another game last night. Never have I seen a ref make such poor calls and bad judgment. He made Peter Pendergast look like Collina.

I was not sure of the TT line up but from my observation it was Durance Williams in goal. Dwayne Jack last, Noreiga, Seon Power and some other fella.

Not sure of the middle besides Theobold and Mc Farlene and Toussaint up front TT starting off in a 4-4-2.

After 4 mins TT were on the scoresheet. Both teams started out scrappy but after a knock around in the back and a long ball down the flank Mc farlene controls runs past the defender beats the keeper and slots home. Excellent goal and TT 1-0 up.

After that the Mexicans took control and TT were forced to chase the ball for the entire rest of the half.

All who played on Mon were rested and this group did not show the same level of fitness, cohesion, ball awareness or tactics as the first group.

Denzil stepped up his game and the Mexicans started to play him nasty. I was amused by the tactics they were dishing out on our players but we hadda learn and take them thing as that is Intl football.

TT were unable to string more than 4-5 passes together as the Mexicans shut us out double teamed the fwds and won the ball after it was played long in the back. The game was something like W-conn vs Chivas. Mexicans keeping possession, passing around but no real threat to goal, TT showing the flashes of individual skill..(toussaint in particular) but no meaningful possession or any kinda of authority or control of the game.

The player who had a bad game was Durance Williams between the sticks. He came orf his line and flap at fresh breeze,he mispunch cross ball and he not covering his angles well. He has gotten more than enough games for TT under his belt and his mistakes keep cropping up too regularly. Marvin Phillip is the better choice at this point in time.

Seon Power and Dwayne Jack have improved…but are both headaches and they still giving real trouble. They combined well to give Mexico their penalty.

After being mesmerised on the line the cross comes in…Williams is already off his line to reach but Jack flies in puts his foot and the ball hits it and goes across the goal. Power marking last post handles the ball……………….Tweet, yellow for Power and Penalty for Mexico.

Now after seeing Mexico convert 8 penalties in a row vs Vincy on Mon. I knew this was going to score and I was dreading a penalty shootout with them.

Another well placed Penalty by mexico 1-1 the score.

At the half TT changed formation to a 3-5-2 with Denzil playing behind the two strikers. Then when flour more than water and Mexico controlling the pace of the game. TT switched to a 5-4-1.

Whim took orf Mc farlene for Roberts, he put orn Spann and some other fella.

Spann made his presence felt on the field immediately….not with his running, tackling or playing….but with three thunderous free kicks.

Spann is our dead ball specialist and the first crack he had from 30 yards had the keeper scrambling.

Toussaint latched on to a ball at the top of the 18 and piped a laserbeam……….It looked like sure goal but the Mexican keeper was up to the task.

All the while the ref making jokey call one after the other and not seeing the off the ball tactics and events.

Finally the 4th official put up the lil electronic board and 2 min of extra time were added….I say to mehself oh lorse…Mexico in penalties..tings looking grim.

But then lo and behold…a player gets fouled and a free kick has to be taken. Spann steps up and chips a tru ball…which Roberts beats the offside trap. Takes it on his chest..puts it on the carpet and slots past the keeper to have the entire stadium jumping up to the ceiling.

What a finish!

The final whistle came as the mexican players touched off the ball and TT brought home the Digicel Shield.

The players then made a lap of honour to acknowledge the fans.

From looking at the two matches Toussaint, Roberts, Denzil and Mcfarlene have the goods Also the shortman number 2 who played in the middle with theobold on Mon is another good player. These would be the fellas had the foreign based pros been on the squad…these guys coulda be in the mix. All the rest, I find they shakey bad.

Not happy with Williams, or the entire defence. It not cohesive, they not compacting the zone infront the post properly and on the break men defending individually instead of a team coordinated unit with a man covering. Also not happy with the midfield besides Denzil.

The squad that played Mon is the stronger squad but lets hope the training and match does not take a toll on them.

Lets wait and see how they fare vs Honduras next before we start on them.

Wim doing well with what he have and the men playing a decent brand, we will not be embarrassed, but we far from being world beaters. Let us take the licks now and groom these fellas for 2010.

Sorry for being tardy, but I was taking in the Ms. Universe contest last night…I sorry Angola ent place higher and they thief Ms. Brazil, Korea was a nicer girl than Japan.

First off I have to say a big thank you to Christiano for providing the WN with tickets for the game. Much respect and very much appreciated.

Now they had real rain…but in the stadium there was only a heavy drizzle in the first game and no rain atall for the TT match.

After passing thru the turnstile two attractive young ladies in miniskirt and body suit handed me a digicel football jersey(nylon material) and there was also cotton candy being offered.

I had my choice of seat and at the time there were about 20-50 people in the uncovered section. This grew to about 500 by the end of the evenings proceedings.

Mexico and St Vincent were battling it out in a dull affair. Mexico scored in the first half but it was ruled offside. Mexico was better tactically, technique wise and kept the ball passing it around for long periods. St Vincent had the hustle and were defending with 8 men trying to launch the long ball counter.
At the end of regulation time it was 0-0 and they then went into a penalty shoot out that ended 8-7 in favour of Mexico in sudden death.

The TT line UP was as follows: (courtesy another thread)

Trinidad & Tobago: - 21.Marvin Phillip, 20.Anthony Noreiga, 5.Keyeno Thomas, Nickcolson Thomas, 2.Romauld Aguillera, Christian Baptiste, 15.Andrei Pacheco, 16.Silvio Spann (8.Kerry Baptiste 67th), 7.Densill Theobald (capt), 12.Gary Glasgow (11.Andre Toussaint 67th), 14.Darryl Roberts (9.Errol McFarlane 67th).

TT started off brightly hitting a shot to goal in the opening seconds and keeping possession well.

I must say Wim trying and doing well with what he has as his disposal….I found the team was playing well, a bit slow at times but they are cohesive and have a good understanding. A much improved performance since the digicel cup.

Haiti…I was disappointed in them. They did not look like the Reigning Digicel champions and I suspect they were using a weakened side or just playing sit back and wait tactics. No passes no penetrative runs, no wing play. Long ball hit and hope or a player running with the ball getting jam in the end.

TT stroked the ball around but began to get too predictable and there were many useless lateral balls being played around in the back.

We have two problems…defence and midfield.

Defence is the usual..the fellas slow, they getting beat with the simple one-too, they allowing too much space and they being too reactive. Haiti threw away some sitters. One in particular a fella miss in the six yard box(unmarked)…he ran in and swing only for the ball to roll under his foot.

In Midfield we have nothing going fwd and there is a gap.

The tactics are stroke the ball around amongst the back three….Theobold will offer his support and will pass the ball square to the wing backs and the ball moves laterally from side to side. Haiti fwds and mid do not press so they are under no pressure.

When a gap is opened the ball will be played long by the wingback to the fwd…roberts or glasgow to hold up the play…trap and screen. They then look for support from the middle…which is non existant or it is passed to the wing.

SO the ball is lost by either a poor long ball pass from the back….the bad trap of glasgow or the pretty flick to no-one…… Roberts having nobody to pass to, or Spann or Christian Baptise losing it on the wing. Baptiste put in one or two good crosses but no one at the end to make use of it.

The team plays a bit too reactive and they do not anticipate some simple plays.

However the second holding midfielder a shortman in the middle with theobold was doing well and breaking up men and winning tackles.

I will disagree with G in a previous post on theobold…to me he had an average game. He was playing unmarked for most of the night and any pressure on him resulted in a lost ball or him coming second in the tackle or he was pongs off. I discussed the game with others in the area and that was the consensus. Finally a vocal supporter from the stands…and this could be verified shouted at the top of his lungs…THEOBOLD HELP YUH SIDE…SUB YUHSELF!

The culprits for the night was Andrei Pacheco in the back…playing left wingback. Poor fella mistrap, mispass, get leave out and not covering the one two.

Spann like he just not interested. The boy playing casual men moving faster to the ball..Something have to be wrong with him, he had to have a injury or something cause he was just there do barely enough to get by. Dissapointed in his free kick as well.

Apart from that everybody else put in a good shift.

TT did not have any clear goalscoring chances for the night, nor did we create much opportunities. But we did have plenty ball possession. The best chance in the second half fell to either glasgow or Mcfarlene who with a defender on his back turned and took a shot in the area that went wide.

Haiti at the half made three subs and then the pendulum swung in their favour. TT was on the back foot and it was then that Haiti got their chances, After soaking up the pressure Wim put on Mcfarlene, Toussaint and Baptite I think and the game kinda came back to life.

Mcfarlene is a bit slow and his touch is somewhat off. But the Haitians fraid him and he would power his way past his marker…Toussaint was nippy and skillful and was taking it to them.

The goal came from a long ball being taken down in the middle of the field theobold gets to it and flicks it over to Toussaint who runs past the Haitian defence and slaps it past the keeper. Excellent goal and it gave the crowd something to cheer about.

TT then sat back and played for the 1-0 and Haiti just sat back and left the TT backline to stroke the ball around waiting for the long ball to come tru.

SO fellas the verdict is the side not bad, with help they will get better and if they continue winning and going along, it will make Jack look good and Wim even more of a hero.

But we are only looking decent based on the level of our opposition. A running side or a good long ball side will expose us.

That said come out Wed and support the fellas after you have your curry lunch.

See you Wed.