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.