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DIRECTV W Connection head coach Stuart Charles-Fevrier expressed disappointment in his team’s 4-0 CONCACAF Champions League defeat away to Mexico champions, Santos Laguna, last night. But he vowed that the “Savonetta Boys” would bounce back and take heart from their outing.
(Courtesy Allan V Crane/Wired868)
Santos did not get their opening item until the 41st minute. However, two defensive errors in the second half set the platform for an ultimately comfortable triumph for the Mexican outfit.
“I thought that we could have done much better (but) we conceded two soft goals in the second half… and I think that’s where the game really slipped away from us,” said Fevrier, via a press release. “In the first half, although Santos had more possession, I thought tactically we dealt with their rotation and we came back into the second half feeling that we had a chance to at least equalise.
“But that wasn’t to be because of the two goals in the second half…”
Fevrier pointed to the young age of his squad as a positive side note. Connection played five teenagers in Mexico, including 16 year old left back Keston Julien.
“The average age of the team is 21 years old,” said Fevrier. “We had players as young as 16 years old playing, which augers well for the future for us. But even with this group of young players, I still felt we could have done better.
“But I believe that the performance will go a long way in helping us to believe more in ourselves.”
Julien made his senior competitive debut for Connection last night at just 16 years old.
(Courtesy MexSport/CONCACAF)
Julien, a Presentation College (San Fernando) student, said he learned a lot from the outing.
“It was a good experience for me and I hope to learn from it and come out in our next game in Costa Rica and perform better,” said Julien, who represented Trinidad and Tobago at the 2015 CONCACAF Under-17 Championship. “Their team played quick and compact and weren’t really losing the ball.”
Fevrier promised that the Savonetta Boys will be prepared for their next outing against Costa Rica club, Saprissa, on August 20. And goalkeeper Julani Archibald is looking forward to a better showing.
“It was a very tough game playing against the 2014/2015 Mexican Champions and a learning experience for us,” said Archibald, who is a St Kitts and Nevis international. “We have new players and a young squad this season… We have three more games and a training camp where we can continue to prepare and get it right for August 20th against the Costa Rican Champions.
“It won’t be an easy task but we have to move on from this game and keep going as a team.”
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I was told that 1 player made it with respect to the trip to Europe for our players to be seen by professional scouts eh, and that is to show us the problems with our football in our sweet country, and some of our players are so naive that they really think that they are ready for the big times in Europe eh and they cannot even make an MLS team in my second sweetest country. Them really good yes.
I’m waiting to see if Keston Julien is back playing in the SSFL next month. If so, what is the benefit of two or three games against top teams from Mexico and Costa Rica if you are back to playing against St Augustine and St Benedict’s for the next three months?
How many times I will say that our bootleg professional league will never be successful competing against real professional leagues abroad eh. Them really good yes. Steuuppss
Hmmm, I’ve got mixed views. I’m glad players getting deals outside and with this type of exposure for young players, hopefully in a few years they develop and get deals soon too. On the flipside, we taking licks.
Not a win necessarily Travis. But, as best as possible, something that doesn’t resemble a training session.
But I’ve always said the Pro League calendar doesn’t give our clubs the best chance to compete.
But wait Travis Mulraine, I thought you were the one who said the Champions League will separate the real coaches from the posers! Lol
its time we start being realistic guys, besides the age of connection ‘s squad look at the level of exposure afforded to the mexican and american teams EACH AND EVERY year,teams from la liga ,the prem,serie A. who are our team playing against??? whats the average salary of a pro league player? compared to a mexican liga or MLS player? Today Central will be playing against a team that 2 weeks ago faced FC Barca ,ya’ll expect a win right???
He missed much of season because he was on a tour of Italy with connection and then there was CFU qualifiers.
I didn’t see him play for Pres for the two or so games that I saw them play.
Keston Julien played LB last season for Pres. ?
CFC is more than likely gonna suffer a similar fate too tonight with or without Oliver and Leston Paul.
Tournaments are about competing in my opinion. Youth is great but not at the expense of being competitive.
Exposure is all well and good but our top two teams should be trying to compete at this level.
The only positive I saw was the exposure of the youths.