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The Trinidad and Tobago National Senior Team momentarily stunned Montevideo tonight, as 22 year old midfielder Jomal Williams conjured up the opening item away to the two-time World Cup champions.
Uruguay won 3-1.
(Copyright Miguel Rojo/AFP 2016)
But, in the end, the “Soca Warriors” could not match Uruguay, as FIFA’s ninth best ranked nation eased away to a 3-1 win in their capital city.
Trinidad and Tobago’s goal aggregate in South America reads seven goals conceded with one scored and successive defeats to Peru and Uruguay. But it could easily have been worse.
The Warriors were never in the game against Peru on Monday, as reflected by the eventual 4-0 scoreline. It was not the best way to warm up for a clash with a team that, even without the injured Luis Suarez, still possessed a striker with the quality of Edinson Cavani.
The combined goal tally of Trinidad and Tobago’s entire starting team was 10. Cavani had 30 international goals before kick off.
There was another more worrying statistic for the visiting team. Altogether, coach Stephen Hart’s starting team had managed 253 international caps to go with those 10 goals. In contrast, Uruguay’s battle hardened outfit had 457 caps between them with 46 items.
Peru won 4-0.
But the first blow was struck by youthful enthusiasm. And it was made in W Connection.
Just seven minutes into the contest, Shahdon Winchester collected the ball deep in enemy territory and crafty slipped it between the legs of an opposing defender for his club teammate, Williams, to run on and smoothly dispatch his strike to the left of Uruguay goalkeeper Martin Silva.
It was Williams’ first international goal and just his second start and fourth cap overall. Although it was not quite a strike from the blue. The skilful attacking midfielder has scored 20 goals in all competitions for his club this season. It was a welcome statement for the Pro League.
Nor was it an isolated moment from either player. Winchester, who debuted for the Warriors as an 18 year old under Russell Latapy but made just nine appearances with one goal since then, offered noticeably better hold up play upfront for Trinidad and Tobago.
And Williams showed flashes of the dribbling skills which have earned him much respect on the local circuit.
Uruguay were always likely to have the last word though.
The visitors held on for 18 minutes until defender Weslie John tripped Uruguay midfielder Nicholas Lodeiro in the penalty area and Cavani stepped up to drive a rocket past Warriors custodian Marvin Phillip and into the roof of the net.
Cavani scored twice as Uruguay won 3-1.
(Copyright Miguel Rojo/AFP 2016)
Trinidad and Tobago then suffered a touch of misfortune in the 37th minute as left back Triston Hodge needed lengthy treatment after opposing midfielder Carlos Sanchez inadvertently stamped on his hand.
The Warriors were temporarily down to 10 men and might have momentarily switched off when Uruguay scored from the resulting corner kick. The replay would make painful viewing for the Trinidad and Tobago defence and, predictably, Cavani benefited with a simple tap in.
Stand-in Trinidad and Tobago captain almost managed an equaliser, seconds before the halftime interval, but was denied by a stretching Silva, after good build-up play by Williams and Winchester.
And substitute Leston Paul, who mustered two goals all season for Central FC, again failed to show much appetite for the spotlight as he wasted a clear shooting chance in the 84th minute.
By then, Uruguay were already 3-1 up after a simple finish by Matias Vecino past exposed Trinidad and Tobago substitute goalkeeper Adrian Foncette in the 52nd minute.
There could easily have been a fourth, as Gaston Ramirez spanking a sizzling left footed volley off the top of the bar in the 82nd minute.
(Copyright Miguel Rojo/AFP 2016)
But Trinidad and Tobago, who were anchored well by Hyland and Andre Boucaud in central midfield, earned their luck. And Hart could not have been displeased with decent cameos from not only Winchester, Williams and Hodge but also newcomers John, San Juan Jabloteh winger Nathan Lewis and Central substitute defender Andre Ettienne.
The Warriors will return home for a brief respite before travelling to Qin Huang Dao next to face host nation, China, on June 3. And, although Cyrus and Lewis shook off injury concerns to face Uruguay, Hart will not have Carlyle Mitchell as a reinforcement in Asia, as the Republic of Korea-based defender was forced to withdraw due to club commitments.
If Hodge, Cyrus and Yohance Marshall are fit for that trip, the Warriors suggested tonight that they can cope.
(Teams)
Trinidad and Tobago (4-2-3-1): 1.Marvin Phillip (GK) (22.Adrian Foncette 46); 5.Daneil Cyrus, 17.Weslie John, 2.Aubrey David, 3.Triston Hodge (4.Andre Ettienne 40); 8.Khaleem Hyland (captain), 14.Andre Boucaud (13.Leston Paul 72); 17.Nathan Lewis (19.Curtis Gonzales 65), 23.Jomal Williams, 16.Levi Garcia (9.Marcus Joseph 88); 10.Shahdon Winchester (20.Makesi Lewis 75).
Unused substitutes: 11.Willis Plaza, 12.Sean De Silva, 25.Alvin Jones.
Injured: Yohance Marshall, Hughtun Hector.
Suspended: Radanfah Abu Bakr.
Uruguay (4-2-3-1): 23.Martin Silva (GK) (12.Martin Campagna 80); 16.Maxi Pereira (captain) (4.Jorge Fucile 70), 19.Gaston Silva, 13.Mauricio Victorino, 6.Alvaro Pereira; 5.Carlos Sanchez (10.Gaston Ramirez 46), 17.Egidio Arevalo Rios (20.Alvaro Gonzales 60); 15.Matias Vecino, 22.Diego Rolon, 14.Nicolas Lodeiro (18.Mathias Corujo 46); 21.Edinson Cavani (11.Cristhian Stuani 46).
Coach: Oscar Tabarez
(Copyright CONCACAF)
International friendly
(Friday May 27)
Trinidad and Tobago 1 (Jomal Williams 7), Uruguay 3 (Edinson Cavani 26 pen, 39, Matias Vecino 52) at Montevideo.
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Red card
10 vs 10
Mexico got a red too?
Football is something else yes.
Yes. Guardado get send off
And just as he get send off, Uruguay equalized from de resulting free kick.
Oh I didn’t watch it. Hmm interesting
Now look Uruguay get beat 3-1 by Mexico, and we draw twice with Mexico last year. Shithounds. LOL.
Hahaha
Uruguay might never wanna play us in a friendly before major competition again
Hahaha
Guys this puts Kelvin Jack’s article right in perspective!
Lasana, I agree with you. Trying to evaluate a game or player performances after watching it on TV is risky at best.
How did Weslie John and Nathan Lewis look ?
Weslie did okay. Harder to appreciate a defender’s work over television when you can’t see all his movement. But he didn’t look overawed which is very positive.
And Nathan showed the right spirit for a debut. He didn’t freeze. He tried to take people on and he didn’t lose the ball much.
He wasn’t really impactful. But decent enough for a debut. Something to work with. I think Nathan will get a shot against China to build on this.
Shahdon was an asset for his hold up play. He’d better use this as a launching point and try to keep his spot.
Thanks.
I thought W. John decision making on when to intercept, tackle, and step was horrid last game… in other words, he was ‘raffin’ last game
Lol. Maybe. I never like to write based on watching game on TV. He didn’t have players peeling off him all the time though.
So that’s one plus for Weslie. Considering he has a grand total of two caps right now, there is plenty room for growth too.
…Even in the communist countries the national team didn’t/doesn’t permanently train like a club..
Daniel Cyrus has increasingly disappointed…regardless of the opponent. And I’m not talking about his play (even though that can be another thread). His fitness levels are atrocious for a professional international player. He tires in the 1st half!!!! Every damn game!!!
Cyrus didn’t play much for Chicago Fire and then was released late in 2015 and had to wait a few months before the transfer window opened and he joined Connection in February.
And he has not had a good season by his standards with Connection either.
He should do more to stay fit as a professional even when he isn’t playing. But this isn’t the Cyrus we know. He has had a bad spell. I have to believe he will bounce back and be better next season.
I think that is a good point Prince. They barely pressed us at all in the first half. They seemed to want to draw us out before attacking into space. Whereas Peru played a high press that we were not comfortable with at all.
I think Uruguay gave us more room to play.
Not taking anything away from the performance. Still a top class side. Uruguay and Paraguay plays differently.
You mean Peru. Paraguay are a counter attacking team too. Colombia, for instance, might not be better than Uruguay and might lose to Uruguay. But Colombia plays on the front foot.
Colombia would probably have been more difficult for us too. Just like an attacking team like Portugal might give us more trouble than a well organised but more conservative side like Italy.
Yes I meant to say Uruguay and Paraguay plays differently than the other South American countries. Sometimes you can throw in Ecuador
I would say Uruguay has a different style of play than Peru. They are a more counter attacking side. Not a lot of goals in them. Other than cavani and Suarez
Call it youthful enthusiasm. Well done, Jomal. Good going guys.
While the performance was better than the one before, I still believe that AT THIS LEVEL, we’re making too many SIMPLE mistakes, especially in defense. We MUST work on our off the ball movements, because that is the reason we’re giving away the ball after two/three passes, especially in tight position. Look how easy both Peru and Uruguay made had done it. To me that has been our weakness for much too long and against top quality teams, they’ll punish us.
Why isn’t Jones (Kenwyn) and Jan-Michael Williams not on the team? Molino was also missing in midfield for sure.
Talented and good enough is two different things though … he makes fundamental mistakes consistently ….at this level …. problems
That was only his fourth cap though. He has time to learn.
Lasana ….that wasn’t Marvin’s 4th cap …this guy has been around forever …he’s been around as long as Jan cmon
No not all…. I was talking about Marvin Phillips ….. I thought Jomal’s performance was encouraging 🙂
Malik, I thought you were talking about Jomal Williams there. My mistake. Got my responses muddled!
As for Marvin, he and Jan Michael would have been playing abroad but for the fall out of the 2006 squad and our plummet down the FIFA standings.
They didn’t get the same opportunities as their predecessors like Clayton Ince and Kelvin Jack.
I still think Marvin has something to offer. He might just not be in his best shape.
I hear yuh!
Scheduling meant we couldn’t use any US based players and had to rely on clubs choosing to release the other guys.
Jan Michael is injured …..our goal keeping talent level is at an all time low
I think Marvin Phillip is a talented goalie. But when you’re a Pro League player and at a club that isn’t in the running for a league title, you have to be self-motivated.
He has to work hard to keep his standards high. But I think he is talented.
Boom nice going Bebo…full support every time! ! Keep yuh head on
We have been waiting for something like this from him on the international stage because it is clear he has the talent.
He has plenty to learn still about his movement and so on, especially off the ball and when defending. But it was great to see his bravery and trickery on the ball.
https://youtu.be/0CZhK8Y6lFQ need to look at it ….stephen seems to acknowledge some improvement from the peru performance …that’s good
I think maybe with a stronger squad we could beaten Uruguay, not withstanding the fact that we picked another injury in the match, and the squad is basically mainly locally based players. They put up a reasonably good showing. Still it is shows why the “Pro League” is failing our country, it is not professional period. The quality is weak. Watch the difference with Jamaica, they done they homework and re-do their league and it works.
Wait. You might have contradicted yourself there.
If Jomal Williams has only three national caps and puts on a good show against Uruguay, it must be a sign that the Pro League isn’t worthless.
All the man’s experience is basically Pro League football.
Yes, but Lasana Liburd, the level of competition in the pro league cannot quantify to the level of competition that we are playing currently even though it is friendlies we are playing. But watch Jamaica again. Their level, even if they, let’s say, play a local squad against their said quality opponents like Chile, they would still hold their own against and put a better showing than us.
Fair point, but i like this schedule that we have at least, starting around the same time with Europe, that is good, but quality needs to improve, am sorry. Skeene in charge so long and yet, have no figured out how to market his league properly to help it grow.
Absolutely not. Pro League Teams beat Jamaican teams consistently home and away. And home based Trinidad and Tobago teams beat Jamaican home based teams home and away.
Remember something about Jamaica, over 80 percent of their team were born and bred in Britain.
Our team is reflective of our football and its issues. Theirs isn’t. It is which players of Jamaican parentage got overlooked by England.
That is true to a point. But what you missing here is, the fact that they did their homework and actually build a,league from grassroots, by making ti part of the community, in due course they would be the dominating team in CFU. We have talented footballers, yes, but if they are not developed right, with the proper level of competition and such a high standard, then we would only go so far, if you catch my drift. Having said that, lots of credit to Mr Hart as he clearly knows what he is doing and has clear idea and vision of how he wants the team to play and develop, with the current conditions and standard of players he has. Because whether you like it or not, the fact of the matter, we are not up to standard. And that is why Costa Rica, Mexico, USA would continue to dominate Concacaf, with a not too distant Jamaica. Just watch their structure.
Trinidad and Tobago’s local football has gone backwards over the years in terms of structure off the field. Jamaica’s football hasn’t really gone forward at all there. They have been lucky because now we have networks interested in showing more live sport and they benefited from that. And the Pro League has been slow to move on that.
It is also true that we are not up there with the top CONCACAF nations at the moment.
But there is encouraging stuff too. As you know we drew with the US, we got a better result than the US did in Guatemala. And Mexico failed to beat us in our last two meetings.
We have to improve. But Jamaica has very little to teach us. In fact, Jamaica would do well by coming here to understand why a smaller country consistently produces better players and club teams.
Don’t be so hard on us. We have something to work with.
Suppose we went to the UK and came back with 15 lower league players? Would that mean everything is right with our game?
I don’t want us to copy Jamaica at all.
I get your point whole heartedly. But what i am insinuating, is that we should take some traits of jamaica’s, okay, i would not use them, how about the USA or even Mexico, watch the structure of their league. I agree that we always produce, naturally, better players than Jamaica, but when you watch the so called power houses, that is where Jamaica is ahead of us, with regards to their preparation, and organisation, exposure and growth. That is how you quantify properly a league, irregardless of how many technical players you produce. If your system is not strong enough for them to develop further and enhance their quality, then you are just impeding their progress, with them having to hope they have shun enough for what ever scout that happens to spot them, especially on the international stage and also in Concacaf Champions League.
I agree with a lot of your points. Just that Jamaica’s team isn’t a reflection of their development systems or their local league. It is a reflection of their scouting network to pick up players if Jamaican parentage who were overlooked by their motherland.
Costa Rica would be a very good example. They use a lot of local-based players on their national team.
Andell Sinaswee if you get Lasana’s point ” wholeheartedly”, there’s no need to go any further bro’.
Jamaica would not see the fruits of their investment i want to call it, now, but in the future they would have some say with regards to who gets tops spot in Concacaf with regards to its tournaments, because of their structure, about going back to the drawing board and doing things the right way, properly. I think we are still better currently, squad wise and preparation for tournaments, but overall, when you talk about long term sustainable forward progress, i think we are still in the same situation of our history of a last minute system where and i mean it loosely, with good grounds too, that even though, we started over right from our last world cup qualifying horror show for 2010 and 2014 respectively, we still going about things the wrong way. From day 1, when Beenhakker told the TTFA when he signed on as Manager that we need a proper professional league for real development and continuity and regardless of how well we do with all the great work Stephen Hart is doing, because he himself said we need a proper league in the first place also, we would be going no where and “spinning top in mud” as we say.
I agree. But Jamaica doesn’t have a proper league. Other countries don’t have one either eh. But they mask it by getting their players into the top leagues.
I’d agree with everything but Jamaica. What is Jamaica’s long term plan? To find more guys who never saw Jamaica in their life but were ignored by their home country?
Jamaica can teach us a thing or two in athletics. Not football. Even though they are ranked higher than us and would probably beat us.
Athletics yes, but the point is, we are better technical and generally produce better players and overall team, so they should take a page out of our books there, but, at least now, we should take a page out of their books, with regards to an overall plan and vision of true development long term for hopefully sustainable growth, we should take that page out of their book. If we do that, no way, with regards of their investment, would be better than us, because we would have all the ingredients for a sustainable appearances and progress at World Cups and dominance of CFU and Hopefully, some day Concacaf. But until we have main ingredient, Jamaica are ahead of us on that front. So Dexter Skeene can’t be boasting about his league is the best in the Caribbean, because i disagree with that.
His league is the best on the football field Andell. The stats prove it.
I beg to differ Lasana
If that were the case, then we should be improving with regards to progression in the Concacaf Champions League.
If Trinidad clubs have won three of last four Caribbean titles and beat Jamaicans team even in their backyard, then how can you dispute that?
You see Lasana, like i said before, the level of competition is not the strongest. Yes, we beat the Jamaicans and we are better, but how come when we play the American Clubs and Central Americans clubs we struggle and lost most times?
That is for more reasons than one. Part is scheduling. The Pro League changed its schedule in recent years to closer mirror Europe’s. But it means that our Pro League clubs are in pre-season when they face Central and North American teams in mid-season. And that is a tremendous disadvantage.
Our results were much better before that schedule change. All the same, we beat the other Caribbean teams coming and going. Therefore we are the best in the Caribbean, despite what might happen when we face the teams from the rest of CONCACAF.
..Btw, Jamaica beat Chile, CONMEBOL champions, 2:1 in Chile last night. A measure of our position..
Wow
..No national team – anywhere -trains together all the time. It’s just not practical and can’t be done..
Why not?
..Because the players belong to different clubs. The national team is not a club. Simple..
Keith that isn’t really a reason..the government pays the national team here anyway win or lose and in some cases more than they get from their clubs..no?
It has been tried before and it doesn’t work Tisha-Marie. First, the government doesn’t pay them to train. And there are a bunch of issues that will come up there.
But even if you looked past all those issues, there is more.
The magic of the national team is that they come together on occasion and you spend months trying to earn a spot.
That goes when you have a group together all the time.
And then national training becomes a chore and the coach’s voice becomes almost a nag.
Russell Latapy tried to keep a team in training all the time. And I spoke to the players about why it doesn’t work.
..Even in the communist countries the national team didn’t/doesn’t train like a club on a permanent basis..
The best case scenario Tisha-Marie is lifting the Pro League clubs to a higher standard, which would mean a wider pool for the coach to select from.
For instance, you always hear about poor fitness standards in the Pro League.
How hard could it be to address that? And to properly train club trainers and even for the national coaching staff to assess fitness levels on at least a monthly basis?
Same for stuff like goalkeeper coaching and so on. The TTFA has to do more than improve clubs and maybe schools too.
I personally never liked that our footballers are some of the few paid to represent their country..that money could be pumped into the pro league maybe?? …also as a teacher and parent maybe it is time for schools to insist on academic performance from footballers before the TTFA becomes too involved at that level..
SSFL is the teachers’ domain and not the TTFA’s. So I’d agree with you there.
But why do you say they are one of the few to be paid?
Some sports are not as commercially strong. I think that’s the difference. They don’t get paid because anybody likes them more.
Do we pay Bovell Walcott Phillips any track and field athletes that successfully represent us..why do we continue to pay footballers who fail to deliver? What do we gain as a nation that the other athletes don’t give?…but that is really a personal opinion..I don’t think anyone should be paid to represent one’s country
Also our level of football can’t be considered commercially strong if we still struggle for sponsors and to fill stands
The government isn’t supposed to pay the footballers either. The TTFA pays them based on earnings on the back of the footballers.
The government has borne the costs for sometime but that is for another reason.
It is because the government allowed one man and his cohorts to fleece football and leave it bankrupt. And that one man was a part of the government.
So you can’t just let a money earner die. The government was obliged to help football back on its feet.
The government has not had to pay any match fees for the footballers since maybe the middle of last year. So you don’t have to worry about that anymore.
True, the government still helps to finance other aspects of football. But the government also helps finance some aspects of almost every industry in the country. They aren’t paying salaries though.
The football team’s last two games were between 15,000 and 22,000 spectators. I think you might be talking about the Pro League and not the Soca Warriors.
Two different kettle of fish.
I am talking about the pro league yes because that seems to be the main pool for players and therefore represents to me the overall level of our country’s football
But even the couple of games a year the soca warriors play locally still doesn’t make the sport strong commercially
Well actually as many as 15 players out of our 22 play abroad. So the Pro League is not the main pool. It only was for these games because of the scheduling.
The TTFA doesn’t have strong commercial sponsors, which is astounding. And somehow the current president doesn’t seem to have gotten around even putting together a marketing team to go after such sponsors.
But with FIFA money and match fees from opposing teams, the senior Warriors don’t look like the will be much of a drain on the treasury in the immediate future.
But of course we always have to monitor that closely.
But still ..how many of those 15 came out of the pro league? ..honestly asking..
You mean how many of our overseas players started in the Pro League?
Yip..
I would say maybe 90 percent. Cordell Cato, Kenwyne Jones and Levi Garcia barely played Pro League football and Jonathan Glenn played none at all. But I can call over a dozen players who did start off in the Pro League.
Some like Jason Scotland went on to earn a small fortune in the UK and put mammy in a beautiful house! 🙂
Scotland was a Defence Force player btw. So he was a soldier.
What difference does it make though? Isn’t the fact that they progressed from the Pro League to something better a good indicator for the Pro League?
Lasana but that is what I’m saying that the pro league represents the level of T&T football..you brought up the 15 ‘foreign based’ ?..but it still isn’t commercially viable because there is no real fan base in my opinion..and that is because the PR and marketing is very poor..saying that coming from a marketing background
No, the Pro League doesn’t represent the level of T&T football. The Pro League is only the nursery. Most of our players have advanced to better leagues.
It would be like judging UWI students based on course work in primary school.
And the Soca Warriors has a substantial fan base. Some fans are more active than others. But you see the strength of their fan base when the team is doing well.
Is time for glenroy samuel return, shine brother and make a name for yourself.
Nice to hear about the improvement. Keep it up Warriors.
Hart said the transition play was simply too slow……..sounds familiar……sounds like the average pro league offering.
Makes a good case as to why a national team should be training together long all the time rather than being pulled from different teams..fact is Bebo and Shadon have been training together under WConnection and play off each off well as they are somewhat used to doing
I was very nervous after Peru. This was better. Still outplayed of course. Comfortably. But we did better.
When you think how many first team guys missing. Not bad
i saw only the highlights,good play Sheldon-Bebo a touch of class, and than the usual problems in defence imbarassing as usual
It was really scrappy at times. But I think it was generally steady-ish with a few moments of farce. And more on the offensive end as Shahdon was a better focal point.
maybe the zonal marking on the corners need some adjustment
That second goal came after a two minute stoppage for treatment to Triston Hodge. And he was off the field when the corner was taken.
I think concentration wandered and they didn’t adjust well to the change.
What’s d results for d league game
Defence Force won 2-1!
Thanks
My player i need full replay missed it
There were some encouraging performances today. Much better. More personality too. Not great yet or even solid. But better.
Made d most of opportunity. Well done
This is good games. These are the teams we need to play
the defending was in a word, atrocious on the penalty call and Phillips, lawd fadder no words…….all in all two of the three goals was as a result of god awful defending and goal keeping and last one well defenders were just standing there as if they were clueless or scared to tackle………
The Pro League and by extension the coaching therein needs to be looked at seriously because as it stands there is now way the Pro League can be the main feeder of talent into the national team…no way in hell …….big man can’t be making den kinda school boy errors at this level someting wrong somewhere
the coaching….. or lack thereof
We need more than Hyland in midfield….we give away the ball too easily thus putting sustain pressure on the defense…there is no creativity, no vision…no cohesion….sure we can hit St Vincent 7 but when we have to play team with higher skills against opponent who are also faster to the ball we are sadly out of depth. I believe one of our key downfall is mental…we don’t have the mental capacity we need to toughen-up. yes physical training is crucial to run for 120 minutes… but mental is just as critical…another question is what is our style/ do we even have a brand? Dear Mr. Hart we need midfielders and their strength must be (1) peripheral vision, (2) can change the tempo of the game and (3) can play/make that killer pass…I don’t know where he is, but we need him fast.
the defending was in a word, atrocious on the penalty call and Phillips, lawd fadder no words…….all in all two of the three goals was as a result of god awful defending and goal keeping and last one well defenders were just standing there as if they were clueless or scared to tackle………
The Pro League and by extension the coaching therein needs to be looked at seriously because as it stands there is now way the Pro League can be the main feeder of talent into the national team…no way in hell …….big man can’t be making den kinda school boy errors at this level something wrong somewhere
the coaching….. or lack thereof