It was Carnival time in Trinidad, which meant epic traffic jams, wild communal dancing, and Dwight Yorke. Fresh from having his drivers' license suspended in England (hardly fair--he was only tailgating at 100 miles per hour), he announced he was ready to play for T&T, and descended on the Queen's Park Oval in style. He started by showing a film in which he appeared in a black samurai suit, slaying a fire-breathing dragon. Then he emerged in person, riding a flaming chariot. He shouted "No water could out my fire," launched into a freestyle chant, left the stage while fire-eaters performed, came back in a pyrosuit, and engulfed himself in flames while saluting the frenzied crowd.
(Think I made that last bit up? Not really--it's exactly what Bunji Garlin did while retaining his International Soca Monarch title the weekend before the game. And for all we know, it really was Dwight Yorke. Have you ever seen the two together?)
Things were a bit quieter in the USA camp; with the lockout/strike/nastiness over, the squad was there to play, not party, and Bruce Arena didn't pull any major surprises. Eddie Johnson paired with Brian McBride up front, Carlos Bocanegra played left back with Cory Gibbs taking his spot in the middle, Eddie Lewis played left midfield with DaMarcus Beasley moving to the right, Pablo Mastroeni got the call at DM, and Landon Donovan played in central midfield, running the attack.
Bertille St. Clair, though, had some new ideas. He dropped his usual 3-5-2 and went to a conservative 4-4-2, with fullbacks Marlon Rojas and Anton Pierre pretty much riveted to the back line. With Carlos Edwards at right midfield and new boy Leslie "Tiger" Fitzpatrick at left, the plan was to send crosses and long balls to the strikers. That meant the up-front debut of English-third-division sensation Kenwyne Jones, along with regular Stern John. And Yorke? Fire or water, he got the key spot in attacking midfield behind the front line.
The first twenty minutes or so were pretty good for T&T. As expected, the Yanks had the majority of possession, but the Warriors were showing a good deal of spirit, with some effective physical play. And the long-ball strategy wasn't working badly at all. Jones and John were winning balls as often as not, particularly against Gibbs. Yorke was playing well, digging both on attack and defense, and his header forced Kasey Keller into the first save of the game. On the other hand, the USA offside trap kept the strikers off rhythm, forcing them to play mostly back to goal.
At the other end the USA wasn't getting much accomplished. Centerbacks Marvin Andrews and Brent Sancho were controlling the air, Rojas was fighting off Eddie Johnson, and although Donovan seemed comfortable running the attack, there was no real threat to goal. But eventually T&T fell into their old bad habit, giving the opposition too much room. Pablo Mastroeni drove a heavy 30-yarder that Hisloptipped over the bar. Johnson backheeled to Beasley, whose shot was blocked by Andrews. Donovan took a through ball and missed from a narrow angle.
And the pressure finally told. In the 30th minute, Eddie Johnson made the simplest of runs in the box, and Sancho and Andrews simply failed to follow him. Steve Cherundolo sent in a typically neat cross from the right, and Johnson's textbook header left Hislop no chance.
At 0:1, T&T was down, not out, and stabilized themselves for the rest of the half. But the goal showed they had very little margin for error, and a quick sequence early in the second half proved the point. First McBride sent Johnson free on the right, and he slipped it to Donovan, with a clear shot at goal. Donovan scores now and then, but he's not a natural finisher, and he only rolled it meekly into a charging Hislop. So a minute later T&T had their one look at the game. Gibbs came out to mark Jones, and Fitzpatrick darted into the hole to take a through ball one-on-one with Keller. Kasey hesitated for a moment, then came out, and Fitzpatrick, fooled, couldn't get by. And the next minute came the game-winner. A bad pass from John found Johnson with the ball again on the right, and again he dropped it off to Donovan. But while Donovan may not be a finisher, he knows how to get the ball to those who are--in this case Eddie Lewis, who buried a 25-yarder into the corner to Hislop's left. It was a marvelous strike, the goal of the day, and appeared to put the seal on the game.
Twenty minutes later nothing had changed; the USA controlled the action, T&T was far from goal, Yorke was winded, and fans on both sides were counting down the minutes. But in the 71st minute MLSer Cornell Glen came on for Fitzpatrick, and suddenly the USA was barely holding on. Glen's pace was too much for the defenders, who were tiring in the heat on the huge field. Angus Eve, who had replaced an ineffective Anthony Rougier at halftime, was particularly incisive on runs and passes. At one point John handled a cross where a chest trap might have meant a goal. Finally, in the 89th minute sub Densil Theobald sent Eve to the by-line on the right; he sent in a hard low cross for John, and Keller reached out his right hand and deflected it into the net for 1:2. As it turned out, T&T never had a chance for the equalizer, but three minutes of extra time were about all the Americans could take.
As the USA slipped gratefully out of town, T&Ters weren't sure whether to be thrilled or furious. The team had shown great fight--but they had lost at home. Cornell Glen had been spectacular--but he should have come on much earlier. Yorke had been great--or terrible. Bunji Garlin was a true Soca Monarch--or a charlatan. (OK, that one I made up.) And from the one and only Jack Warner: "I was in good spirits, and not too disheartened by the result. Although it was not what I was expecting and wanting, the team displayed more fight during some parts of the game than I had seen in a long time and, quite frankly, the result should have been in our favor." Run that by us again, Jack?
(Oh, and P.S. Three days after the game Yorke, with T&T drivers' license apparently still intact, ran his car off the road and crashed into a bunch of people sitting on a bench. No serious injuries, although a couple of women may sue. But no one caught on fire.)