Stern John’s 49th goal in 63 international appearances and an improved second half performance were the only highlights for Trinidad and Tobago’s senior team as they slumped to a 4-1 defeat to Scotland before a partisan crowd at the Easter Road Stadium, Edinburgh on Sunday afternoon.
Apart from John’s clinical finish from Carlos Edwards‘ right side cross in the 55th minute, a promising performance from English-born midfielder Andre Boucaud and a hardworking Brent Sancho and Marvin Andrews, along with a few moments of steadiness and one to two pressing moments going forward were all for coach Bertille St Clair to take away from the game.
But the Tobago-born coach made no excuses for his team’s inept performance, saying that there were valuable lessons to be learnt from the heavy defeat which was also witnessed by CONCACAF President Jack Warner who arrived from Canada mere moments before kick off.
“This is indeed a great lesson for us. We need to start realizing that it’s 90 minutes of football we got to play with full urgency. We went into the game making the same simple mistakes and sometimes we looked as though we were afraid to face them out there. And it was obvious that we were a shadow in the first half because it was a completely different performance from us in the last 45 minutes,” St Clair told TTFF Media after the game as the players were coming to terms with the result in the company of former teammates Dwight Yorke and Clint Marcelle in the dressing room.
With the Scots up through goals by Manchester United’s Darren Fletcher (6th), Gary Holt (14th), Gary Caldwell (23rd) Nigel Quashie in the 34th, it looked all downhill for the “Soca Warriors” from there on. But some stern words from John and encouragement from St Clair during the half time break seemed to give Eve and company a desperate push but by then the damage had already been done. A close effort by substitute Kerwyn Jemmott, a low power shot by Boucaud and a Nixon squander followed for T&T in the late stages.
“What we had to say to them is what we have been trying to instill all along. If you are in control of your play and then make simple mistakes, you are always going to pay the price. The guys needed to play with more urgency and to believe in themselves and that showed with an improved performance after the break but there is a lot of work to be done still” St Clair added.
“We were just under too much pressure from too early in the game and things became frustrating,” John said. “We have got to learn how to counter these kind of teams because this is where the big stage is.”
Rangers defender Marvin Andrews was just as disappointed saying: “We never got a chance to settle down in the first half. They came right at us from the start and unfortunately we didn’t click neither. But we could only take this as an experience and turn it into something positive.”
New Southampton midfielder Kenwyne Jones was in the starting team but never settled and St Clair hopes that players like him learn from the experience. Arnold Dwarika, Eve and second half substitute Jerren Nixon never flourished.
“He (Jones) was miserable today and I hope that players like him can learn from what happened today because it’s not the end of the world but we need to step up and rise to these sort of occasions. They are still young players and can only grow,” St Clair commented.
Yorke still had some words of encouragement for the team. “It was a big occasion for the guys because even me as a player never had the chance to play for my country against a team like England or Scotland so in that regards it was wonderful for them to have this opportunity. I only saw 40 minutes of the match but while the result was obviously a disappointing one I think we got to pick ourselves up and go again because there are going to be days like these,” Yorke told TTFF Media.
Scottish coach Berti Vogts enjoyed one of his biggest wins in some time and was an elated man afterwards as it was the first time Scotland have scored four goals since a 4-0 World Cup qualifying win against San Marino in March, 2001.
“I'm very happy with both matches (1-0 win over Estonia) and the first half was fantastic," Vogts said. “Our movement was great, we pressed the ball very well and scored good goals.It's a great way to finish the season and it was a fun atmosphere in the stadium."
The T&T side is schedule to arrive home on Monday evening to prepare for next Sunday’s friendly with Northern Ireland at the Dwight Yorke Stadium and the 2004 World Cup qualifiers against Domincan Republic on June 13 and 20. New York/New Jersey Metrostars striker Cornell Glenn who was forced off the pitch with a thigh strain, Wrexham duo Carlos Edwards and Dennis Lawrence and English born pair of Ian Cox and Andre Boucaud will arrive in Trinidad midweek.
T&T Line-Up:
Clayton Ince, Brent Sancho, Marvin Andrews, Ian Cox, Carlos Edwards (Denzil Theobald 90th) Stokely Mason, Angus Eve (capt) (Kerwyn Jemmott 81st) Arnold Dwarika (Jerren Nixon 74th), Kenwyne Jones (Marlon Rojas 46th), Stern John, Cornell Glenn (Andre Boucaud 28th).
Scotland Line-Up:
Craig Gordon, Jackie McNamara, Jamie McAllister, Gary Caldwell (Stephen Caldwell 78th), Malky Mackay (David McNamee 85th), Steven Pressley (capt), Darren Fletcher, Gary Holt (Brian Kerr 54th), Stephen Crawford (Kenny Miller 67th), James McFadden (Andy Webster 85th), Nigel Quashie (Richard Hughes 71st).