Walt Noreiga, coach of T&T Premier Football League champions AC Port-of-Spain, says his team needs to work on game management if they are to get anything out of their second campaign in the 2024 Concacaf Caribbean Cup at Estadio Moca 85 in Moca, Dominican Republic, on Tuesday night.
Last year, AC PoS endured a miserable campaign on debut in the tournament, finishing bottom of their five-team round-robin Group A series with a lone point from a 1-1 draw against fellow T&T club Defence Force, to show in four matches.
In their other matches, the ‘Capital City Boyz’ were defeated 3-2 by the Golden Lions of Martinique, 2-1 by Jamaica’s Cavalier FC, and 1-0 by the Dominican Republic’s Moca FC.
The Army/Coast Guard combination ended third in the group with five points and just shy of a semifinal spot after falling to Moca 2-0, drawing 1-1 with Cavalier and edging Golden Lion 1-0 in their other matches.
So far this season, AC PoS—in their first two matches in their five-team Group B round-robin series—have picked up a mere point from their opening match, a 1-1 draw with Haiti’s Ouanaminthe FC on July 22, before squandering a 2-0 lead in a 3-2 loss to Moca FC, both at Estadio Moca 85 in Moca, Dominican Republic, on Tuesday night.
As it stands, Moca FC and fellow Dominican Republic outfit Cibao FC share the lead in Group B with four points each from two matches, while Ouanaminthe FC and AC PoS are next with a point each, and Grenades are at the bottom of the table without a point.
In the drawn outcome with the Haitians, AC PoS took the lead through Shackiel Henry in the 34th minute, only for Joseph Willinx to earn Ouanaminthe a share of the points.
Last Tuesday, midfielder John-Paul Rochord scored a curling free-kick in the 41st minute and doubled the lead four minutes after the resumption with a close range header to put AC PoS on the road to victory.
However, Moca FC then mounted a stunning comeback, helped by some sloppy defending from AC PoS, with Alan Aciar scoring from close range in the 51st, followed by Gustavo Ascona in the 62nd, and Clifford Thomas, with a last-minute penalty, after Rochford had a chance to complete a hat-trick from the penalty spot as well but blasted his attempt overbar.
Reflecting on his team’s performances so far, Noreiga said, “In our first match against Ouanaminthe FC, we had a relatively decent first half where we passed and possessed the ball well and created openings where we could have hurt the team with better decision-making.
“In the second, we lost a lot of momentum and energy, and we turned the ball over, and our management of the game was lacking.
“The team (AC PoS) was holding their shape, but the boys started to get fatigue around the 60-65 minute mark, and we had to make some adjustments in the team due to the fatigue to see out the game, which earned us a point.
“Then in our second match we again managed the first half well and were able to constrict what Moca was trying to do, and we were able to open up spaces and pass the ball well and show good dominance in the way we wanted to play and was able to create problems for them and led 1-0 at the half,” explained Noregia.
“We again started well in the second half by getting the second goal through good build-up play, and at this point we looked comfortable, but then there was a spell where we didn’t manage the game properly for about 12 minutes and they came back into the game,” added Noreiga.
“The first goal they scored from the corner brought their fans into the game, and it gave them that little extra push to keep coming at us, and in that spell, I do believe we could have defended better and managed that period a lot better than we did.
“However, unfortunately we conceded a second goal from them, which tied up the match at 2-2, and from then on it was a see-saw battle where we were trying to manage the boys legs and to get back some sort of stability in the team and try and see the game out.
“We were then given an opportunity to go ahead with a penalty, which we didn’t take, and then a few minutes later they were awarded a penalty, which they scored to take the win, and again, these kinds of situations we have to take as a learning experience.
“It’s about knowing how to manage the periods where we conceded those goals, and going forward, it’s something that we need to work on, and hopefully in the two matches we have at home in September we will get it right.”
AC PoS hosts Antigua and Barbuda’s Grenades FC, the Caribbean Football Union Club Shield runners-up, on September 17 and one week later also welcomes Cibao FC of the Dominican Republic.
Looking ahead to those two matches, Noreiga said, “We are still in with a chance to qualify from the group, but we have to go for maximum points in our remaining matches if we want to get out of the group.”
In Group A, Jamaica’s Cavalier FC, the club of T&T winger Kaile Auvray, leads with a maximum of six points from two matches, three ahead of fellow Jamaican club Mount Pleasant, while T&T’s Miscellaneous Police FC and Haiti’s Real Hope have one point each with Arnett Gardens, the third Jamaican club in the group, without a point.
SOURCE: T&T Guardian