When Miscellaneous Police Football Club take the field for tonight’s CONCACAF Caribbean Cup match against Mount Pleasant FA of Jamaica, head coach Wendell Joseph will be specially guarding against a repeat of what happened to local champions AC Port of Spain on Tuesday night.
AC Port of Spain held a two-goal first half lead against Cibao of the Dominican Republic, but faded to a 3-2 defeat when conceding three soft goals in the second half. Joseph, a former national youth midfielder, said that game management is a major part of a team’s success and has to be a big issue for Police FC tonight, when they face Mount Pleasant at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Port of Spain, from 8 p.m.
“My staff is cognisant to not being victim to what happened to AC (Port of Spain),“ Joseph said. “We hope once we get a goal or once we get two goals, we put our foot down, we put our heads down and manage the game well, and hopefully get that victory.
“I believe that having a two-goal lead in a competition like this (CCC), you have to do better,“ Joseph said. “You need to protect that.”
Joseph said that Police will want to remain strong at all times rather than just go into a defensive shell.
“It’s not going defensive, it’s managing what you have,“ he said. “Seeing that a victory was so important to AC (Port of Spain) last night (Tuesday), I was really disappointed in the result, because at the end of the day, it was another local Trinidadian team, and we would want them to do well.”
Police are currently third in Group A, and two points behind leaders Cavalier FC of Jamaica. Having drawn 1-1 with Haitian champions Real Hope FC - also currently also on four points- and earned a 2-1 home victory over Jamaica’s Arnett Gardens last time out, Police will also need to win their final preliminary match against Mount Pleasant tonight to guarantee a semi-final place. Mount Pleasant are also only a point adrift, with two matches to play, and so have everything to play for.
“We expect to get a very physical game from Mount Pleasant,” Joseph said. “Our preparation was not bad, coming off the victory (over Arnett Gardens last week).
Joseph said that Police will look to give their best effort. But he acknowledged that there are unique challenges within a team made up of both police officers and civilians. Because of the fight against local crime, officers in the team, including coach Joseph, have had to miss sessions at times or apply for time off.
“It’s difficult, but the organisation is the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service, the country comes first,” Joseph declared. “I have to work tonight. There are others in the team that have to work tomorrow.”
“I try to explain to the guys that we are not a full professional team,” he added. “We are semi-professional. We are probably playing in a professional league.”
He said that being semi-professional required a lot of sacrifices from Police, the 2023-2024 runners-up in the Trinidad and Tobago Premier Football League.”
We being police officers, having to work and train, and then go back to work....It’s a real tiring (thing). We try our best. “We have a lot of civilians as well. We try to explain to them what to expect or what not to expect,” Joseph said, ”When they are coming into the team, they will know as well, it has days when it will be rough. It has days when we might call (training) sessions and the session has to get cancelled, because I have to work, and the other coaches have to work. It’s a work in progress.”
SOURCE: T&T Express