“We are capable of competing for the Championship,” assured DIRECTV North East Stars head coach Rod Underwood.
The 43 year-old American may be new to the Pro League and Trinidad and Tobago football with the recently re-grouped North East Stars, however he has lots of faith in his side.
“I’ve had a look at Caledonia, W Connection, Ma Pau and Joe Public and we’re not a bad team,” he said.
The former Cleveland City Stars coach and Atlanta native only selected a couple of players over the last few weeks that includes Errol McFarlane, Gary Glasgow, Arnold Dwarika, Sean Frazer, Akil Guevarra, Marc Leslie, Leslie Fitzpatrick and goalkeeper Michael Woods.
Rod led the Stars to a comfortable 3-0 victory on Saturday at the Mannie Ramjohn Stadium in their opening clash against FC SouthEnd.
McFarlane registered a double and Jamaican Frazer notched the team’s third item.
“It was good,” said the American over his team’s opening victory. "We came out and played well. I think the guys were excited to get the game under their belt because we have been training constantly during pre-season and just wanted to get that game out with a win, it is a great way to start the season."
“We are still putting the pieces together and I said to myself, this is the team that I have and I’m going to work with them. I put the best team on the field and we did well against SouthEnd.
“We were all looking forward to the victory. Obviously every team knows to get that first win of the season is critical. It gives you the confidence. Maybe things didn’t go the way you wanted, but coming out with the win gives you a lot of confidence.”
Underwood’s next mission is against Police FC from 7pm at the Mannie Ramjohn Stadium on Saturday. Police are coming off a 3-0 defeat against Defence Force while Underwood is anticipating another three points.
“Preparation is going to be the same,” he added. “Just as we did for the first game, because what makes it difficult at this stage is that we can´t do a lot of scouting of the other teams.
So, we really don’t know what they have, except their results. Our focus is what can we do, and impose our will against any team while looking for three points again.”