Trinidad and Tobago will be without the services of W Connection midfielder Hughtun Hector for Tuesday’s crucial Caribbean Cup Finals encounter with Dominican Republic after the player was ruled out with an instep injury sustained in Sunday’s 2-0 loss to Antigua/Barbuda.
Hector played in all of T&T’s previous matches in the tournament and joins Slovakia-based player Lester Peltier who is also out with a hamstring injury. Hector will not be available for the rest of the tournament if T&T progresses to the semi-finals.
It’s a must win situation for T&T and skipper Jan Michael Williams will be hoping to see his teammates bring their A-game if they are to have any chance of overcoming a determined and organized Dominican Republic side which beat Antigua 2-1 before losing to Haiti by a similar scoreline on Sunday.
“It’s down to us and how much we want it at this stage,” Williams told TTFF Media.
“We came here knowing that we needed to win matches in order to qualify for the Gold Cup and we haven’t won a match in Antigua as yet. I think the players know how important it is for us a nation to bring this one home. I think once we win our match then things will take of itself in the second game. We cannot afford to go out this way again,” he added.
Experienced midfielder Densill Theobald wants a more collective effort on Tuesday
“We need more togetherness out there. If all of us can go into the game with greater effort and one common goal like we did in the previous rounds then I don’t see why we cannot get a result that can’t take us to the Gold Cup. I have to admit that things haven’t gone our way and our approach has been a bit different in Antigua but it’s not too late to adjust this and go back to the formula of winning games. A lot depends on Tuesday,” the ex-Falkirk player stated.
T&T co-head coach Jamal Shabazz summed up the performance on Sundays disappointing and below-par but is backing the team to rebound.
“We did not produce the performance with the kind of fight that was required today. We had our chances and missed them and they took care of the chances that they got,” Shabazz said
“ I thought we had a pretty decent first half and we should have capitalized on the chances we created. But I have to give credit for the team for displaying some kind of fight when we went down but unfortunately it was not enough on the day. Devorn Jorsling came onto the pitch and tried to inspire the team and at times we did look like we could get back in it.
“Now we have to face the reality and be accountable to ourselves for what happened. But that has happened and it’s gone. We are still in with a chance of advancing and we now have to take care of business on Tuesday against Dominican Republic and then let the maths work itself out.”
Meantime, the T&T team had a recovery session on Monday morning and team manager William Wallace was expected to submit a report to the organizers on the break into the T&T dressing room during the second half of Sunday's game. Players and staff realised on their return after the final whistle that bags were tampered with and some members discovered that their Iphones were missing.