National football coach Leo Beenhakker says he was not particularly happy with the wayward finishing in Wednesday’s 4-0 defeat of Bermuda but has hinted that he is well aware of how the “Warriors” will approach their June 4 World Cup qualifier against Panama.
Less than two weeks before the big clash at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, T&T warmed up with a comfortable 4-0 win over the visiting Bermudans and will get a second chance to do more damage to the inexperienced side and hopefully sharpen up further when they clash again at the Manny Ramjohn Stadium from 6pm on Friday.
Speaking after the match in which he attained his first win since taking over as coach, Beenhakker was not particularly pleased.
“Well no I was not particularly pleased but we got a win and this match gives us some guarantees for the matches against Panama and Mexico. We worked hard in the camp and you can see we are getting better little by little. It was a useful match for us especially in relation to last week’s match against Lima. We tried to play more in front and get more time in the box. We had several good chances and even though we didn’t make use of them, that could happen now, it’s not a problem.
“This is just a game to take us one step ahead,” Beenhakker said, adding that he was not concerned over the low rating of the Bermudans.
“We try to play with more possession and play football from behind. We also try to use every player and get on front based on football and not with the long ball coming back as soon as you play it down there. We are trying to understand each other very well.”
When asked whether he has put a team together for the match against Panama by a local reporter, Beenhakker replied without giving any details of the actual squad.
“Yes I know how we are going to play on the 4th. I still have more than a week to go and I will work with all of the players. I will build a team that will be ready to play every match because we have the Gold Cup so the focus is not just the Panama game but right now you can say that the most important game is the Panama one. I know more or less all the overseas players. I had my first impression with Brent Sancho, Marvin Andrews and Kelvin Jack today (in training). I know them and that’s a big advantage.
"This Friday we will give an opportunity to the other players in the camp in Friday’s game and then we start our final preparation on Monday. From my side it’s clear how we have to play Panama and with what team we have to do that.”
Finally asked about whether he now has confidence in the team’s chances following the win on Wednesday, Beenhakker said: “ I had confidence from the first day here because if I didn’t then I would not come over here. Little by little we are doing better. We still have a long way to go before we play at the level of Milan or Liverpool or I don’t know who but everyday you see some players picking up some details and playing better individually and then we are getting it better as a team. And if it’s enough to beat Panama and Mexico, I don’t know but at least we are playing more like a team now.”