Looking good going forward, but defensively nightmarish.
Trinidad and Tobago head-coach Stephen Hart will seek to get his team’s first match difficulties corrected tonight, as the Soca Warriors look for a second win of the 2014 Caribbean Cup, when they meet French Guiana from 5.30 p.m. (EST), at Montego Bay Sports Complex, Jamaica.
The only team to get maximum point on opening day, Trinidad & Tobago lead Group A after a hard-fought 3-2 victory over a lively Curacao team, while defending champions Cuba were held 1-1 by French Guiana.
“Good win to start the tournament off, but we had to work hard for it in the second half,” T&T head coach Hart said.
“The goals we allowed were defensive lapses, but apart from that I am happy that we did in the end to hold onto that last goal to get the win. But if we have any plan to go deeper in this tournament we will have to do much better,” Hart warned.
The win over Curacao saw Hart getting his maiden win in the Caribbean Cup finals, captain and Cardiff City striker Kenwyne Jones also scored twice on his finals debut, and the other scorer Kevin Molino, won his first Man of the Match in the finals. Molino’s skilful feet carved out an inch of space and he curled a gem to the far corner for Trinidad and Tobago’s winning goal in the second half.
“Three points is three points any day and now we’ll focus on French Guiana and Cuba,” Molino declared. “We had to dig deep in the end but we showed a lot of character because they kept coming at us in the closing 15 minutes. They looked dangerous everytime they went forward.”
Hart too was pleased with the forward play in which the Soca Warriors looked creative and dangerous. Hart began the match without the main European-based players who joined the camp late. These include Khaleem Hyland, Lester Peltier, Justin Hoyte, Radanfah Abu Bakr and Kevan George. Meanwhile, Joevin Jones was also suspiciously seated alone in the stands.
“We had a good first half and I felt had we been more composed in front of goal we could have had a bigger lead at the break. Then they equalised in the second half before we regained the lead through a very good goal by Molino.
But we allowed them back in the game and we allowed them to grow in confidence. That made it hard for us but we were able to hold it together and come away with the win which is what we wanted overall.”
Meanwhile, Etienne Sillie, the Curacao head coach, said: “It was a good game. We took our chances well to score, but now we will have to assess how we approach our next game, which is vital."