T&T Football Federation Special Advisor Austin Jack Warner said yesterday that out of sheer joy, he cried like a baby following the 2-1 win over Mexico in the Concacaf World Cup qualifier at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Port of Spain, on Wednesday.
The victory further convinced Warner that T&T will join the ranks of 2006 World Cup debutants Angola, Cote d’Ivoire, Togo, Ghana, Serbia and Montenegro and the Ukraine.
Warner praised the team,saying that the performance was technical, tactical and intelligent,the best he’d ever seen T&T play.
He also commended Warriors’ coach Leo Beenhakker and his deputies for bringing the team to this point, adding that the Dutchman’s contract, which expired on Wednesday, has been renewed for another month.
The FIFA Vice-President noted that the Mexicans put up a hard fight, but that there was an absence of a similar drive among the zone’s other qualified teams, the USA, who beat Panama 2-0 and Costa Rica who went down 3-1 to Guatemala.
Beenhakker said : “Football is a team sport and little by little we are looking like a real team. In the early stages it was 11 players, but now we are operating like a unit.”
He defended his “lone striker” tactic, noting that with double goalscoring hero Stern John, Carlos Edwards, Russell Latapy and Dwight Yorke already in attack, it would make little sense throwing another forward in the mix, citing a need for a defensive side to midfield.
Team captain Yorke said: “This is a fantastic result and everyone should be happy. But we know that the job is not complete yet.
“We have put ourselves in a fantastic position by completing the job tonight, but we’ve got two games ahead of us and again I keep saying let’s not get ahead of our time.
“But we should enjoy the occasion which is for everybody.”
John, who became T&T’s leading World Cup scorer with 18 goals, surpassing Steve David’s milestone 16 in the process, said he wasn’t concerned with the record.
“It’s always good to score goals and to get the victory for the teams.
“I think along the way if I break records and stuff it’s only added bonus, but the main thing is really to qualify for the World Cup.”
About his penalty miss, John said:
“I think as a footballer, especially as a striker, when you miss chances, it’s not about that, but it’s about how you react after you miss the chances.
“I think if we got another penalty I would definitely have stepped up and wanted to kick it. I’m not the one to shy away from responsibilities” John added.
Yorke concluded: “I think the team has grown in stature and it showed on the football pitch. That’s the making of a good team.”
The overseas players left for their respective clubs yesterday and will be reunited four days before of the first leg of the play-off with Bahrain at the Hasely Crawford Stadium on November 12.