National coach Angus Eve was pleased with the effort of his players on Friday despite a demoralising 5-0 loss to Bolivia in an international friendly in Sucre, Bolivia, but told the media via a virtual press conference on Saturday that the writing was on the wall before the game started.
"I haven't played a game where the opposition brought oxygen tanks to the training for you and they put two oxygen tanks in the dressing room for you and two more by the bench. That alone tells you what they knew to be their strengths and what they knew would hamper us in the warm-up. We lost coach Clayton Ince and he was just jogging around with the goalkeepers and warming them up and he fell ill, so we had to take him back to the dressing room and give him oxygen. Marvin Phillip had to finish the warm-up with Foncette," Eve, a former national coach told the media.
He was also comforted by the fact that South American powerhouse Uruguay was also beaten by the Bolivians 3-0, featuring some of their top players such as Luis Suarez.
Before the match, Eve and his staff did a full analysis of their opponents, employing a plan to counter the way they attacked, their system of play to the way they defend. But according to Eve: " It was difficult to execute the game plan because the players physically, I mean, for the first 35 minutes we limited them to shooting outside the box and not getting those balls they like to get to their captain at the back post.
We had a full analysis of everything Bolivia has done in the last three matches and we dissected the way they play, using the 3:5:2, the way they attack. They try to go to the middle and then to the flanks, they whip the ball inwards from the left side and straight across from the right side.
So basically, we prepared for that, but what we did not prepare for was the players losing oxygen as fast as they were. If you looked, the midfield was spent I would say after the 32nd minutes where we were in the game and limited them to just shots.
I saw a reporter talk about how many shots were taken but how much of them were on target was not in the statistics."
The Bolivians are preparing for World Cup qualifying matches against Venezuela and Chile. They became the obvious choice after options with other teams did not fall through. The South Americans, now eighth-ranked in CONMEBOL also suffered a few problems of their own, with a few players battling the COVID-19 virus. However, this didn't show, against the Soca Warriors 9, 000 feet above sea level.
Eve opted to use speedy winger Ryan Telfer as the lone man up front but with the midfield struggling to keep possession of the ball, he became a non-factor.
Eve believes domestic football will be a solution to the issues of match-fitness on the national team, as well a solution to many societal problems, noting that football and in particular non-contact sports are being played in other countries worldwide.
The local T&T players are due to return on Sunday, while others will be returning to their respective clubs.