Soca Warriors coach Angus Eve says he is to blame for T&T’s 4-1 loss to Jamaica in their second Group A match of the Concacaf Gold Cup at City Park Stadium in Saint Louis, Missouri, USA, on Wednesday night.
The Jamaicans sealed their first win in 12 matches and the first in three matches against T&T, who suffered a first defeat in eight matches.
The Reggae Boyz got a pair of goals from England-based winger Demarai Gray in the 14th and 30th minutes on his 27th birthday while another English-based player Leon Bailey was also on target in the 18th for a 3-0 lead at the half-time whistle.
Canada-based midfielder Andre Rampersad pulled a goal back for T&T in the 49th with a clever back-heel from a right-sided Levi Garcia centre but two minutes into added-on time, Jamaica got a fourth goal via a shot from 17-year-old Dujuan Richards, Chelsea FC's new player, which deflected off T&T defender Kareem Moses and wrong-footed goalkeeper Nicklas Frenderup to move to four points from two matches, the same as USA who trashed St Kitts and Nevis, 6-0, in the second match on Wednesday night in Missouri.
Commenting after the loss, Eve first defended his decision to make the four changes to his team to the one that started the 3-0 victory over St Kitts and Nevis, saying it was needed due to injuries.
He explained, “Triston (Hodge) had a tight hamstring, Kevin Molino is just coming back into football, and he complained he was really tired and I didn’t think he could start, and Auvray (Kaile) had some little knocks and bruises so we rotated the three changes.
“We were trying to keep the game a little tight in the first half, so we could probably go and get these players on in the second half, to express ourselves a little bit more.
"From the time the score became 3-0, I formulated a plan for the rest of the game but unfortunately, we seemed to be a little bit nervous tonight (Wednesday), and I think names probably scared us, and we really made some bad mistakes, but all in all I take full blame for the result because I’m the coach of the team.”
Looking ahead to the must-win match versus the USA at Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, on Sunday (July 2) from 7 pm, the 51-year-old Eve said, “We have to pick the guys up. The dressing room is very dejected as this is the first match we have lost in about nine matches for the season, and we don’t normally concede goals but I thought that in the second half when we went back on, I thought we were really in the game and created a lot of chances."
Asked what he can take from the loss forward to the match against the Americans, Eve said, “I thought the second half, we were more positive as it seemed like we settled down better.”
The T&T coach also alluded to the gap in class between both teams and the players at the respective coaches disposal saying, "Credit to Jamaica and the type of players that they have in the team. We don’t have that type of quality and it’s always going to be a struggle for us.
“But when you give away soft goals as I thought we give away a lot of soft goals very early, we had to dig ourselves out of a hole and credit to them for the way they started as we started really slow, and as I said I take full blame for it as I tried to keep the game as tight as possible, but we just didn’t defend well,” stated Eve.
The Reggae Boyz and St Kitts and Nevis also meet on Sunday from 7 pm at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California
WATCH Rampersad: We suffered but we must get up and push on
WATCH Levi: We need to Rise Above
WATCH Angus Eve at the Post Match Press Conference - Gold Cup 2023 TT vs Jamaica
WATCH Jamaica 4-1 Trinidad Post Match Press Conference