THE PRESSURE is off Trinidad and Tobago and rather, on an expectant United States home team for today’s 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup clash at the Bank of America stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina, from 7 p.m.
T&T’s Soca Warriors go into their final Group A preliminary match with three points, one behind Jamaica and the USA, having won 3-0 over St Kitts and Nevis in their opening match. They are therefore still in with a chance of going to the knockout phase, provided they defeat the Americans.
With the USA ranked #11 in the world and the Jamaicans #64, a full 37 places ahead of his team, Eve reasoned that pre-tournament odds suggested that his Soca Warriors—not even ranked among the top 100 teams in the world - would have exited at the group stage. However, Eve said that the belief in his team is that they can defy the odds and move forward.
“Nobody expected us to get out of the group, nobody,” argued Eve at yesterday’s pre-match press conference.
“Anything that we do is a bonus,” he stated. ”We still in it going into the last game and I think that of itself is progress.”
Eve is banking on a faster start and a braver performance from his team than last time out, during a sobering 4-1 defeat to a Jamaica team stuffed with England-born and overseas-based footballers, five of whom play in the English Premier League.
Eve said the good thing about sport is having a second chance to do better and he is focused on today’s meeting with the USA, having learnt lessons from their dismal first-half showing against Jamaica three days earlier. Eve said the greatest improvement he hopes to see in the Soca Warriors is in self-belief. “To start with the belief that we didn’t start with against Jamaica” stated Eve. “For 30 minutes we looked shell-shocked. But I thought that after, in the second half of the game. I thought we settled in really nicely and we started to show ourselves.
“Our second half in both matches were excellent second halves,” Eve concluded. “In the Jamaica game, we created a lot of chances without taking the opportunities, and in the St Kitts game that is where we really took over the game.”
The United States have rested their Europe-based players for this tournament and have fielded a team made up mainly of United States-based Major League Soccer (MLS) players. The USA go into the match following a 1-1 draw with Jamaica and a 6-0 win over St Kitts and Nevis.
Despite having not yet played at this version of the tournament, veteran T&T goalkeeper Marvin Phillip was very confident.
“It’s not going to be an easy game. It’s going to be tough. But I think once we play to our full potential, we will get bast the USA and go on to the second round,” Phillip stated.
Likewise, Eve felt that the match would be very competitive, but possibly also winnable. He dispelled any notion that the USA are very much weakened, having not played all of their best players in the tournament.
“This is going to be a difficult game,” Eve said.
“I don’t think the USA put out a team to lose. This team is very competitive. All of the players are playing in good teams in the MLS. The goalkeeper is playing in Europe. So, it not an easy team as some people may make it sound like.
“There is a reason America is probably one (or) two in CONCACAF, because they have depth. They can lose some players and still perform at this level,” the T&T coach concluded.
SOURCE: T&T Express