Trinidad and Tobago head coach Wim Rijsbergen singled out skipper Densill Theobald for playing a leading role in his team’s convincing 5-1 win over Martinique in Digicel Caribbean Cup action at the Hasely Crawford Stadium on Monday evening.
Theobald led the team for the second straight match and though yet to put his name on the scoresheet, he played a pivotal role in the middle of the park for the new look “Soca Warriors”.
“We made it a little easy for ourselves by having a little more possession of the ball,” Rijsbergen said. “Because sometimes we still give it away too easily.
“I was happy for Roberts and for Glasgow and of course not to mention just one guy but I think Densill was a one hundred percent captain today. He was the leader of the pack and I hope he will continue doing that and it will be very good for the rest of the team and for the rest of games,” the Dutchman added.
When asked about his feelings on the team’s bit of instability in defense, Rijsbergen agreed that he also has some anxious moments during the 90 minutes.
“I’m a defender myself so sometimes my heartbeat goes up very fast when I see them doing things in defense. That’s why we are still trying to look for some new guys so we have to give some player’s a chance which is what we will do in the near future. We will try to see some new players and we will pick the best ones in the end but you have to give some players an extra couple of games. Don’t worry I see everything and sooner or later we will make the decisions and maybe some changes. Right now they are willing to work and learn and that is the first important thing for us,” he added.
Looking ahead to Wednesday’s 7:15pm clash with Haiti, Rijsbergen hinted that while he will want to end the group phase on a winning note, he could opt for giving some new faces a starting role.
“You look at every game differently. With this win we will now try to win the next game of course. Haiti has six points already so maybe they will take it easy and make some changes. Maybe we will use some new guys in the starting team but we will sill go on the field and try to win the next game.
“Don’t forget some guys played two games already and sometimes need a little rest that’s why the big clubs in England have a couple of teams and change them every second game. Some of these guys (on the T&T team) are not a hundred percent and then you have to be careful with injuries and in 48 hours we have another game,” he explained when quizzed about changing a winning line up.
“If you play a tournament, they maybe you try to win the tournament. I did economics. I’m not a psychiatrist… I look into statistics,” he continued.
Densill pleased with the win
Skipper Theobald relayed how his team had two sessions on the eve of the match because they realized how important it was for the game to be lifted for the Martiniquans.
“It was a good victory. I said to them before the game, if we can do it for the fans and not only will it take us a long way towards going through to the semi finals but also towards the Gold Cup. We trained twice the day before and the coach worked us hard because we knew how important this game was. Hats off to the rest of the guys for putting on this kind of performance and hopefully we can keep it up for the remainder of the tournament.
“In my eyes and the coach’s eyes, Gary’s performance was good, even though he missed the penalty he showed character to come back and score two goals. As the game went along he was able to rebound.”
Meantime, for Wednesday’s action, a special feature will be the attendance of children from the St. Dominic’s home to show their support for the home team. Digicel has arranged for all the kids to be treated during the match. Also all kids under the age of 12 are being allowed in free for the entire competition
Martinique coach upset over loss
During the post match press conference, Martiniquan head coach Guy Michel Nisas, speaking via a translator expressed dissatisfaction with the proceedings of his team’s heavy 5-1 defeat to the hosts.
Michel said he felt the officiating was unfair towards the home team and that Digicel favoured Haiti because of their association with them as well as the hosts.
“I feel sorry because we were not able to be on level terms,” Michel said. “We don’t think it was fair to us. Some of the calls were not good and we suffered because of it,” he added in a heated manner. “Maybe we will have a better chance against Barbados because they are not the host team and they are not Haiti,” he went on.