Trinidad and Tobago’s Digicel Cup players were a dispirited bunch on the night following their 2-1 defeat to Haiti in the tournament’s final but have vowed to take the experience forward with them as they go after fulfilling bigger ambitions.
Skipper Densill Theobald , the 24-year-old Caledonia AIA midfielder, was not a winning captain on Tuesday but he believed that overall the team won much more points than anyone would have anticipated.
“We are disappointed because we came a good way in this tournament in terms of growing as individual players and a team as well. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough for us on the night,” Theobald said. His players benefited from a handsome payout from the TTFF for its results in the preliminary stage but missed out on something extra as Haiti walked away with the USD120,000 first prize, leaving the runners up with only USD$70,000.
“The same thing the coach was saying… we didn’t play with the aggression and the type of grit we showed in previous games, in the first half at least today. We conceded two easy goal. I believe have to look at the positives and we were able to show that this team was able to go beyond people’s expectations and was able to show the people of Trinidad and Tobago what we can do at the international level.
“I don’t believe it was stage fright. The stage fright was in the Barbados game but we grew from strength to strength. It was on of those games where we didn’t click from the start and that’s something we will definitely need to work on. Bu credit to the young team for showing a lot of heart in this tournament,” he added.
T&T’s goalscorer in the final, Nigel Daniel relayed that it was the biggest crowd he has ever played in front of at home.
“I felt really proud as a local squad we got that kind of support. It was beautiful. From the word go I wanted to play with the national team and I got the chance to do that. I finished the tournament well with the goal but I didn’t feel all that good because we lost. I didn’t make much of the free kick because we lost in front of this crowd, To the supporters, I loved it and we appreciated it. I would love to play in front of that crowd again. The most disappointing thing was to look up when the game ended and realize that we lost in front these people,” Daniel told TTFF Media.
The Finals topscorer with six goals, Gary Glasgow was dismayed not to have come good in the final. He however felt that the team changed the feelings of many.
“We worked hard and we got results to change people’s minds but it didn’t work well for us in the final. This loss hurt especially seeing the crowd coming to see us too We were at home and we didn’t have a crowd like this for a while. We lost the final and maybe if we could have played like the earlier games it would have been different. It’s minor mistakes and you can see the goals where we paid for it. Those kind of things can kill us and you can’t do it on the big stage. But we showed that we could have come back and there’s a lot we can take out of the competition,” said the Joe Public frontman.
Leslie Fitzpatrick, one of the older members of the team at 28, was upbeat about the team’s future, stating that it had obviously showed more potential than the team he played with at the 2005 Digicel Cup where T&T finished third behind Jamaica and Cuba.
“It’s always going to be hard to come to terms with a loss like this. The coach asked us before how many of us had ever won anything at this level and only Gary was able to answer. A lot of the guys never even played at this level and I think it may have had a big effect on them. We showed that we could play and compete though but it was hard to come that close and not walk away with the time. To see the way the team to the challenge when nobody else expected it was a big plus. It’s definitely gives us a lot to work with,” Fitzpatrick said.
The team, minus a couple players with a possible couple additions, is expected to depart the country next week for friendlies against Panama and Costa Rica. That full team will be announced in due course.