National team captain and World Cup player Densill Theobald blames the fitness of his teammates for the poor performance in two back to back friendly internationals against Panama and Costa Rica.
The Soca Warriors lost 2-1 to Panama and then took a 4-0 beating at the hands of Costa Rica.
Speaking with ‘ttproleague.com’ on his return, Theobald said, “I believe we were still exhausted from the two week Digicel Caribbean Cup tournament playing five games in basically two weeks and I believe this resulted in our poor performance,” he admitted.
He also explained that the players had other setbacks ahead of the Central American matches saying, “Most of the players had tired legs and had to jump on a plane to Central America for these matches. We also had problems with our baggage and this was another setback because we weren’t able to put in the training we desired ahead of the matches.”
“The boys still remained positive because we are aware we have a lot of work to do ahead of the Gold Cup and also the 2010 World Cup qualifiers,” he said.
Densill went on to admit the Central American matches were tough ones, but were as beneficial to the development of the team saying, “The matches against Panama and Costa Rica were really tough matches for us. I told the guys afterwards that these matches would only benefit us going forward as a team.”
“We played hard but unfortunately we weren’t able to get the results we desired but life goes on. We know now what we need to do to get to the next level and saw the difference playing against Caribbean teams and the Central American opponents. The experience was good for the guys and hopefully we would learn from it because I see a lot of these guys can go on to become great players,” said the Caledonia AIA midfielder.
Densill also hopes to continue his role as captain of the team for some time, but acknowledges he still has a lot to learn, “I hope to remain team captain for another five years and I know I still have a lot to learn as team captain so I have been talking to guys like Dwight Yorke, Russel Latapy and Brain Lara on advice,” ended the World Cup player.