Trinidad and Tobago captain for the latest World Cup qualifier against United States Cyd Gray expressed disappointment for being on the receiving end of racial slurs during the early part of the second half in Wednesday’s match at Toyota Park.
Gray, who wore the armband and played the full ninety minutes, revealed that he was subjected to the abuse on more than one occasion while being positioned near the touchline for throw ins during the first fifteen minutes after the break when T&T began pressing for an opening goal.
Gray subsequently reported it to Jamaican referee Courtney Campbell but he was told to report it to the match commissioner. There have been no official complaints to date by the T&T management team.
“It was a bit disappointing for me. You don’t expect to have to encounter things like that in an international game especially in the US,” Gray told TTFF Media. “They called me names like monkey whenever I got near the touchline in the second half in the USA half of the pitch for the throw ins. I told the referee about it and he said a report would have to go to the match commissioner.”
Gray however didn’t make any excuses for T&T’s sub par performance in the 3-0 loss.
“I think we just never started playing the type of football we needed to against the US. For too long we dropped off and allowed them to control the pace of the game and unlike our two past games, the other team (USA) got their goals early and we didn’t change our approach. We were under early pressure and we didn’t adjust. Nothing went our way,” Gray said.
“I think the absence of Dwight (Yorke) was disappointing for the team as well but we should have lifted our game. We dropped our shoulders after the second goal. Only in the early part of the second half we started to go at them and we had a couple chances. But they got a third goal and our backs went up against the wall after that.
“We need to address some of the problems and we have no choice now but to go to Guatemala and win”
Goalkeeper Marvin Phillip also conceded that T&T’s showing lacked anything to suggest that they were worthy of a point at least.
“We never really showed up at the Park. You don’t want to go into big games like these and perform this way. I was a little surprised with the selection and Dennis Lawrence being out but when the coach makes the call you have to work with it and try to give your best performance no matter what. But it didn’t work for us. We needed a leader out there for those type of situations. I thought the goals were all soft and I should have done better too. But the game is done now and we have to refocus and prepare for the next match. We have to be sure about our approach and just go and pull off the win in Guatemala,” Phillip said.
The overseas-based contingent returned to their respective clubs on Thursday and the local-based will also report to their T&T Pro League teams. Francisco Maturana and his staff will continue to monitor all players before the resumption of training with just about a month left before facing Guatemala. A post mortem of the encounter will also be done by the Team Staff and TTFF officials within the next couple days.