If Trinidad and Tobago's Wednesday night international against Panama was a "Making the Band" episode, head coach Francisco Maturana would have left the Marabella venue in a huff-"Diddy"style-long before the final whistle.
The "Soca Warriors" ended as 1-0 victors but the score summary in such match-ups is for the supporters. The Panama fixture was really an audition for places alongside the country's more celebrated foreign-based internationals.
Does that sound harsh? Good. Of course, there are talented players who remain on these shores, but it would be useful if they reminded us on a consistent basis. Respect is earned.
Forty-year-old icon and player/coach Russell Latapy was the only figure who managed to stay above the mediocrity throughout his contribution and it was a sad indictment on his younger teammates.
Striker Cornell Glen, who got the lone item from the penalty spot, midfielder Densill Theobald and goalkeeper Marvin Phillip had their moments but it was a largely flat offering.
The Warriors, who face Honduras in World Cup qualifying action next Saturday without captain Dwight Yorke, goalkeeper Clayton Ince and midfield enforcer Chris Birchall, are in dire need of fresh energy. But the would-be replacements strolled around the Manny Ramjohn Stadium as if they were stretching their legs.
Did Theobald sleep well on Wednesday night?
At 26, Theobald has amassed an impressive 63 caps and was a first team regular for two CONCACAF Gold Cups and one senior World Cup tournament. So then why is he restricting himself to the occasional clever ball instead of dictating the tone of the match as he did under previous coach Wim Rijsbergen?
All around him were young men similarly playing within themselves.
Glen terrified the Panamanian defence whenever he faced them but that was not nearly as often as it should have been. Stern John would have scented blood and been literally screaming for the ball. Ambition is often the difference between good players and great ones.
It might take only a boot to the backside for Maturana to get his midfield out of first gear. But the problems with his back four are a different matter entirely.
In his 30th game in charge, Maturana used his tenth right back on Wednesday as North East Stars striker Anthony Wolfe was asked to give it a try.
To put that into context, 2006 World Cup coach Leo Beenhakker spent more than a year at the helm and for the World Cup qualifying series, a two-legged Playoff, a Gold Cup tournament, the World Cup finals and a host of pre-tournament practice games used just three right backs-Cyd Gray, Silvio Spann and Atiba Charles.
In a year and a half, Rijsbergen, who suffered the inconvenience of having an entire squad blacklisted and was forced to build from scratch, used four-Gray, Seon Power, Kern Cupid and Nickholson Thomas.
His Colombian successor started with Nigel Daniel and ploughed through Cupid, Kareem Smith, Osei Telesford, Gray, Gyasi Joyce, Spann, Power and Akeil Guevara before Wolfe's chance. Only Tobago United and Ma Pau, from the ten T&T Pro League clubs, have not had an employee take a stab at the role, while it seems that San Juan Jabloteh's Elton John is the country's only genuine right back who was not summoned.
Things are not much better on the left flank either, where Aklie Edwards is yet to reward his coach's faith, while left-sided Connection midfielder Andrei Pacheco, who replaced him at the interval, did not stand out.
There were only four genuine defenders in Wednesday's team list and Maturana's hasty recall of Marvin Andrews from Scotland Division Two-a poor level of football, to be blunt-after an injury forced an 18-month absence from the game speaks volumes about his poverty in these key positions.
Is this the same Maturana who declared, through then assistant Anton Corneal, that he would not select players based on past reputation? Desperate times, it seems, do indeed call for desperate measures.
So, on to Honduras, with fingers crossed that the occasion or the presence of their more high-profile colleagues suitably inspires the local nucleus of the squad who are essential to the team's 2010 World Cup hopes.
It is unfortunate that some local football fans put Sunderland's televised matches into their calendar yet never bother to turn out to a Pro League fixture. But it is sadder still when the local contingent fail to make them feel that they are missing anything.