While it is true that T&T is not accustomed to defeating the US, particularly in the US, except for a victory at home last year when they were without several of their team players, the performance in Tennessee was one about which the technical staff, players and thousands of supporters should feel terribly worried and disappointed.
It seemed fairly obvious to me, and should have been to anyone looking on objectively at the game that night, that the US coach and technical team had done their homework but that our technical people had not.
Beasley, who normally plays in midfield on the left side, played in a much deeper position with the sole purpose of negating the speed of Carlos Edwards and what a good job he did in preventing Edwards, most of the time, from going up the right side of the field. Edwards, on the other hand, played right into the US coach’s hands by not trying to go across the field instead.
Hedjuk, the US right back, had freedom of movement up the right side, the T&T left side, for the entire match and I kept wondering whether what I was seeing on television and what others at home were seeing was not observed by Coach Maturana or his assistants. If in fact they had seen what we were seeing, they obviously did nothing about it, or if they had passed on instructions, they certainly were not followed.
Our midfield was non-existent: rarely were Leon and Daniel seen, Birchall tried his best but that was not good enough and there were gaping holes in the middle of the field. Passes were going astray most of the time and there was very little movement off the ball for passes to be made.
Little communication
The first goal came after Donovan slipped up the left side eluding right back Wolfe, who was terribly out of position, played the ball square for young Altidore to slide it in with the inside of his right foot past goalkeeper Ince. It seemed that there was very little communication between stopper Lawrence and Thomas, as Thomas’s sliding tackle was seconds late.
With the score at 1-0 at half-time, T&T was still in with a chance with an improved start at the beginning of the second half. Kenwyne Jones must have left his star rating in England with Sunderland because little was seen of him in the first half and the second half started the same way, as he seemed to be just wandering around the field. He had one shot at goal, which went high and wide after Stern John had faked and allowed the ball to go to him. That was his first and last attempt in ninety minutes.
The T&T team had its best period of the game in the first ten minutes or so after the start of the second half, but really never looked dangerous.
Makan Hislop, whose position is normally at stopper, was a replacement for Anthony Wolfe, but he seemed to be out of his depth in that position as the US forwards and midfielders were constantly getting behind his back. Khaleem Hyland came in as a substitute for Chris Birchall, who was found to be chasing shadows for most of the time he was on the field.
The second US goal again came from a Donovan pass to Altidore, who left stopper Lawrence flat on his back, before slotting the ball past an advancing Ince. I have some sympathy for Ince as he was left to the mercy of the US attackers time and time again. T&T’s other stopper, Thomas, came on the scene after the ball had struck the back of the net.
It seemed all over bar the shouting as the US midfielders - Mastroeni, Bradley and Donovan - had almost the entire middle to themselves. With desperation setting in, Coach Maturana decided on sending in Scotland for Daniel, who had made very little contribution while he was on the field. For the 20 minutes or so that Scotland was on the field, he must have touched the ball on about three occasions, almost as many times as Jones had touched it for the entire game.
To add insult to injury, Altidore got his third goal of a hat-trick in the dying minutes of the game. A chip pass over a square defence found Bradley, who passed square to Donovan, who in turn found Altidore just around the 18-yard box. His not too powerful shot slipped under the body of goalkeeper Ince, who unfortunately made his first error. It was certainly a difficult night for Ince, as in addition to having three goals scored against him due to an inept midfield and blundering defence, he was to get the sad news after the game of his sister’s death.
A lot of work has to be done, but there is time, two months, before the next game - against Costa Rica at home - to fix what needs to be urgently fixed. Captain Dwight Yorke will be back but, as I mentioned in a previous article, his legs will not take him through a hard 90-minute game. He needs help in midfield, and the defence needs a lot of patchwork. I still wonder if there are not better wing-backs in the country to replace those now on the team, and our highly paid strikers need to strike. Right now they seem to be “on strike”.
Desperate times need desperate measures and I look forward to seeing some in the near future if we are to see South Africa in 2010. I know Mr Warner well enough to feel that some change is going to happen soon.
Footnote: This article was written by Sedley Joseph, former national footballer and, before the resignation of Coach Maturana and the appointment of Russel Latapy.