Technical Director of T&T Football Lincoln Phillips, said yesterday that simple errors and glaring issues contributed to the surprising elimination of the Soca Warriors from the 2010 Digicel Caribbean Cup.
The team returned home from Martinique on Wednesday where Phillips was part of the team’s technical staff. “I would not say it was complacency that caused our demise, but rather our inability to possess the ball, coupled with our poor finishing in front of goal.
“These are serious deficiencies we must correct if we expect to improve our game,” Phillips said. “It is my humble opinion that, in spite of our three wins in Trinidad against weak opponents, our performances still had a few gaps.
Of course we played well enough to have scored 12 goals and conceded only three so congratulations must go out to coach Latapy and the technical staff as well as the players.
“However, the fact is three weak opponents were allowed several easy chances to score on us when we were commanding sizeable leads.
So playing the same way against better competition in the second round did not yield the same results.” The former national goalkeeper believed T&T had every right to come away with ties against Cuba and Grenada.
“We played a better quality team in Cuba, who spent at least one week in Martinique training after their last Digicel encounter in November. However, we still should have come out with at least a tie after failing to convert several easy chances.
“As for Grenada, we were by far the better team on the field, but when you fail to capitalize on four sitters in front of the goal, then we have no one else to blame but ourselves.
“Grenada got off one serious shot from a very difficult angle and scored a wonder goal....that's the nature of the game.” When questioned as to what the next step will be, Phillips said Latapy had specific deliverables which were not met.
“So it's up to the authorities to evaluate the situation and make their final decisions on his future. “However, if we are honest in taking the game forward, we must pay close attention to some glaring issues which were responsible for the team's poor performances.
The most serious issue is, indeed, the conveyor belt that is responsible for bringing the players to the national teams. This needs to be adhered to as soon as possible. It is senseless to have our youth teams playing direct football (kick and run) during their period of development.
“They must be allowed to play the game properly, developing their technical/tactical skills rather than focusing on a result which renders then ineffective when they move on to the senior level.”
Phillips said T&T must now look at its strengths and build on them through continuous, rigorous training regimen and international competition.”