SEVERAL prominent people in local football felt that Trinidad and Tobago's performance was encouraging despite a 2-1 loss to the United States in a CONCACAF World Cup qualifier at the Queen's Park Oval on Ash Wednesday.
At the same time, some still allude to severe problems within the team and believe that the T&T Soca Warriors need to improve significantly to reach the 2006 World Cup.
While a few shield away from commenting, claiming that officials within the national team were adverse to constructive criticism, at least four prominent football aficionadoes offered their opinion-Edgar Vidale, a former national coach and technical director; Clayton Morris, who captained the 1989 Strike Squad that lost 1-0 to the US when needing just a point to qualify for the 1990 World Cup in Italy; Jimmy Blanc, a former national coach; and Lincoln "Tiger" Phillips, an outstanding former national goalkeeper and current Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation technical director.
Blanc, a regular spectator at most T&T matches, questioned some of the players selected and believed that elusive striker Cornell Glen and midfielder Angus Eve should have been in the starting XI.
"I think we started well, but I am not sure we should have started with the guys we did in the first half. The changes we made in the second half is what I though we should have started with if our intention was to attack the Americans. I think we might have started with players like Cornell Glen and Angus Eve, who can put the ball on the ground and run with the ball.
"We needed to get someone to bolt up the middle. The American #25 (Pablo Mastroeni) was always walking around free in the middle. It might be a case where the defensive midfielder was not doing enough out there. I also would have started Eve before Carlos Edwards, since Carlos is just coming off an injury," said Blanc.
Vidale had mixed feelings about the performance of the Trinidad and Tobago team, but he too felt Glen in particular came on too late in the match.
"I think the performance was encouraging at best. But it gives me the hope that we could go further."
Going into the game, Vidale said, all he had hoped for, at best, was a draw against the Americans.
He saw the match in three stages-in the first phase, Trinidad and Tobago were in the game, then in the second phase the Americans took total control due to superior ball possession in the midfield.
"That put me in a state where I thought we can't compete with these fellas."
But Vidale said the final stages of the match gave him encouragement there could still be improvement by the Soca Warriors during the qualifying campaign.
"I was impressed later on by the fact that our players did not panic," he said.
However, Vidale was concerned that Glen was introduced too late into the game.
"When Glen came on, he got the United States in a panic. One wonders whether he should have been in before. To put your best attacker on the field with 20 minutes to go was asking him to do plenty. And he (Glen) did plenty, but he had too much to do. I think the strategy of using your best player so late must be addressed seriously," he pointed out.
Morris, an outstanding former defender, also questioned the selection of the team and the decision to play in such hot conditions.
"It can't happen that you practise with one group of people and when the game comes, you play with a next. You will always get the result we had on Wednesday," Morris stated.
While there were some good individual performances, he still was not seeing much good construction as a team.
"I am still not seeing us defend as a block," he said, while explaining that the Warriors left several loopholes within their ranks and the defenders were not marking well.
"I had two concerns. One, was the time when the game was being played and the other was how long we could stay organised as a group."
Morris felt initially the national team held their own, but as they started to tire under the scorching sun, they let down their guard, became dis-organised, and conceded two goals.
"It was only when the temperature cooled that we were able to put down the ball and run at the Americans."
T&TFF technical director Phillips believes the Warriors lifted their play above recent performances, but believes they still have far to go to compete successfully against the best teams in the world.
"I am an optimistic realist," Phillips joked. "The way we were playing against the St Vincents and Antiguas made me feel we were not ready. We were doing things we should have done two years ago. But looking at the match, I was happy that we lifted our game. On the realistic side, it still does not say that we have turned the corner."
Phillips applauded the role of T&T players Anton Pierre and Densil Theobald and felt that Dwight Yorke's re-introduction is a positive step.
"A lot of people have criticised the late introduction of Cornell Glen. When he entered the game, he did all kinds of things. I believe he could have been played earlier," said Phillips, adding that ultimately coach St Clair was the one to make those decisions.