Football is about scoring goals and winning or drawing, not looking good and losing. In order to achieve the former, all coaches start their best team, no exception.
World Cup football has no second chance and I hope coach Bertille St Clair learned an important lesson because at the post-match news conference he said: If I had to play the match all over again I would not start with the same team.
Its too late for that now.
Any coach who says his team played good but loses the game, has a problem.
St Clair openly admitted on Wednesday that his job is not easy. I hope hes not implying that someone told him it was easy and that was the reason he accepted this second stint.
He told reporters of not having the overseas pros for as long as he would like and said: The local players were not up to the standard.
Was he watching the same game that I saw? Did he not see Anton Pierre, Marlon Rojas and Densil Theobald all playing their hearts out?
The first person to inspire confidence among the local players, must be the coach. The way St Clair praises his pros, he should do the same for the local players. It would only make them better.
Following Wednesdays matches around the world, a number of coaches who have played at World Cup finals are already facing the axe, so St Clair must understand that T&T football is not about him but how the team performs. Since hes the decision maker then it is his head the fans want.
The Soca Warriors played great in the final 20 minutes after conceding two goals and following the introduction of striker Cornel Glen. The team got a further boost when Theobald joined the fray and T&T switched its 4-4-2 system to 3-5-2 which forced the Americans to retreat and defend.
Members of the American press felt that T&T coaching staff made an error by not starting Glen and with his introduction excitement grew on and off the field.
Every time Glen attacked they were all on their feet or rushing to the ESPN monitor in the press box to see who made the timely tackle or how close he came to scoring.
Before the arrival of Glen and Theobald, the USA had won nine corners to T&Ts zero, and three freekicks to the homesides two.
T&T finished with four corners and a goal compare to the USA 12 corners and four freekicks. The Americans also enjoyed 67 per cent of the ball possession to show for their two goals.
This is very important because the reason that St Clair started Kenwyne Jones ahead of Glen was for that very purpose and after 20 minutes we just had one cross from Leslie Fitzpatrick and until Carlos Edwards departure, T&T had three in total.
Please dont take my word as gospel just watch the game again as I did.
Lets face it, the 4-4-2 system is for strong and very fit players especially the wingers,who are the key since their roles are to cross the ball at least twice in every attack. T&T was ineffective in that area.
With the exception of Dwight Yorke, who I must confessed played perhaps his best game for T&T, the other pros were average. Yorke made seven strong tackles, defended three of the USAs 12 corners, had two brilliant attempts on goal and his passing was effective.
His midfield partner Anthony Rougier looked totally out of depth. He missed timely tackles, his passes were off-key and he was beaten to the ball too often.
Is Rougier really up to the standard? Even if T&T qualifies, I cannot see Rougier making the final cut so why dont we start the investment now.
Defender Pierre was superb. He did not wait and react to his opponents. He was pro-active, while his senior colleagues were always late on the draw.
I must point out that while most people, including St Clair, are blaming Marvin Andrews for the first goal, the blame must be shared because the right-side defender failed to close down the challenge of Steven Cherundolo who crossed the ball.
The second goal came when our defence failed to close down the ball.
As I see it, the Soca Warriors best team at present is: Stern and Glen up front, Jones and Theobald on the flanks, Yorke and Edwards in the middle with Pierre and Rojas as the two wing defenders and Sancho and Andrews in central defence.
The other concern I have is the frequency in which T&T changes its captain. During Wednesdays match, T&T featured its eighth captain in the 18-man squad.
This is also an area where maintaining stability is very important.