After a disheartening 1-0 loss to Mexico in their CONCACAF Gold Cup quarter-final at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta on Saturday night, Trinidad and Tobago’s coach Stephen Hart believes that a new course must be charted for the Soca Warriors.
“I think we have to sit down and look at the direction of the national team. Bring in some young players and give them some experience. We had quite a few in this tournament here, but there are others we would like to see in future games and assess what work needs to be done with the young players based on what we saw in this tournament,” Hart told the Express.
Hart stressed the importance of infusing young blood into the team for its future development.
Players in their thirties like Carlos Edwards and Denzil Theobald would be some of the players paving the way for the younger players.
Hart indicated the Soca Warriors still had a lot of work to do. “I think we need to possess the ball better, keep it out of the feet of the opposition. That needs to improve and our ability to attack with a little more variety. The fullbacks didn’t get involved at all and we need to work on that.”
Analysing the team’s overall performance Hart said: “ I thought in the first half we did quite well and created some very good opportunities. The Mexican keeper made a big save off Andre Boucard. But the second half we could have been more calm and better on the ball and attack with a little more variety. Our full-backs were way too cautious in second half and I could not get them to go forward.”
Striker Kenwyne Jones who captained the team for the second consecutive game, said the players gave as much as they could. “I am proud of the team knowing our preparation was really short and not really that good. I think we made a lot of progress over a short period of time,” he stated.
Looking ahead to the future of the national team, Jones said they have to once again qualify for this tournament and then look ahead to the 2018 World Cup qualifiers. “We have to continue to build. I think with Stephen Hart in the setup now, we have good prospects.”