“I was happy with what we were able to get out of the two match exercise” was how head coach Leo Beenhakker described the two-match series with a visiting Grenadian Olympic team as a Trinidad and Tobago President’s Eleven controlled and subsequently won a second outing 4-1 at the Manny Ramjohn Stadium on Thursday night.
Following a comprehensive 4-1 win on Tuesday, the locals again proved to be superior with goals coming from Gary Glasgow (23rd) , Densill Theobald (40th), Ateba Charles (48th) and Silvio Spann with a penalty in the 75th minute.
A well deserved win but more importantly was the fact that Beenhakker appeared pleased with what he saw from his nine World Cup squad players, also adding that he would not need to make any changes nor additions to the squad which faces Peru in the big farewell match at the Hasely Crawford Stadium on May 10.
That encounter is expected to have all the hype around it and fittingly so for Dwight Yorke and his men as unfortunately not even World Cup qualification could attract those who claim to be die hard supporters at Thursday’s match. Whether or not it was the real “Soca Warriors” on show, the fact that a team made up of nine of the originals and coached by the Dutch mastermind was in uniform should have more than drawn a figure doubled or even tripled the 1500 odd fans who had to put out TT$20 at the gates. At least a little more than a handful of the “Warrior Nation” members represented.
Aside from that though, those who were on hand saw some enterprising football despite it being against notably weaker opponents.
The hosts looked a wee more purposeful in the early stages than they did in the first outing. But this time the first goal didn’t come until the 23rd minute when after Trent Noel got a faint touch to a right side corner, Glasgow connected and rifled into the roof for the opening item. Before that only Theobald’s effort which skimmed wide of the left post caused any type of panic in the Grenadian defense.
Keeping possession and trying to constructively build their attacks, the locals then mesmerized the visitors with some neat short passing around the box before Glasgow hit over bar in the 39th minute. A minute later though, Glasgow collected out on the right and clinically delivered for Theobald to perfectly head down past Ken Searles for goal number three on the night. Like the first item, this one was well received by the fans.
Beenhakker having seen enough of midfielder Anthony Rougier, replaced him with Atiba Charles, while Jan Michael Williams came on for Clayton Ince in goal and the energetic Kerry Baptiste took Anthony Wolfe’s place at the start of the second half.
It took only three minutes after the restart for Charles to head home from close up from a left side cross. Looking for goals, the President’s outfit then had Evans Wise just miss the target with a left foot scorcher.
On 62 minutes, forcing his way in the starting team and seeing little of the ball up to then, Wise then finished off some delightful football when he skipped past two defenders on the left inside edge of the box by squaring for Theobald but his quick effort rushed towards the far post before an oncoming Glasgow could poke it home.
Soon after, Spann, appearing more composed than the earlier match, saw a low free kick go wide of the right post. But he then took his penalty well to round off the scoring after Eric George was called by referee Neil Brizan for handling the ball.
Grenada, always keen to have a go at T&T, had a couple tried on goal in the closing ten minutes with Adrian Scott hitting low and straight to Williams and Marvin Frederick directing his try wide of the upright.
The final whistle wasn’t followed by exciting scenes. Perhaps, the one up at Mucurapo will spark a bigger party as the “Soca Warriors” get set to head off to Deutschland. (SF)
President’s Eleven : Clayton Ince (Jan Michael Williams, 46th), Trent Noel, Avery John, Cyd Gray (Brent Rahim, 63rd), Anthony Rougier (Atiba Charles, 46th) , Evans Wise, Aurtis Whitley (captain, Glenton Wolfe, 63rd), Gary Glasgow, Anthony Wolfe (Kerry Baptiste, 46th), Silvio Spann, Densill Theobald
Grenada: Ken Searles, Kyle Joseph, Marvin Frederick, Eric George, Kerron Pacheco, Dorset Langainge, Shane Rennie (Kendell Frame, 77th), Dwayne Leo, Kitson Bain (Robinson Morris, 83rd), Wendell Rennie (Franklyn Baptiste, 87th), Nickel Paul (Adrian Scott, 58th)