Ghana’s head coach Sellas Tetteh has given some words of encouragement to the Trinidad and Tobago camp after he observed the team’s composition and play in Monday’s 4-1 victory for the African two time champions.
Tetteh, speaking during an interview on the morning after the game said his team were forced to be patient against the young Soca Warriors” even after going a goal up after 12 minutes as they realized the T&T outfit was actually giving them a good challenge in the second game of the double header in Cheonan. He complimented T&T for making the game more of a challenging one in the second half.
T&T head coach Anton Corneal would not have been entirely surprised at Tetteh’s comments but will want to prove him right and do Colombia wrong on Thursday when the two teams meet at 7am T&T Time.
On Tuesday Corneal had a one hour recovery session in the morning period and will have one more session on Wednesday evening at the IT Training facility. The parents of the boys who made their presence felt with some Trini style chanting in Monday’s game, will be allowed some time with their young ones at the Onyang Hotel on Wednesday morning as coach Corneal, while ensuring there’s no negative effect on the team’s physical preparation, will allow the players some time to relax their minds with the parents who are staying Seoul for the opening round.
There are no injury worries in the camp at this time with only the odd sore muscle or knock being treated by doctor Mario John who also accompanied four T&T players to the hospital today to undergo MRI wrist scans which FIFA is using as a pilot project study to determine the actual ages in players from the 32 nations competing at the World Championship. The process is part of a medical study which can determine how FIFA treats with the age verification of players for future youth World Cups.
The big news in the tournament here today was the second straight defeat for the hosts South Korea as they went down to Concacaf representatives Costa Rica 2-0, the result virtually puts Korea out of the tournament as they have one more game against Togo on Friday.
Ghana’s head coach Tetteh though is already looking forward to topping Group F.
“It was a good result for us to start. I did not expect it to come easier, especially in the first half and I also wasn’t surprise of the challenge from Trinidad especially in the second half,” Tetteh told TTFF Media. “They raised their game after half time.
“I see them as a competing team and I saw in the second half they raised their game and give us a fight. In football sometimes one good performance shows your quality and one bad performance doesn’t mean you are out. Their game in the second half shows clearly that they were not down with the performance in the first half. I think they can do well because their passing and shooting abilities were good and that’s football for you.”
“They made us work hard but we also had glaring chances and we were patient until they came.”
As to his recommendations for T&T, Tetteh added that encouragement was necessary to boost the young T&T outfit.
“First of all you have to encourage the boys. They played a bigger and stronger team with a very good record at this level. We cherish the Under 17 competition that we have done well here. It’s part of development and they should be encouraged to keep on pushing hard.”
“We have to raise our standard now and I am confident but still cautious for the remainder of the tournament. This is a good win for us to start the tournament. When Bossman came in, the team was already there. I changed the structure when I took over to give it a different tactical direction. I realized by attacking was the strong point so we had to work more on our midfield and defensive game. He had to be patient and I am happy that he announced his presence yesterday with the goal,” Tetteh said, adding that English-based striker Kelvin Bossman (Reading FC) had to earn his starting team spot but took his first goal well off the bench versus T&T.
Captain of the T&T team Leston Paul admitted his team would have to lift its game if was to stand any chances of putting it’s first point on the board.
“It was disappointing obviously because no one likes to lose even if it’s against a team as strong as Ghana. It was a helpful and learning experience for us and I’m sure all the players came out of the match knowing what it’s like now to play such a high pace and important game. This was our first game at this level and we now have to work harder and try to raise our standard. I think we are ready to do that and hopefully come away with a better result against Colombia on Thursday,” Paul told TTFF Media.