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“We’re getting there!”
That’s the feeling of members of the Trinidad and Tobago team following their last two performances in the 2006 “Journey to Germany” World Cup campaign.


Though disappointed with the 3-0 loss to Mexico in Puebla on Wednesday, goalkeeper Shaka Hislop maintained that the “Soca Warriors” are making progress and is hoping that the country will rise to the intensity rush that will come with the final round.

“We have now played Mexico twice and we have to familiarize ourselves a bit more with them and their style of play. We have to be able to match them,” Hislop told TTFF Media.

“In my opinion, for what little it may be worth, we have to match up Mexico and the other teams by maybe playing the same formation that they use and matching them player to player. Too many times they had players with far too much time and space on the ball and we have got to stifle them and the other teams in that department.”

“I think at the same time the team is now beginning to take shape and once we can continue this at a steady rate then we can stand just a good a chance as any of the other teams in the final round. We know there will be people disappointed with the performance and everyone will have their different opinions but at the same time, we all need to come together and do what is best for the effort rather than just bring the team down,” Hislop added.

Defender Brent Sancho thought the Puebla experience was not as dreadful as some may think. “Again we saw that Mexico are not unbeatable even at home. I felt if we could have held them to a one goal advantage for longer then we would have been in with a great chance of at least pulling off a draw. We must take blame though for not putting away our chances and maybe other areas which obviously needs to be worked on,” the Dundee player said.

“We as members of the team expect that the critics will have their time now to rant and rave but hopefully we will have others on our side as well because we are entering a period now where we need as much support as possible. If you look at the last campaign, there were teams doing worse than us and they pulled away in the final round. Now we see teams like Jamaica and Honduras in some trouble. But team Trinidad and Tobago have made progressed and that’s most important at this time. How we fare in the matches to come will determine our fate in this campaign.” Skipper Eve and his teammates, who sang the national anthem to the beat of the Angostura Woodbrook Playboys Steel Orchestra at the match, were not spared some harsh words from coach Bertille St Clair who confessed that he was not pleased with the showing.

“You are never pleased when you lose and this experience will no doubt make us a tougher bunch for the matches to come. Our intention is now to keep ourselves in the running until we get to the World Cup and prove wrong those are beginning to count us out,” Eve said.

Coach Bertille St Clair will resume training next Friday as T&T prepares for the November 17 qualifier at home to St Vincent and the Grenadines and then the first round of the Digicel Cup which will be played here from November 24-28 with Puerto Rico, Surinam and Grenada also involved. Meantime, striker Jerren Nixon who picked up a groin strain the day before the match, will undergo treatment with team physiotherapist David Cumberbatch and is expected to be sidelined for at least a week while defender Marlon Rojas who suffered an ankle injury against St Kitts/Nevis will also undergo therapy.