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Fri, Mar

Hart: Fatigue no joke
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STEPHEN HART, Trinidad and Tobago's senior men's national team head coach, believes that Panama benefited from getting two extra days' rest for their quarter-final match on Sunday at MetLife Stadium in the New York/New Jersey area.

T&T were back in action three days after a gruelling 4-4 draw with Mexico, while Panama had rested for five days. The Warriors also faced a wide range of conditions over three cities during group play: cold and windy Chicago; 40 degrees Phoenix, Arizona where they had to play in a full air-conditioned, enclosed stadium and also hot New Jersey, minus cooling. The teams played out a 120-minute 1-1 draw, before Panama advanced to the semi-finals 6-5 on kicks from the penalty mark.

“We were completely exhausted,” Hart said. “But, I have to give credit to my players. They gave me everything. I extracted every bit of juice out of that orange. At the end of the day penalties are a cruel way to go, but that is how the game ends.”

Hart added: “I think fatigue was a big factor. We couldn't get up and down the field as a unit and as the game went further and further, we just couldn't keep possession of the ball. We ran out of legs.”

Over the tournament, Hart felt his players had done well, given their under-preparation. Defensively he felt they were mainly solid, but need to possess the ball better.

Meanwhile, Panama's Colombian head coach Hernan Gomez described the level of Gold Cup competition as world class, but complained about the effects of long travel hours on teams. What would he change?

“The transportation,” Gomez said. “The amount spent on planes. But the competition is world class.”

Likewise, a couple of CONCACAF officials also spoke off the record, of the strenuous travel arrangement and long hours in airports, which like the teams, they also faced.