Trinidad and Tobago coach Hannibal Najjar, while not falling back on excuses, said it was obvious to see the vast difference in preparations between Canada's Under 20 team and T&T.
The national Under 23 outfit were defeated 3-0 by the visitors at the Dr Joao Havelange Centre of Excellence on Monday in the first of two warm-up meetings, with the second billed for the Manny Ramjohn Stadium , Marabella from 6pm on Wednesday.
Speaking to TTFF Media after the loss, Najjar said "This is a team that is coming down after winning their grouping handsomely against teams like the US and are heading out to the UAE and are very anxious to do well in the Finals. They are coming off a two-week campaign against teams from the MLS. What is important for us to understand in this country is that this Under 23 team we have now just played against W Connection, one of the top professional teams in the country and tied them 0-0, beat another professional team 3-0. We weren't scored on in those two games but then we find ourselves on the receiving end against a team that is supposedly younger that us. We have to realize where the gap is between us and a team that is well prepared and that the feeling that you can play football is insufficient to come up against teams that are prepared."
Najjar was ejected from the bench in the 13th minute by referee Richard Piper after questioning a foul called on Lee Haynes which was clearly a fair tackle by the former Under 17 defender. Fourth official Ted Gordon warned Najjar and he went back to the bench but then the goal came from the resulting free kick and Najjar again spoke to the fourth official in no disrespectful manner before Piper ran to the sidelines to order him into the stands. Earlier on, one of the Canadian officials had been questioning Piper about why "he didn't do his job in the dressing room" after he made one of their players roll up his black tights. Fans sitting close to the bench said the Canada official did direct comments towards the match officials, but no action was taken.
Canada's coach Dale Mitchell described the game as a "scrappy" one but also voiced his reasons for selecting T&T as a warm-up opposition. "The game was a scrappy one and I don't think we started well but we were lucky to get our goals from set plays. Plus the Trinidad team is now one that's coming together. I thought the real difference in the game was the fact that we too advantage of our set plays," Mitchell told TTFF Media.
"All in all it was physically a good exercise for us. We have no problems with the ground but except when it got wet, it became slippery and we couldn't really knock the ball around.. Some of the boys because they are young they show up with only six studs, thinking it's going to be dry all the time. But we can get that at the World Championship as well," he added.
Canada holds T&T in high regards according to Mitchell. "To be honest we tried to get international games against teams that are going to the World Championship like Panama, Mexico and the US, but when we couldn't do that we decided to get older teams like Under 23s because we know that they would be preparing for the Olympic qualifiers. We choose Trinidad and Tobago because we know they have athletic players who would be a bit stronger maybe. Our first game in the UAE is against Brazil so we felt it would be a similar physical style of play against Trinidad. It's a good test for us," added Mitchell.
Trinidad & Tobago Lineup:
Marlon Sylvester (Daurance Williams 46th), Lee Haynes (Anthony Wolfe 46th), Serghino Sandy, Julius James, Ronald Primus, Kerry Baptiste, Balondemu Julius, Ryan Stewart (Anton Joseph 46th), Kevon Clement (Darren Toby 75th), Andre Toussaint (capt), Devon Mitchell (Steve Sealy 63rd).
Canada Full Squad:
Simon Rayner (Barry Town), Andres Arango (Mercer County College), Gordon Chin (Burnaby Canadians), Srdjan Djekanovic (Radnicki Obrenovac), Chris Lemire (Calgary Storm), Winston Marshall (Wright State Univerity), Sita Taty Matando, Josh Simpson (University of Portland), Jeremy Shepherd (Hertha Berlin),Waldemar Shepherd (Calgary Storm FC), Jason Tullio (Montreal Impact), Gavin Hobbs (University of Washington), Derek Wilson (University of Victoria), Nicola Blicharski (Wilfred Laurier University), Elliot Godfrey (Watford FC), Ryan Gyaki (Sheffield United), Kevin Harmse (ICSF Inter), Jelani Grant (University of Louisville).