Like most football fans, the final result is what matters. Sometimes, we reject a defeat, even if there was good effort. Other times, we applaud a victory, despite a poor performance. The Hasely Crawford Stadium crowd attended the match with a more serious request than just wanting to be victorious. They had to wait for six weeks to find out what work had been done by the little magician Russell Latapy.
Did he inject enough confidence in the local players and how would he convince the foreign lads that they were now contesting for places that automatically went to them in the past. Before we look ahead, let us take a close look at the performance level of the team in terms of their progressive state and what seems necessary to move further into the race.
The starting line-up
The speculation which existed while we awaited the names of the starting team ended peacefully, thanks to a gutsy approach by Latapy, taking tough, but realistic decisions as opposed to dealing with past reputations of players. I could literally hear some descending voices uttering at the bottom of the voices, whispers regarding the omission of Chris Birchall, Jason Scotland, Dwight Yorke and even the Little Magician himself (from the starting list).
That simple factor sent the type of message which told me that coach Latapy had a plan for a better quality of play from the team. Personally, my reluctance to agree with the choice of Trent Noel was based upon the fact that he had not been playing enough matches and may not have been as ready as a Kerry Baptiste whose goal tally in recent matches should have weighed in his favour. Keston Williams was given a chance ahead of Akiel Edwards, a decision which the coach was best placed to judge.
The match itself
Now to the actual performance. Here was a team that, for the first 15 minutes, appeared like a group possessed with an appetite to succeed and to take the fans on a smooth ride to the next round.
The guile and craft of Carlos Edwards on the right flank made the opposition go in search of some impromptu formula to restrict his activity, which consisted of some precise right flank crosses aerially and on the ground, and created some inviting opportunities for Cornell Glen and Kenwyne Jones.
This was wonderful, especially as the transition of the ball from defence to attack through this medium was travelling past the El Salvador midfield strength like a wind. This tactic was supported by the best selected pair of strikers since the campaign started. Jones should say a heartfelt thanks to Latapy for allowing him to express himself in ways that these English managers failed to recognise.
The tall elegant striker did not play the post up forward that has brought him good contracts, but he may have amazed many with his ability to move into midfield, collect the ball, make sensible passes and then choose positions in the opposing penalty areas to finish goals. He flicked on aerial passes from Silvio Span and Keston Williams, inviting the speed of Glen to whiz past the El Salvador defence. It was marvellous to look at and one felt that more goals were in the making. At that juncture, no one sought to assess the effectiveness of the central defenders or even the debutante Williams. Edwards, Glenn and Jones were on show and the setting looked impressive with the warriors being one goal ahead.
El Salvador attacks
Then all of a sudden the Central Americans found a way to restrict the now predictable right sided attacking thrust, slowed the game down and channelled the ball movement away from T&T’s right side. In the process, they dominated centrefield with quick interpassing and great mobility of players and all of a sudden, they were finding their space behind the backs of T&T defenders.
They quickly realised that Williams was the greenhorn in the bunch and seemed unaware of his defensive role of wing back. They accepted the space he offered and appeared destined to make life tedious to the entire back four. Dennis Lawrence and Radanfar Abu Bakr may have detected that “man for man” marking was the exact recipe for the El Salvador strikers to take them away from the path of planned attacks and leave gaps for Eliseo Quintannilla and Rodolfo Zelaya Garcia to operate. They opened the gaps, but failed to finish in a manner which their coach expected.
From the latter part of the first half, with approximately ten minutes to the referee’s whistle, El Salvador played as though they saw their task as being a matter of time. They came close on three occasions and faltered, similar to their downfall in the Gold Cup a few weeks ago. The second half saw an increase in intensity by the Central Americans for about the first ten minutes, causing the warriors to exert more energy than they did in the first half. Skipper Ramon Sanchez was orchestrating a variety of attacking sequences, many of which saw their possession game take them within 20 metres of Clayton Ince’s citadel.
Enter the substitutes
The substitutions by Latapy was self-explanatory, Birchall and Scotland being asked to produce some much needed energy to a group that was apparently suffering from physical fatigue.
The former tried to make his mark by literally swiping away Sanchez centimetres from the sideline and received a yellow card. It was an awful and aimless move by the experienced midfielder. The Central Americans continued their relentless surges forward through clever and clinical interpassing, creating some astute penetrative options amidst a bunch of defenders, who looked like spectators with national team shirts on their backs. Of course, El Salvador felt that it was still just a one-goal lead and they created 14 crossed passes from the right flank with Corralles literally making choices to find his players in a clustered penalty area.
Some were inaccurate, others produced some fine efforts which Ince decided would not go in. Then lady luck showed up in red, white and black, allowing Ince to involuntary save a ball that was swiftly passing beneath him. He spontaneously sat upon the ball, seeing that he could not get his hands down in time. The action was perfect. The ball stopped centimetres from crossing the line. The keeper’s final job was anticipating a dangerous cross which he had to make a quick decision. His agility to move forward in the direction of the ball, got him there on time and allowed the referee to signal the end.
The victory was achieved and the Warriors are now on their way to face another daunting task with the resolve that can bring success even when it does not arrive easily. In hindsight, even Latapy may have realised that substituting Keon Daniel for the ageing Dwight Yorke, may have done the defensive ploy some injustice, especially as Williams, right wing back position, could have done with some of Akiel Edwards experience and aggression. But, all is well that ends well.