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We have 49 guests online| RELIEF AS SOCA WARRIORS BOOK SEMI-FINAL SPOT ON ROAD TO SOUTH AFRICA |
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Click for Darryl Roberts comments video Roberts fired home and turning near the six yard box and John met a quickly delivered left side cross from Keon Daniel. The team now advances to the four-team semi-final stage to face Cuba, Guatemala and United States from which the top two nations will advance to final round of six which begins in February. Maturana expressed hopes of even more progress after the win despite admitting that there is room for improvement before T&T continues its qualifying journey. “It was a very good result to win away from home under the circumstances with which we came into the game,” Maturana told TTFF Media. “But I feel we could have done better. I never like to have to go so close for a result. I think we showed a lot of character and that is good for any team but I hope we can learn from this experience which means that we sometimes end up in situations which we maybe didn’t need to find ourselves in/ “I think Bermuda gave us a good fight but we must be able to kill of teams when the opportunity is there (especially) when they fight you this way. In the end we were the winners but there were some areas for concern and we know what we have to look at closely and what areas we need to work on before the next round starts. But at this stage the most important aspect was to get through this phase and I think everyone is happy about that. Now we must continue the work…” Maturana added. Maturana would have noticed that of the regulars of CONCACAF teams, with the exception of Costa Rica, which usually progress to the semi-final and final rounds, only T&T had to go down to the wire to secure its passage to the next round. “Yes it is there for us to see. You see some of the other teams winning by six and seven goals and it’s good for them but we have to observe our situation and focus on that. When we face those other teams… those are the matches we have to prepare for and to look ahead to.” The Colombian reverted to the 4-4-2 system and opted for younger, quicker legs in attack starting the Jerol Forbes and Darryl Roberts up front and the move paid off with the latter given T&T just the start they needed. And then the experience of John came at the right time as the Southampton striker clinched the semi-final spot with his finish in the second half. He also missed a couple further chances as T&T tried to take the game further away from the frustrated Bermudans. Bermudan goalie Timothy Figuerido had to be at his best to prevent the lead from increasing. But at times though T&T looked edgy when the Bermudans came forward and the 500 odd T&T fans in the stadium were on the edges of their seats even after John’s goal. Skipper Aurtis Whitley also went close with a free kick while Roberts and Dennis Lawrence caused some nervous times in the back for the Bermudans. Sunderland midfielder Carlos Edwards also lifted his game in the second half and was unfortunate when Figuerido denied his attempt at goal. Generally all of the T&T players dug deep to pull off the result. “This win feels great especially after the loss last week. We came here knowing we had a job to handle and we had a team talk after the coach had his talk and the guys knew exactly what we had to do. It felt good but you could also say we should have won this game by a bigger margin,” Whitley said. Looking ahead to the rest of the campaign, the W Connection midfielder said he felt ore has to be done for the team to achieve further success. “We need to bond more and that will come with more preparations and more matches in the months to come. As a team you can only get better and while I don’t think any loss is ever good for a team, losing the first game showed a lot of things and we had to come back and bounce back. Now we need to keep this momentum for the rest of the campaign in terms of getting better and producing winning results,” Whitley added. The T&T team is scheduled to arrive on an American Airlines flight out of Miami around 11pm on Monday. Line ups: T&T: - 1.Jan-Michael Williams, 2. Michael Edwards (Kern Cupid, 64th)5.Osei Telesford, 6.Dennis Lawrence, 4.Makan Hislop, 2.Michael Edwards (2.Kern Cupid 64th), 7.Carlos Edwards, 8.Khaleem Hyland, 9.Aurtis Whitley (capt), 17.Keon Daniel, 10.Darryl Roberts (16.Stephan David 88th), 13.Jerol Forbes (14.Stern John 46th). Bermuda: - 1.Timmy Figureido, 8.Omar Shakir, 5.Kofi Dill, 2.Antonio Lowe, 3.Kevin Richards, 6.Mesach Wade, 17.Kwame Steede (9.Jemieko Jennings 67th), 10.Keishen Bean, 18.Khano Smith (14.Domico Coddington 78th), 7.Damon Ming, 16.John Barry Nusum (Stephen Astwood 52nd). |
There was an air of relief in the Soca Warriors camp on Sunday night as they produced a just desired result to keep their South Africa World Cup hopes alive with a 2-0 victory over Bermuda at the National Sports Center.| <Previous | Next> |
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