Eve: Soca Warriors showed they can keep fighting

ANGUS EVE, coach of the Trinidad and Tobago men’s football team, hailed the character his squad showed in their Courts Caribbean Classic fixture against Guyana at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo on Tuesday.

The game ended in a 1-1 draw – Neil Danns put Guyana ahead with a 58th-minute penalty but Levi Garcia levelled the scores with a header in the first minute of second-half stoppage-time. TT won the invitational tri-nation series by virtue of a superior goal difference of plus-four over Guyana. TT hammered Barbados 9-0 last Friday while Guyana brushed aside the Bajans 5-0 on Sunday.

In his assessment of the TT display in the Courts Classic, Eve said, “It was good. This is just nine days of work with the group. This is the first time we’ve assembled this group together.

“They showed a lot of character in the game to keep fighting. We’ve shown that we play 90 minutes. We’ve always been criticised for playing up to 60 minutes.”

He was also impressed with the turnout of fans at the venue, especially on Tuesday, which was estimated at 6,000.

“A welcome sight to see the type of crowd in the Stadium,” said the former TT midfielder and captain. “It shows we’re making some kind of progress if people want to see (us) play.

“I think the game was a keenly-fought battle (between) two well-organised teams. I thought it was good entertainment for the crowd.”

Nicholas Dillon, who came on as a substitute to score twice against Barbados, was a late introduction against Guyana. According to Eve, “We were creating chances throughout the match. We deliberately didn’t play Levi for the whole game (against Barbados). Dillon is just starting (back) playing football so we had to ease him back in.”

Eve did not mince words when it came to the penalties awarded to Guyana (which Danns scored) and TT (which Garcia missed in the 88th). “I think they were soft,” he said.

Guyana coach Jamaal Shabazz, in his usual eloquent self, commented, “I’m very proud of both teams. I think it was a really good game, not just for Caribbean football but what has been happening off the field, politically, where harsh words have been shared by (TT and Guyana) governments, and still we can come out and make fair play.”

Focussing on Tuesday’s match, Shabazz, the former TT men’s and women’s team coach, noted, “I’m really proud of my team, the way we pressed. Credit to Trinidad and Tobago, I didn’t expect them to withstand it. They did it much better than we thought.

“I’m very impressed with the way our guys kept their discipline. It’s not easy to get Caribbean people, if you’re not from outside the Caribbean, to play with that discipline and that tenacity.”

Shabazz also spoke in glowing terms of Eve, who took over as TT coach last June.

“I’m very proud of Angus Eve.

“He talks more than he does sometimes but I think he’s done a really good job over a short time and it shows now that our time has come.

“We have carried the bag for the South Americans and European coaches, we’ve shined their shoes, we’ve put down the cones for them,” continued Shabazz. “But now, our time has come in the region to get the big jobs, because we wouldn’t get the big jobs in Europe (and) North America. When you see the work that Angus and his staff have put down, it shows that our time has come.”