Warriors fight hard in 3-0 loss to US – TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO BEATEN BUT UNBOWED

National senior football team coach Angus Eve lauded his team’s warrior spirit after Thursday’s 3-0 loss against defending Concacaf Nations League champions USA, but was critical of Noah Powder’s 37th-minute red card, which forced him to change the initial game plan and adopt a more defensive approach.

When Powder received his second yellow card in the first half, TT fought valiantly to keep the ball out of their net for 80 minutes. However, a pressing US team broke the deadlock in the 82nd minute, courtesy second-half substitute Ricardo Pepi.

Americans Antonee Robinson (86 minutes) and Giovanni Reyna (89 minutes) affirmed a comprehensive victory in the final minutes which gave them a healthy three-goal advantage heading into the Monday’s second quarter-final at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Mucurapo. Kickoff is from 8pm.

The result also dampened TT’s hopes of a possible debut at the prestigious Copa America 2024.

In his post-match comments, Eve stressed how much Powder’s sending-off affected the team’s dynamic, though he still credited them for a “tremendous effort.”

He said, “I thought we were in the game until we got the red card…even when we got the red card, we still acquitted ourselves very well.

"It forced us to change a lot of things we wanted to do in the second half. But at the end of the day I think it’s no disrespect, what we did here today.”

Powder’s sending-off forced Eve to switch his initial plan to less attack and more defence. Asked what might have been his game plan if he had had a full squad for the second half, said it had totally changed.

"In the second half, we wanted to put on more expressive, attacking-type players. That was the idea, to keep the game close (in the) first half…and then allow the Nathaniel James, Real Gill and these type of guys to come on and express themselves with Levi Garcia. Unfortunately, the red card totally changed what we wanted and had to do. It was an exercise in damage management.”

From the get-go, the US dominated the contest. Their frontline of Folarin Balogun, Malik Tillman and Reyna threatened early on as wingers Kevin Paredes, Antonee Robinson and Sergino Dest played main providers.

Dest had an early attempt pushed overbar by an alert Smith as TT still tried to find their footing.

Eighteen minutes in, Powder received his first yellow card for a foul on Weston Mckennie, and was then given marching orders for another reckless challenge on the same player, 20 minutes later.

With their numerical advantage, the US pressed further for the opener and were forced to adopt quick, tight passing to penetrate TT in the final third. The visitors, however, crowded out the hosts, despite the US still generating ample chances to go up.

Smith looked good in goal for the first period and was instrumental in keeping the tie scoreless at the break. Defenders Aubrey David (captain), Alvin Jones and Shannon Gomez had a tough time at the back line, but did well to hold out waves of attacks at the half.

Although winger Ryan Telfer had an active first period, he was replaced by Neveal Hackshaw for the final 45 minutes. There was little change for TT, though, as USA upped the ante in search of the first goal.

Yunus Musah had a strong shot from outside the box pushed away by Smith, and US captain Tim Ream headed just wide off the eventual corner seconds later.

In the 65th minute, TT’s Daniel Phillips tackled Mckennie in the penalty box and USA was initially awarded a spot kick, but a VAR check by Jamaican referee Oshane Nation overturned his original decision.

Soon after, TT brought on Greece-based striker Levi Garcia for Malcolm Shaw and Jesse Williams for Andre Rampersad. The US also bolstered their front line, with Brenden Aaronson on for Paredes and Pepi replacing Tillman.

The US pestered the TT defence and swarmed for a goal. Dest regularly searched for a receiver from multiple right-side crosses. David and Raymond looked better at the back for TT as the game went on.

But with ten minutes of regulation time to go, Robinson put a cross in from the left and Pepi used the speed of the ball to lightly nudge it goalwards, and into the net, off Smith’s searching hands.

The Q2 Stadium erupted in celebration while the TT team, who had battled valiantly to hold out for 80 minutes, were broken.

Five minutes later, Robinson sent the US 2-0 up with a lovely left-footed strike which also grazed Jones’s head past Smith.

Reyna then ended all hopes by outwitting the defence with a dummy to Balogun, who played it back to him to score at the near post.

The seven minutes added on were mere protocol, as the US grabbed a significant three-goal advantage heading into Monday’s tie.

Robinson was adjudged man of the match.

On Garcia’s introduction, Eve said he wanted 30 solid minutes from the AEK Athens striker, who showed small glimmers of aggression, but received little support up front.

Looking ahead at Monday’s task, Eve remains upbeat and believes there is still hope, somehow, that TT can stage a late comeback.

“We want a win (on Monday). We want to go out on a positive, if we have to. We want to try to go and win the game and give ourselves a chance. Because as I said, this (first quarter-final) is first half, the other part of it (second leg) would be second half, and once we can give ourselves a fighting chance, go out there and try and play a little bit more expansive football, because we will be home.

“Hopefully the crowd will come out, and they saw what the boys did here today. I don’t think there’s any shame in what happened tonight against the type of opposition we played.”

Even if TT lose Monday’s match, they can still advance to Copa 2024 via a single-match, direct-elimination playoff against one of the other losing quarter-finalists in March next year.

Eve closed by saying, “I think it was a great performance by the players. Unfortunately, it was two deflected goals. I think Denzil (Smith) was excellent, you saw young (Andre) Raymond…there’s so much positives that we can take out of this game, because you’re seeing a lot of players who can stand up to players who are playing at that high level in the US. And again, our players are not actually in season, so I thought it was tremendous.”