Yorke admits gap in quality after US Gold Cup drubbing

HEAD coach of the Soca Warriors Dwight Yorke said there is a gulf between his team and the United States, following a 5-0 drubbing on June 15 in their 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup opener at PayPal Park, California.

It was an error-strewn performance from Trinidad and Tobago who found themselves trailing 3-0 at the break. A triple substitution at half-time from Yorke failed to inspire a comeback as the hosts continue to dominate their opponents.

At the post-match media conference, Yorke said, "You can see when you're playing international level, you gotta be at a certain level. As much as I praise my players, as much as I can and I will support them in every sense of the word, today we were not at the races and it gives us an indication of the gap at international level and where some of my players are playing at the moment.

"We know there is still a lot of work to be done and we will continue to work and try to close that gap as best as possible...You can certainly see the class in where we are at the moment as a country."

The US are 16th on the Fifa/Coca Cola men's world rankings while TT are 100th.

The former TT World Cup captain said TT handed too many gifts to the US with a sloppy defensive performance.

Two defensive errors in the first half by TT gave the Americans a comfortable lead at half-time in the Group D contest. The US added two more goals to come away with a crushing victory.

TT may need to pick up maximum points from their remaining group matches as they are bottom of their group with the worst goal difference. TT will play Haiti next on June 19 from 6.45 pm (TT time) and then face Saudi Arabia in their last group match on June 22 at 7 pm.

Saudi Arabia defeated Haiti 1-0 in their opening encounter and are tied with USA on points at the top of the group.

Defensive disaster

On paper, TT started the game already on the back foot with star striker Levi Garcia not even on the team list as he missed the game to get married. His absence meant TT would need to be strong and resilient at the back to repel the American forces.

However, the opposite happened.

In the 16th minute, TT centre back Alvin Jones, who was hooked at half-time after a disastrous 45 minutes, failed to control a stiff back pass from captain Kevin Molino, which led to the US gaining possession of the ball. The Americans made TT pay for the error as Malik Tillman gave his team a 1-0 lead.

Jones was again guilty as an attempted back pass to goalkeeper Marvin Phillip in the 41st minute was easily intercepted by Diego Luna, which led to a simple tap-in by Tillman.

Yorke said TT tried to maintain a defensive system to frustrate the US, but those plans did not materialise.

"When we look at the goals that we conceded...those are two gifts," Yorke said.

"I felt the second half we did a bit better and of course creating one or two chances, but the game was already over."

Yorke said TT would have been in with a chance going into the second half with a 1-0 deficit.

"You take those two goals away, 1-0, we are still in the game, and we did not do that. At halftime at 3-0 we were just trying to minimise the damage and of course if it was not for our goalkeeper it probably could have been worse."

Phillip, 40, made some brilliant saves for TT as the back line struggled to contain the rampant American offence for most of the evening.

Two more games, two wins needed

Yorke said he knew the US match would have been an uphill battle.

"We knew coming into the game, although a lot of hype was surrounding the American team in terms of the results not particularly going their way, we were not under any delusion that the fact that this would have been arguably our toughest game in the group stage."

The US had entered their Gold Cup opener reeling from their fourth consecutive loss, including a 4-0 drubbing at the hands of Switzerland in a friendly.

Yorke said his players need to put the game behind them.

"It is just a bad day at the office and we need to put that behind us very quickly because there are two more games to go. With two more games to go, certainly we got to earn maximum points...and that will be the intention going forward."

It was Yorke's worst defeat since assuming the TT head coach position in November 2024. His previous worst was a 4-0 drubbing to Ghana in the Unity Cup in London on May 31. His current TT record stands at three wins, one draw and six defeats.