Armin Veh, head coach of German club Eintracht Frankfurt last week reacted angrily due to the late return to the club by Peru defender Carlos Zambrano, following the friendly international with T&T at the Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva.
Zambrano played in Eintracht's 0-0 draw with Nuremberg but only arrived in Germany on the morning of the match after his return flight out of Caracas was delayed by several hours. The T&T Football Federation saw the Peru contingent out of Piarco on Thursday and all commitments were met by the hosts. But the problem was in Caracas as the players arrived 90 minutes before their scheduled departure.
Schalke's Jefferson Farfan and Bayern Munich's Claudio Pizarro, only just arrived in time for kick-off.
After a 10-hour flight, Farfan took a connecting flight to Munich and then a place on Schalke's bench for the 4-0 defeat at Bayern before playing the last 18 minutes. Pizarro was left out of Bayern's match squad.
Of more concern though were Veh's ugly statements about matches such as the one that took place last Wednesday. It was a bit of proof of how some club managers in Europe view such matches even as it falls within the international window set up by FIFA to allow countries to have access to its best players.
"It's absurd. We have to pay the price for these stupid games, which are completely pointless," Veh was quoted as saying by AFP.
Peru manager Antonio Pye appeared to be pleased with the experience in T&T and the operations of the TTFF in hosting the Peru team.
"It was a good experience. We had no major issues and we were quite happy to play against T&T," Pye said.
T&T's Kenwyne Jones, Carlos Edwards, Khaleem Hyland, Darryl Roberts and Sheldon Bateau also returned to Europe last Thursday to join their respective clubs. Edwards started and played 80 minutes in Ipswich Town's 1-0 loss to Blackburn Rovers, Hyland played all of Racing Genk's 2-0 win over Beerschot AC and Jones started and played 65 minutes in Stoke's 2-1 win over Reading. Roberts started and played 61 minutes in Samsunspor's 2-1 loss to Boluspur in Turkey on Sunday while Bateau was an unused sub for KV Mechelen.
Hyland sees importance of playing for country
Midfielder Khaleem Hyland got the green light to return home last week to play for this country against Peru but it didn't come without a bit of hesitancy from the management team at Racing Genk.
The former Jabloteh player didn't play for T&T since November 2011 and felt it was necessary for him to join the squad for the Peru friendly. Once the federation makes a request for a player 14 days or more before the match day that falls on a FIFA date, the club has to oblige and release the player. However, the downside to that is sometimes the player could find difficulty in regaining a spot in the club's line-up if the head coach is not impressed by the player's absence from the club.
"They find it difficult for me to fly so far to play this game against Peru because we had a very important game coming up on the weekend but it's important for me to come and play for my country because I haven't done that in a long time and it was a good opportunity for me before the Gold Cup to get back in the mix with the team," said Hyland, who ended up playing the full 90 minutes in Genk's 2-0 win over Beerschot AC on the weekend.
"It always feels good to return and play for the national team and I thought the performance was a pretty good one versus Peru. We achieved most of what we wanted to in the match and it's a matter of building on this and getting it right for better results heading into the Gold Cup.
Theobald sees some positives in T&T squad
Midfielder Densill Theobald is eagerly awaiting the draw for the 2013 Concacaf Gold Cup which will reveal which countries Trinidad and Tobago will face in the group phase in July.
The Caledonia AIA midfielder skippered the T&T team in the recent 2-0 loss to Peru and in looking back at the performance of the home team believes that they can produce a strong showing at the confederation's prime tournament in the United States.
"I think we showed that we are capable of putting on a good performance even with the likes of the overseas players coming in two days before the game and not getting much training time," said Theobald. "Some of them haven't played with us in a very long time and they fitted in well and the chemistry between the guys who were there at the Caribbean Cup seemed to be getting better. I think with a few more games together we can definitely pose a good team and give a good showing at the Gold Cup," he added.
On the role of skipper, he added: "It was an honour and it was a relatively good process because I've played alongside players like Kenwyne and Carlos before so it was not difficult having to be captain of two of our more successful players. I think there is a bond within the team that is growing and this should auger well for us going forward," he added.
�2 Shaun Fuentes is the media officer for TTFF/Soca Warriors. Follow him on Twitter @ProLook2006
