T&T's remarkable 4-4 draw with Mexico in Charlotte on Wednesday has been described as the greatest game in the history of the CONCACAF Gold Cup dating back to the inception in 1991.Popular sporting networks including Fox Soccer hailed it as that while veteran American Football correspondent Michael Lewis who has covered every tournament, said he believed it was truly electrifying.
"It looked like the end for the Soca Warriors, but Yohance Marshall tallied deep into injury time for a stunning 4-4 deadlock. T&T won the title."At first I tweeted out it was the best group stage match I had ever seen in the Gold Cup. I would like to think I have a right to say that. I have been covering the competition since 1998," Lewis stated.
"In fact, after thinking about that statement for several minutes, I changed my mind. It was the greatest Gold Cup game ever. That included some great performances and matches, including goalkeeper Kasey Keller standing on his head to deny Brazil in the 1998 semifinals, Panama's 2-1 upset of the USA in 2011, Guadeloupe's incredible march to the semifinals in 2007 and Cuba's stoppage-time win that boosted the Caribbean side into the 2013 quarterfinals, among other memorable matches," added Lewis who is also the editor of BagAppleSoccer.com
For team T&T, the battle mode continues as the team jets off to New Jersey and will stay at the Renaissance Meadowland after arriving there around 5pm. They will prepare to face Panama on Sunday in the quarter finals at MetLife Stadium.
The Mexican fans visibly threw bottles and debris at the T&T players and team bench during the closing moments of the game. Coach Stephen Hart received a plastic bottle water to the back of head which burst open upon impact. Goalscorer Yohance Marshall said he felt satisfied with being able to spoil Mexico's party.
"It's a big statement for us. No one other than ourselves expected we could put up such a performance against them (Mexico) and we proved out there that we can match up. It's just another game really but maybe it hasn't sunk in as yet...what we have accomplished by this performance and result," Marshall told TTFA Media.
"Now we'll settle down and refocus on the next task which is getting the win over Panama and taking it all the way to the semi-finals and then the final, one step at a time," he added.T&T will have a clean slate in the quarter finals with all yellow cards wiped out at the conclusion of the group stage and Andre Boucaud will be back from suspension.