Soca Warriors duo of Sheldon Bateau and captain Khaleem Hyland are hoping to see a continuous run of improvement by the team as the build-up to next June’s CONCACAF Gold Cup continues.
After Thursday’s 1-0 defeat by Iran in an international friendly encounter in Tehran, the players said the team was able to compete with the 2018 World Cup participants, but it needs to put in the extra effort in order to achieve positive results against quality opponents going forward.
“The effort from everyone was great. It was a heavy pitch and a tough game. We all know Iran is a tough team with their participation at the last two World Cups. The team has a good coach for a very long time in Carlos Queiroz and he has a lot of experience,” said Hyland.
“ We stuck with them until we conceded an easy goal. I think maybe we decided a bit later to push the throttle and go all out," he noted.
According to the T&T midfielder, “The attitude is what we can take away from this game. The willingness to fight, to help each other and to be willing to sacrifice until the last minute was great, and we just have to take that on board. I can see the team is getting stronger and we just have to continue with that until the Gold Cup."
“You can clearly see we’ve played very well. We came out victorious against UAE and then we lost to a soft goal against Thailand, similar to what happened tonight. But the effort and the ability of players, willing to work and fight shows what the coach wants us to do. Clearly, his message is being passed on to the guys and it is being picked up by them,” Hyland stated
Kazakhstan-based defender Sheldon Bateau felt there were some factors to be pleased with.
“I want to commend the team on its effort. Result-wise, it was disappointing because I think we have what it takes to play with these teams and get a result. Iran was definitely a good team. They play at a high level consistently. We played in spurts. For me personally, I want to see the guys work more on themselves. I think if we can have some individual improvement then as a team we can do much better,” said Bateau.
The T&T-based contingent of the team returned home yesterday following a 14-hour journey from Tehran, Iran to New York, USA via Dubai, prior to the final four and half hours trip to Port-of -Spain.