It was a game of emotions that ended in T&T women progressing to the CONCACAF World Championship on Tuesday night despite a 2-2 tie with Guyana in front of a packed Dwight Yorke Stadium in Bacolet, Tobago.
National coach Kenwyne Jones told the media: “Well, this game surely came down to emotion because I don’t think tactically in all honestly, Guyana posed us any problems. We did prepare for them. And it worked quite well.
“I just think that our team, as I tried to stress so much over the last couple of days that we played the game and not the occasion. And I think, in the end, you know, getting to this point, and coming out the journey that they’ve been on so far.
“The occasion, obviously, got the better of them for a little bit. But then, you know, they showed something terrific at the end, where they had an amazing team spirit and heart and never say die attitude to get us back in the game.”
T&T came from behind to secure a share of the points in the encounter, thereby sending them to 10 points while Guyana finished Group F with eight points.
Jones believes the display showed that the T&T team was ready but allowed the occasion, coupled with a few errors, to get the better of them in spurts.
“In the locker room, all I had to say to them was to calm down just to relax, because most of the inches that Guyana got in the first half was because we made some poor decisions.
“Due to being anxious, it’s not a case that Guyana was better than us. I think that you know, our team, even though in my estimation, at this point in time, it’s probably 90 percent to its capacity in terms of the player’s ability.
“I still don’t think that they would have been a threat, but again, the occasion of course. We have a few players from Tobago. Again, we were at this hurdle where you know, we’re fighting to get into the other one. But tonight (Tuesday), sometimes the emotion gets the better of you and it showed because I thought we could have been a bit more composed in our passing, in our creation of chances, but, you know, sometimes that’s how the game goes.”
