TTFF News - Rijsbergen credits good comeback by young T&T team

Photo shows head coach Wim Rijsbergen with assistant Jan Van Deinsen at the start of Saturday's friendly vs Guadeloupe.




Rijbergen credits good comeback by young T&T team



Issued by Shaun Fuentes, TTFF Media Officer, March 26, 2007



The majority of this country’s senior team which played to a 2-2 draw with Guadeloupe on Saturday will return to their various clubs this week to continue preseason training for the start of the 2007 Pro League season.



A full local-based team took on the French islanders in a CONCACAF Gold Cup tune up put on by Digicel and T&T head coach Wim Rijsbergen said credit was due for the young bunch for putting on a brave display in what was a rare appearance on the international stage for them.



The new look “Soca Warriors” were trailing 2-0 at the halftime interval after two defensive lapses but bounced back with second half goals by Defence Force’s Christian Baptiste and W Connection striker Andre Toussaint in the 48th and 62nd minutes.



There were other debutants in the match with W Connection’s Nicholson Thomas, Joe Public’s Silas Spann, Petrotrin’s Romauld Aguillera, striker Abiola Clarence and goalkeeper Marvin Phillip all wearing the T&T shirt in a senior international for the first time.



“We started the match pretty well for the first minutes and that is something we worked on and discussed so that was good for us,” Rijsbergen told TTFF Media.



“But not for the first time we made some defensive mistakes which allowed Guadeloupe to get into the game. We had chances to put away in the opening quarter and there’s a rule in football that if you don’t score yourself and then make easy mistakes then you will lose confidence and maybe lose the game. We lost confidence with both goals but we came back,” the Dutchman added.



“I was happy that after a little talk at half time we were able to come right back into the game and we had a good free kick by Nigel Daniel which could have won the match near the end. We also held them off in the closing stages. A draw was okay for both teams in the end.”



Rijsbergen, missing the services of several of his World Cup overseas-based players and locally based in Aurtis Whitley and Cyd Gray as well as the injured Densill Theobald, added that he felt the exercise suited the debutants who were skippered by Gary Glasgow on Saturday.



“I have seen some new faces and that’s a plus. It’s been a good experience bringing in some of the younger guys, seeing how the fit into the set up and how they react together on the international stage. For the rest of it we will keep looking and working towards getting the right selection for playing on the international level. We will look again and maybe invite some new players. For the time being they will go back to their clubs and hopefully keep up the intensity and then we will try to get some more sessions over the next few weeks and keep on preparing,” Rijsbergen concluded.



The next scheduled match was originally against El Salvador on April 7 but event sponsors Digicel have since pushed the match date back to a date to be announced.