TTFF News - Simoes credits Maturana's young unit

Before kick off they embraced each other and after the game they exchanged telephone numbers and promised to stay in touch. But the outcome of the 90 minutes didn’t exactly leave them with the same feelings. Jamaican head coach Rene Simoes admitted that he was a disappointed man with seeing the “Soca Warriors” come from two goals down to snatch a draw with the “Reggae Boyz” before some 20,000 odd fans at the National Stadium in Kingston on Wednesday.

 

For Maturana though, guiding a partly inexperienced outfit to a result away from home was yet another plus after the 1-0 victory over El Salvador a week earlier at the Marvin Lee Stadium. Goals by substitute Osei Telesford and a last-gasp equalizer from captain Aurtis Whitley silenced the “Office”.

 

Jamaica had eleven of its overseas pros in their squad while T&T fielded just Dutch-based striker Darryl Roberts and goalie Jan Michael Williams who has been moving around Europe over the last few weeks, still without a stable contract. Charleston Battery’s Randi Patterson was the other overseas starter while goalscorer Osei Telesford is in search of  a club in the USA. The rest of the bunch included 16-year-old defender Akeem Adams, 22-year-old defender Makan Hislop, Kern Cupid, Kerry Baptiste, 19-year-old midfielder Khaleem Hyland and 21-year-old midfielder Keon Daniel. Only Keyeno Thomas and skipper Aurtis Whitley went into the game with any kind of heavy experience. Teenage forward Jamal Gay and defender Aklie Edwards also made second half appearances.

 

T&T went into the game with fifteen players after the late withdrawal of Sunderland duo Kenwyne Jones and Carlos Edwards plus the non-arrival of Toronto FC winger Collin Samuel.

 

“I think today I was pleased with the result and the effort,” Maturana told TTFF Media after the game.

 

“The boys deserve credit for showing all the heart and fighting to the end. That is what we need and we got it today. Aurtis scored an important goal and the team never gave up. We never gave the game to Jamaica and this is what I wanted. I know it was always going to be hard – no Jones, no Carlos and then no Collin Samuel. But the team kept on playing and I was happy with the draw. There is still a lot of work to complete because you can see there are areas we need to be better in. We will keep on working.”

 

Assistant coach Anton Corneal further stated: “We started this team a few weeks ago and we decided to stick with it. This is in trying to secure the future. It took a lot from young players to come from two goals down here in Kingston. We have followed the hosts and that meant our team deserved the credit to come back the way it did.”

Simoes, the Brazilian once in charge of the T&T team, thought his outfit would kill off the visitors.

 

“Today was a little bit hard for the supporters after they saw the first half and they expected that we would kill the Trinidadians. When things are not going good it’s my responsibility. It’s the coach you have to look at. That where we have to look and say ah it’s a bad result,” Simoes said.

 

“This is the time to watch the players and take decisions. The last game you were so proud here when we tied the game in the last minute. Today was Trinidad but I did not want that. President Camps as I love you but I don’t want you with the smile here in Jamaica. I want you to go back upset,” Simoes said in the post game conference with TTF President Oliver Camps and JFF boss Captain Horace Burrell in the audience.

 

“But I have to congratulate you and coach Maturana who is a very experienced coach. I think he is doing a wonderful job,” Simoes added. He urged the Jamaican public to be kind to the players as they are working non stop to attaint the winning results.

 

“I am 56... no problem. You can do with me what you want,” he added.

 

Jamaican captain Marlon King, the scorer of the opener goal, said the game was learning one for his side.

 

“Today was a learning curve for us .We had a young squad and it’s a learning process. We will take the mistakes out and the positives from this game. The draw was a good experience for us today especially for the young lads. You’ve seen how with the quality that Trinidad has… that they can turn the game anytime. Trinidad had a whole lot of heart and we got punished but we will move on to the next games. To go forward you have to make mistakes and we will learn from it. It’s just unfortunately that we couldn’t come away with the win but all credit to Trinidad and Tobago for coming back,” King added.

 

The T&T team returns home at 8:30pm on Thursday night.