SVG winless; TnT, Guyana advance

St. Vincent and the Grenadines Senior Football Team returned home last Sunday morning after a winless sojourn in Group F of the 2010 Digicel Caribbean Cup in Trinidad and Tobago.{{more}}

Bearing dejection on their faces, the 20 member squad, along with team officials, were greeted at the E.T. Joshua Airport by President of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Football Federation(SVGFF) Joseph Delves, and the SVGFF ‘s General Secretary Ian Hypolite.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines was beaten 6-2 by the host team last week Tuesday night, then was whipped 3-1 by Haiti last Thursday, and last Saturday went under to Guyana 0-2.

In total, St. Vincent and the Grenadines conceded eleven goals and scored three.

Beleaguered Technical Director and Head Coach Sammy Carrington, in an interview soon after the team’s arrival, told SEARCHLIGHT that it was a combination of lack of fitness and experience that caused the bad results.

Recalling the three matches, Carrington said that having to put all their efforts in the first half against Trinidad and Tobago, to equalize 2-2, winded the players, who then gave up four goals in the second period.

This fatigue he said carried over into the second game against Haiti.

“Against Haiti, it looked like if we couldn’t move,” Carrington said.

“It (fitness) showed because the last match versus Guyana, we played good enough to win the match,” he pointed out.

The TD and Head Coach thought that lack of experience was also a determining factor.

He contended that players at times wanted to be too ultra- attacking, which also contributed to them having to chase their opponents when they lost possession of the ball.

“They did not understand it was a bigger competition than what we played here, and on a bigger field,” Carrington said.

“ All of the team’s weak points were exposed in this competition,” Carrington admitted.

Carrington, at the end of the Group B leg last month, said then that his charges were a bunch of talented and “ very offensive” players. That group involved St. Kitts and Nevis, Barbados and Montserrat, which saw his team advancing to the second round.

In a swiping and unexpected attack, Carrington last Sunday revealed: “We have some players in the team who just cannot take us to the next level.

“We have to be realistic about this,” Carrington added.

Looking into the future, Carrington proposed: “ I do not know how we are going to fill that void. We may just have to look outside to more of our foreign-based players.”

Trinidad and Tobago emerged winners of Group F, with a 100 percent record of wins. Apart from their 6-2 drubbing of the Vincentians, the Trinidadians beat Guyana 2-1 and blanked Haiti 4-0.

Joining Trinidad and Tobago from the group was Guyana, who drew with Haiti 0-0. Both teams finished on four points, with both having one win, one draw, and one loss, but Guyana pipped the Haitians on the superior goal difference circumstance.

Already through to the finals set for Martinique later this month are the host, defending champions Jamaica, Guadeloupe, Grenada, Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana.

The two remaining slots will be decided this week in Antigua and Barbuda, when the host nation pits its skills against Dominica, Suriname and Cuba. (RT)