King rues missed chances

National coach Derek King is rueing his team’s many missed chances in Sunday’s 2-1 loss to the Dominican Republic, which effectively rules us out of advancing in the Concacaf Nations League.

King’s charges needed to win and hope for the best after losing to Haiti in their opening match at Sabina Park in Jamaica on September 24 (T&T Republic Day). A thumping strike from Daniel Phillip in the 36th minute appeared to have set the country’s senior footballers on course, until Heinz Morschel unleashed a thunderous low drive that flew past goalkeeper Jabari Brice in the 42nd.

After beating Nicaragua in their first game, the Dominican Republic sealed the win against T&T at Hasely Crawford Stadium in Mucurapo when striker Mariano Diaz curled a ball past Brice into the back of the net for their second win in the Group A campaign.

King told the media at the post-match press conference that he was satisfied with the performance, only that he was let down by the goal scoring. “In the first half, we played well; we scored a goal in the first half, and we allowed ourselves a very soft goal. In the second half we actually saw good ball movement, and we created chances, but goals were lacking in the match, and that was the difference between the teams. You saw the Dominican Republic take their chances, and we didn’t take ours,” King explained.

The result saw the T&T team sink to the bottom of the four-team standings without a point in two matches.

The T&T charges will now face unbeaten Curacao in matches away and at home on October 1st and 4th. Head coach Dick Advocaat’s men came from behind to edge Costa Rica 4-3 in their opening match and crushed Nicaragua 6-1 to head the standings with six points.

The T&T team and Curacao also shared the points in two World Cup qualifiers, 0-0 at home and 1-1 away. King, who faces a selection challenge courtesy of an injury to winger Tyrese Spicer and suspensions to Wayne Frederick II and midfielder Daniel Phillip, has confirmed the return of defender Kobi Henry and midfielder Molik Khan to his squad for the final two matches.

Asked how he intends to face the coming two matches, King said, “Well, it’s important that we finish our series well. We have two important games against Curaçao at home and away. So, you know, the guys, I think, you know, they are dumb at this because in the second half we saw some good ball movements, and we created chances, but we just didn’t put away the chances, and I think it’s really sad that we didn’t come out with a result in this game.”