{"id":871884,"date":"2025-09-10T01:12:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T06:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/10\/sharper-start-needed-local-sports-trinidadexpress-com\/"},"modified":"2025-09-10T01:12:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T06:12:09","slug":"sharper-start-needed-local-sports-trinidadexpress-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/10\/sharper-start-needed-local-sports-trinidadexpress-com\/","title":{"rendered":"Sharper start needed | Local Sports | trinidadexpress.com"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n <\/p>\n

Trinidad and Tobago head coach Dwight Yorke continues to search for a formula to get his side firing from the start, but his team has shown marked improvement in the second halves of matches under his tenure.<\/p>\n

It was no different on Friday night at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in the opening match of the Final Round of the CONCACAF Qualifiers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. T&T rebounded from a subdued first half to impress in the second, earning a 0-0 draw against a strong Cura\u00e7ao side that had held Canada and El Salvador to draws at the CONCACAF Gold Cup just two months ago.<\/p>\n

Yorke suggested the expectation of winning in front of a sell-out home crowd may have affected his players early on. \u201cSecond half shows that once we get a foot in the game, that we have quality going forward. We were unfortunate not to get maximum points,\u201d he said. \u201cWe need to be at our best. We weren\u2019t at our best in the first half, but second half we proved that we can play and create the opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cura\u00e7ao head coach Dick Advocaat shared the assessment. \u201cFirst half, I think we did well. We were a little bit better. We created a few more chances than Trinidad. But the second half was totally different. Trinidad was the much better side, created enough chances,\u201d he stated. \u201cWe were lucky they didn\u2019t score a goal because they had the possibilities. So first half I am pleased with what I saw, second half we have to improve.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yorke stressed the importance of viewing the result positively. \u201cWe have to take the positives. We did not concede,\u201d he said. Europe-based Spartak Moscow striker Levi Garcia, who missed T&T\u2019s two best chances, echoed the sentiment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have everything in our hands still. There are still five games to go and we have to get the most out of these,\u201d Garcia said.<\/p>\n

Despite some criticism over his late substitutions, Yorke defended his approach. \u201cWe were really pushing Cura\u00e7ao back. The goalkeeper made a couple of good saves, as well as Cura\u00e7ao clearing off the line. You don\u2019t really want to disrupt that too much. Sometimes you are reluctant to change that because you think in those moments you might just nick a goal. Unfortunately, we did not.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yorke also praised his team not conceding a goal, as teenage right-back Rio Cardines, utility player Noah Powder on the left, and the centre-back pairing of Josiah Trimmingham and debutant Cobi Henry all put in a solid shift.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought Cobi Henry had an excellent debut,\u201d Yorke said, of the USA-born player who has only been with the team for four days. Twenty-one-year-old Henry is grandson of the late Ken Henry, the former T&T assistant-coach.<\/p>\n

Henry was delighted with his performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought we did a good job. Unfortunately, we did not get the win, but very happy with the clean sheet. Next game we\u2019ve got to start quicker and hopefully get the goal,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO:<\/p>\n

22.Denzil Smith (GK); 19.Rio Cardines, 5.Josiah Trimmingham (6.Jerrin Jackie 90), 3.Kobi Henry, 23.Noah Powder; 8.Daniel Phillips, 18.Andre Rampersad (vice-captain); 10.Kevin Molino (captain) (7.Steffen Yeates 83); 15.Dante Sealy (12.Ryan Telfer 83), 11.Levi Garcia (16.Justin Obikwu 83), 13.Tyrese Spicer. Unused substitutes: 1.Marvin Phillip (GK), 21.Jabari St Hillaire (GK), 2.Darnell Hospedales, 4.Isaiah Garcia, 9.Nathaniel James, 14.Wayne Frederick II, 17.Justin Garcia, 20.Ka\u00efl\u00e9 Auvray. Coach: Dwight Yorke.<\/p>\n

CURA\u00c7AO:<\/p>\n

1.Eloy Room (GK); 2.Shurandy Sambo, 3.Jurien Gaari, 20.Riechedly Bazoer (15.Ar\u2019jany Martha 66), 4.Roshon Van Eijma, 5.Sherel Floranus; 16.Jearl Margaritha (14.Tarith Chong 62), 8.Livano Comenencia (9.Jurgen Locadia 62), 10.Leandro Bacuna (captain), 11.Jeremy Antonisse (17.Tyrese Noslin 86); 7.Juninho Bacuna (6.Godfried Roemeratoe 86). Unused substitutes: 22.Leandro Merencia (GK), 23.Trevor Doornbusch (GK), 12.Joshua Zimmerman, 18.Jurich Carolina, 19.Gervane Kastaneer, 21.Kevin Felida. Coach: Dick Advocaat.<\/p>\n

Referee: Katia Garcia (Mexico).<\/p>\n

CONCACAF Group B standings<\/strong><\/p>\n

Team\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0GP W D L GD PTS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jamaica\u00a0 \u00a01 1 0 0 +4 3<\/strong><\/p>\n

T&T 1 0 1 0 0 1<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cura\u00e7ao 1 0 1 0 0 1<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bermuda 1 0 0 1 – 4 0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Lawanda Damron
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Trinidad and Tobago head coach Dwight Yorke continues to search for a formula to get his side firing from the start, but his team has shown marked improvement in the second halves of matches under his tenure. It was no different on Friday night at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in the opening match of the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":871885,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22099,2391],"tags":[146223,6036],"class_list":{"0":"post-871884","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sharper","8":"category-start","9":"tag-sharper","10":"tag-start"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=871884"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871884\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/871885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=871884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=871884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=871884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}