The Manicou Report

So the Soca Warriors got steamrolled on Wednesday by a gang of Austrians. The friendly ended 4-1 in favour of the Austrians who had a very good game. The game was brought live on CNC3 which was most appreciated. The last away game we played wasn’t brought live, but was aired about a week later on NCC Channel 4. We played Japan in Japan and apparently the only coverage of the game the NCC could lay their hands on had Japanese commentary. I don’t know any of this for sure; I’m just guessing.

Colin Samuel

But guess what NCC did? They dubbed the game sounds from a local game over the original sound. So nothing in the sound matched up with what we were seeing on TV. So whistle blowing, crowd cheering, drum beating and nothing rhyming at all. Yuh even hearing a whole set ah Trinis ole talking during the game and yuh know it really didn’t have so many of us there.

But back to this game. I don’t know if it was our lack of fight, or if the Austrians were better than us or (God forbid) we are just not that good anymore. The games against St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Panama were much better played, but whether that has more to do with us being a good team from the Caribbean or a good team period, I can’t tell.

However the one good part of that game was the goal scored by Colin Samuel. From just beyond the half Carlos Edwards lobs the ball down the field to Colin Samuel who is running towards goal sandwiched between two defenders. The ball drops right in front of him and with one touch pushes it over to his right and with the very next touch, puts it in goal. No mistake about it, it was just clinical - one of the better goals I’ve seen our team score. That was worth two ordinary goals or eight Stern John chokes.

Kenwyne Jones

But Colin Samuel is one of my favourite players on this T&T side and I think he’ll be one of our top players in a few years to come. I think Kenwyne Jones will also become a great player. But he has some finishing issues that need to be addressed. But the boy has style for days.

Yesterday marked one year since we qualified in Bahrain for the 2006 World Cup. Has it been a year already? I wonder if the Bahrainians still sour that they didn’t make it? I guess that goes without saying since I know it still have people here who sour about November 19th 1989. I still sour as a matter of fact. Have no fear though, we getting a rematch with the 1989 US national team on this Sunday November 19th 17 years after the fact. Why 17 years? I have no idea. I could be that no one’s getting any younger or that November 19th 2009 falls on a Wednesday, or it could be that in 2009 there really won’t be anyone left who cares enough to watch. Whatever the reason is, goal scorer Paul Caligiuri is already here for the game, but I’m not sure who else he brought along with him. Of course some of the old Strike Squad members like Clayton Morris will also suit up. I’m not sure I care very much about this game and I doubt I’ll be watching. What’s the point really? Surely nothing that happens on that field will help the Warriors qualify for South Africa 2010 so I really don’t have much interest in looking back.