Trinidad and Tobago senior football manager William Wallace says the current "Soca Warriors" have the right attitude to do well in next year's CONCACAF Gold Cup and is confident they can put in some creditable performances to make T&T proud in 2013.
"What is crucial about this team is that it they may not be the most talented players, but it is a bunch of players with the right attitude," Wallace told the Express yesterday.
"They exhibit the attitude of winners," he said.
"They absorbed all of the pressure and they never one day complained...with that type of attitude I am sure this team will go a long way and really bring more joy to T&T next year," Wallace told the Express yesterday.
"Once that attitude remains, that really augurs well for getting good results (in the CONCACAF Gold Cup)...we are going to have creditable performances before and during the Gold Cup. I can only see the team going from strength to strength leading up to the Gold Cup, and I am certain we are going to see a performance we can all be proud of," the T&T manager added.
Speaking about the performance in the Caribbean Cup, which ended on Sunday in Antigua with T&T losing 1-0 to Cuba in the final, Wallace felt the team's second place finish was a huge achievement for a team that were not expected to reach the final.
He said: "We felt that it was a major accomplishment. Most people in the football fraternity never thought the team would have qualified for the Gold Cup, so it is a major achievement and they (the team) feel as though they answered the critics.
And even though T&T did not win the tournament, Wallace feels things are headed in the right direction.
"It was a major achievement for football in T&T since we felt we were in a deep hole, and we felt this was one step out of that hole for T&T football."
About their 1-0 loss to Cuba in extra time, the T&T manager said it was very disappointing.
"It was almost like a freak goal in my estimation, but these things happen.
"However our first goal was to qualify for the Gold Cup and we achieved that. Everything else would have been gravy.
"Although we were disappointed we lost the final where we thought we could have won, we achieved our main goal, so that brought some joy to the contingent, and what made it even more special was that we achieved it with a 98 per cent local team and coaches," Wallace added.
The players returned to T&T on Monday, and Wallace said they will spend some time with their families soaking in the Christmas season before they return to the drawing board early next year to begin preparations for the Gold Cup.
The team management and the technical director Anton Corneal are expected to have a meeting before the end of the year to start planning for 2012, and they are hoping to have the team play as many matches as possible before the Gold Cup kicks off in July.
However, he insisted that the core of the team for next year's competition will be centred around the local-based players with the right attitude for success.
By Roger Seepersad
Source: www.trinidadexpress.com