July 8th

De Gold Cup is de football tournament dat does decide de best footballin’ country in North America, Central America an’ de Caribbean. Fuh who in de region dat doh make de ultimate competition, dis is it.

Section: 131. Row: 5. Seat:11. Red Bull Arena.

Was from dat spot dat I see de Soca Warriors play El Salvador.

I does always be in two minds watchin’ football. On one side it does have de unadulterated fan, fuh T&T in dis case, while on de udder hand it have de football lover who does want tuh see a good battle wid plenty smart play. All dem tings dat does make football such ah beautiful game tuh watch. Mih two minds doh always see eye tuh eye.

De place was awash in blue an’ white when ah reach. Ah eh tink ah see ten people wearin’ red. It was early doh so ah wasn’t worried, ent Kitchener say anytime was Trinidad time?

When de game start it must ah had hundreds ah people in blue an’ white tuh each person wearin’ red. It eh even had no real Trini section. One group of bout 25 Trinis pick up de slack an’ wid jump up an’ dong yellin’, ‘T&T! We Want Ah Goal!’. De El Salvador supporters wasn’t havin’ none ah dat an’ wid drong dem out. De competition in de stands was heatin’ up nice.

Like every udder Trini, I was in de middle ah El Salvador land. De fan next tuh mih would smile whenever ah was cussin’ de referee fuh he dotish calls. Dem wid be anyting against T&T. Ah doubt de El Salvadorian could tork English. Me eh know Spanish, especially in-de-heat-ah-de-excitement Spanish. Only pros know dat one. All mih yellin’ was Trinispeak. Still me an’ he had we lil rivalry goin’ good using he Spanglish an’ plenty hand gestures. Ah did understand him perfectly when he say he liked, Tree-nee-dad Too-baa-go, an dat de tall one wid de long hair was good. Kenwyne Jones nah.

Ah didn’t know what tuh expect from de Soca Warriors buh ah going an’ associate dem wid tings ah doh normally tink of when ah watching dem play. Yuh go know what dem tings is as yuh read. Fans eh go need no hints.

Dey was playin’ possession football, stringin’ tuhgedder one set ah passes at de start ah de game. At first, dem Salvadorians was content tuh watch dem parse de ball arong as long as it did stay in de Trini half.

De Warriors play tuh dey plan, fuh de most part. Methodical football, buildin’ slowly tuh whatever chance it had. Eef nuttin was dey, de ball get parsed backwards. Like ah was watchin’ English football buh wid much shorter passes. Still, yuh cyar be predictable. Yuh cyar be void ah players movin’ into open spaces or de ball gettin’ played into open spaces. What ah was fraid go happen, happen an’ one time one ah dem super quick El Salvadorians manage tuh pounce on one ah dem passes an’ next ting yuh know, de ball whizzin’ parse de Trini far post. Ah eh tink de players hear what ah politely say tuh dem.

T&T score inside 15 minutes. Let mih say dat ah next way. De Soca Warriors score FIRST. We so eh used tuh dat. I tort de ball geh kick into de side netting. Is when de Trini players start jumpin’ up an’ dong huggin’ one anudder an’ de Trinis dong dat end ah de pitch erupt dat de eruption happen at my end. It feel so strange an’ so good at de same time.

El Salvador played typical Latin American football. Dey was damn quick an’ very skillful too. As de game went orn, ah realize ah wasn’t fraid fuh de Warriors. Dem fellas was cool an’ deliberate under pressure, sometimes too calm fuh my likin’.

El Salvador equalize wid ah free kick from just outside de area. Both sides ah me watchin’ agree it was ah questionable foul wid de referee blowin’ he whistle way late. Like he had tuh fish fuh it in he back pocket or someting. Both sides ah me ask de referee eef he blind or what. Den de Trini-fan side almost drop dead when de El Salvador player blast de free-kick into de back ah de net. Surely de wall had tuh mess up.

Is only later, reviewin’ de highlights on youtube when de good-football lover see how fantastic dat free kick was. Shades ah Roberto Carlos in 1997 buh not as good.

De first half end one one. Both sides ah me was happy.

Second half El Salvador score fuss. Was de typical kind ah goal T&T does give up: Man outrun he defender dong de wing, cross into de box, next man runnin’ in unmarked wid time tuh pick he spot an’ head de ball in de goal. Is when de ball done in de back ah de net yuh see dem defenders now runnin’ into de box. Ah was sure ah could hear dem tellin’ de goalie dey now reach, an’ askin’ he what dey miss. Dat tort just get mih more vex. How many times dat kind ah goal go get score. Steups. Tinking about ah answer make mih even more vex. De El Salvador fella watchin’ mih an’ smilin’ eh help nah.

Special praise tuh Carlos Edwards an’ Kenwyne Jones. Is de first time ah ever see de two ah dem play dat well. De style ah play was more tuh dey likin’.

First half was Edwards out dey on de left side. I tink every Trini attack was dong dat flank so he was in de middle every time.

Second half was Kenwyne oui. One time it look like he was hurt an’ when he limp orf I tort he was done fuh de rest ah de match. Next ting I know, he racin’ dong de middle tuh meet de ball dat was in de air. He chest it dong an’ shake orf de defenders collapsing rong he. Once inside de penalty area, de man blast ah shot dat wasn’t no slight pepper nah. De ball was screamin’ vengeance as it fly into de net. Like he was sayin’ tuh dem El Salvadorians, ‘take dat in allyuh so-an-so.’ Me eh know bout dem udder Trini supporters, buh ah know I was sayin’ it. In mih mind of course as I eh dat dotish, not wid all dem El Salvador people all over de place. Dem an’ Honduras had ah war wid guns an’ bullets after ah football game once.

At no point in de game ah did ever tink T&T wid lose. Dat eh mean de Trini football fan in mih was happy when de game finish in ah 2 tuh 2 tie, only ah win wid ah do dat. De good football lover side was happy. Tings was lookin’ up fuh de team. Me an mih new El Salvador amigo decide de competition in de stands should tie too. We seal dat wid beers he buy.

Afterwards, ah watch lil bit ah Haiti versus Honduras since both go be Warriors opponents. Me eh know eef was because it eh had plenty Trinis dey or what, buh dem udder country supporters had levels ah passion we couldn’t touch. Eef yuh hear dem make noise. Haitians wid launch into, ‘EYE TEE! EYE TEE!’ an’ de Hondurans would respond,  ‘HONDURAS! HONDURAS!’ De shoutin’ went from dey. Dem flags was big like tents. Ah cyar tell eef dey was bigger dan de $2 million Trini flag it had at de Hasely Crawford Stadium dat time when de PNM was in power. Was what, 2009?

Dem Haitians an’ Hondurans was goin’ at 90 miles ah hour. Wow! Haiti wasteful doh, dey throw away at least two chances tuh score.

When ah was leavin’ tuh go home, ah hear dis Trini voice say, “Trini playin’ football again’, what more allyuh want?”

July 13

Larse night de Soca Warriors play Haiti.

Ah really should stop right dey, an’ go in mih bed early, buh nah.

Ah want somebody tell mih who dem fellas was playin’ fuh T&T. What happen tuh de team from Monday?

Imagine, two man goin’ fuh de same ball, realize dey orn de same team an’ den each ah dem leave it fuh de udder one. Imagine, just so man kickin’ de people ball across de field, tuh nobody, like he have tabanca or someting. Ah so disappointed, eef ah study dat game ah go start steupsin’ an’ cyar stop.

Tings ah didn’t mind in de first game ah hated dis time arong. Too many times a thru pass was needed an’ it eh happen. It was like nobody didn’t want tuh say, ‘ok I goin’ tuh de damn goal, gimme de blasted ball’. De lack ah initiative was painful tuh watch.

Haiti was very beatable an’ dem fellas couldn’t string tuhgedder two good games? Dem fellas biggest problem is all in de head. Only quality scrimmages tuh fix de basics go fix dat head problem.

Look at de tings ah say about de first game, how nice ah was feelin’. Now listen tuh mih. Shucks man.

Still, de Trini-football-fan in me lookin’ tuh see how de team could make it into de next rongs.

Hmmmm……eef El Salvador beat Haiti Monday night, an’ T&T beat Honduras……. an’ Venus is aligned wid Mars.

Wait. Which side just say dat larse part?