Shalrie Joseph believes his Grenada team missed a great chance to secure a win over T&T in their 2-2 draw in their Group B opener of the Second Round of Concacaf Qualifiers for the 2026 USA/Canada/Mexico FIFA World Cup at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo, Port-of-Spain Wednesday night.
The 'Spice Boys' winless in their previous 18 matches dating back to a 1-0 win over the US Virgin Islands on March 30, 2021, looked set to end that barren run when Miles Hippolyte fired them into a shock 2-0 via a penalty in the 24th and a crisp volley four minutes later to silence the 8,500 crowd.
However, Canada-based duo, Ryan Telfer in the 41st and Reon Moore in the 74th spared T&T's blushes extending the visitors' unbeaten run against the host to six matches, with the last four clashes all ending in identical 2-2 draws.
Speaking after the entertaining fixture, the 46-year-old Joseph, a former standout for Grenada as well as the US Major League Soccer's New England Revolution and Seattle Sounders, said: "I thought we could have walked away with three points especially being 2-0 up."
He added, "It's the worst score line we always talk about as soccer nerds as we say when you go 2-0 up we needed to get to the half-time with that score.
"So, to be honest, a little bit disappointed as I thought we had the game in hand, but it's still a point and the first game in the group and it's a huge point being on the road against one of the best countries in the Caribbean as I think they (T&T) are probably ranked second in my eyes after Jamaica. So for Grenada, where we are ranked in the FIFA world rankings, it's a huge commendation on our players in what they were able to achieve today (Wednesday)."
Commenting on his team's display on the night, Joseph who featured 20 times for his country scoring once said, "I thought we did really good on both sides of the ball and unfortunately we gave up two goals on things we talked about all week, including the second goal we gave up on a long ball, on a flick-on, and the defenders were just slow to react.
"The first one late in the first half I think we have to do a better job on being professional and understand what time in the game it is and be able to defend those things even if they hit us on a transitional play.
"You have to give them (T&T) credit as they kept pushing and pushing and it was an open wide game and you give both countries credit for delivering such an open wide and fun attacking football game."
Asked if he was surprised with his team's 2-0 lead, a confident Joseph replied, "No, we had been planning and talking about what we will do when we score the first one, and what we will do when we score the second one, and it was crucial that we got the third one and Darius (Johnson) had an opportunity in the first half to be 3-0 up and the goalkeeper (Denzil Smith) made a save.
"He (Darius) could have done better, but nothing surprised me by the way we played especially in the first half, as we wanted to be the aggressor even though we are on the road and it's my mentality and it's the mentality I try to carry through the team and through the country when we train and it's something that I challenge the players day after day that no matter where we are especially here in T&T, a great country and great team, we needed to be the aggressor when we step on the field."
Concerning his team tactics Joseph said, "Our mentality was they have to play through us or they will go long and I didn't believe they had the quality throughout the midfield to play through us."
"We did a great job on keeping it compact and keeping it tight and not allowing them to play through midfield and once you start doing that then you know automatically they will look to play long."
Despite their poor run of form, Joseph noted that his team planned well for the T&T encounter and knew what to expect from the Angus Eve-coached "Soca Warriors".
He said, "We were studying them (T&T) for the last eight to ten games and we understood the mentality and the work that goes into preparing for such a great country like T&T and I love the way our team came out and battled and played.
"We were on the half-line, we were aggressive and we held the line even though they got through sometimes, but that's the mentality you need to be successful at this level.
"We also had a height advantage and physically I thought we could dominate the ball as the game is about duels, will and determination because I believe size doesn't matter in football as much anymore and it's just a matter of how bad and how much you want to give to that one single moment and the mentality from the players, it showed from the first minute when they stepped on.
"They were aggressive and they were winning their duels and battles and you have to make sure that they understood that this is a fight. It's about two countries that love each other and when they step out on the field we have to make sure that we are the victorious one, and tonight (Wednesday) we got a point, and we will try to build from that and be better for it next time," said Joseph.
"Overall, I'm very happy. Tonight (Wednesday) you saw some great individual skills from both T&T and Grenada with the likes of Telfer (Ryan), Garcia (Levi), Darius (Johnson) and Jermaine (Francis).
"That's individual brilliance out there and it's just trying to put them together within a short time and short window and that's what the international break is about, how best you can put your team together and make sure that you are ready to go when the whistle blows.
"But, it's very difficult to prepare within a short window and I'm only here for six weeks and I'm done after Monday, and you have to make sure and get your philosophy and principles right," said Joseph.
Grenada will play their next match in the five-team pool at home against Costa Rica on Sunday (June 9)at the Kirani James Athletics Stadium, St George’s, at 5 pm while T&T travels to St Kitts & Nevis to face Bahamas at the St Kitts & Nevis Football Association Technical Center, Basseterre, 5.30 pm on Saturday (June 8).
Thursday (June 6) night, Costa Rica hosted St Kitts & Nevis at Estadio Nacional, San Jose in the first match for both teams while St Kitts & Nevis entertains Bahamas on Tuesday (June 11) at Warner Park Football Stadium, Basseterre from 4 pm in the other Group B in the window.