National coach Dwight Yorke has admitted that his team was poor in every department of Sunday's opening Concacaf Gold Cup, Group D match against the host United States, which led to a convincing 5-0 drubbing for them at PayPal Park in San Jose, California.
He promised, though, that his team will go all out for maximum points when they face Haiti on Thursday (June 19).
The top two teams will advance out of the group, but Yorke, carrying the weight of a qualifying berth for T&T at the FIFA World Cup next year, will have a lot of work to do to advance out of the group stage. Coming on the heels of a 2-1 loss to Costa Rica in the World Cup qualifier, though that impact was comforted by an acceptable draw for the final round of the World Cup Qualifiers in Group B alongside Jamaica, Curacao and Bermuda, the Soca Warriors were off their worst possible start by surrendering a goal in the 15th minute.
Two defensive blunders later took the host to 3-0 before the halftime interval. Yorke at the post-match press conference, said those goals were gifts that later snowballed into something big.
"We were not under any delusion that this game was not going to be the toughest in the group stage, and of course, we prepared thoroughly, trying to frustrate the Americans for as long as possible. And obviously, we conceded in the 16th minute.
"I felt that we needed to hold off America until the half time because we needed to make some changes, tactical changes. And then, when you look at the goals that we conceded in the 41st and 44th minutes, those were two gifts. So, at 1-0, we thought we would have been in the game, but then it snowballed into something and from then on we were always going to play catch up.
"I felt the second half, we did a little better and created one or two chances, but by then the game was already over, it was just a bad day at the office. But we have to put that behind us very quickly because there are two more games to go. We have to get maximum points against Haiti, and that would be the intention going forward," Yorke explained.
Despite a 6-2 win over St Kitts & Nevis at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Mucurapo, Port-of-Spain on June 6, Yorke said the performance was an indication of the gap that existed between top international players and some of his players, noting: "It was clear to see that when you're playing at international football you've got to be at a certain level, and as much as I praise my players as much as I can, and will always support them in every sense of the way, today (Sunday) we were not at the races and it gives us an indication of the gap at international level and where some of my players are playing at the moment.
"We know there is still a lot of work to be done at the moment, and we will continue to work to try and close that gap as best as possible, but it's a clear indication that there's still a lot of work ahead of us to do, but you can certainly see the class in where we are as a country.
"It was a difficult day today (Sunday), we haven't assessed too many of the players, we know first half we were poor in every department. We felt that the Americans were ahead of us in every step of the way in terms of anticipation, in terms of creativity, in terms of taking control of the game, we just didn't seem to have a foothold in the game, and from that moment we were always up against it."
In the other Group D encounter, Saudi Arabia edged Haiti 1-0 at the Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego. After the Haiti match, the Soca Warriors will face Saudi Arabia on Sunday (June 22).