My first Soca Warriors game and I missed the first half (-_-), so I couldn’t give a full assessment of how the provisional team did against Barbados. Later on in the first half was more interesting, when Jamille Boatswain of Defence Force (#13) was brought on and scored two impressive looking goals and looks to be a lock for the March WCQs against Panama and Mexico.
Like I said, I didn’t see the entire first half. I heard part of the first half on the radio and the commentators views reflected what I saw in the highlight video above. It was a feeling out period on the side of the Soca Warriors. Most of their advances came on the wings and some opportunities came at the top of the box.
For Jameel Perry (#9), it wasn’t a good look for the Police FC striker. Every time the ball finds his foot in the box, he found every possible way to not score. It was ugly. I feel bad for laughing. You could probably factor in the slightly damp field conditions as for why he couldn’t maintain his balance in the box but still…lol.
This moment was the worst:
One serious note to point out: He doesn’t look like the kind of forward player that could outrun the backline either. Watch how these two defenders catch up to him when he receives the through-ball:
Now he’s no Joevin Joners or Kevin Molino but if any of those two players gotten that pass, 9/10 times that’s a goal.
Let’s talk about Jamille Boatswain:
His 30mins on the pitch were the most exciting of the entire game by far. Not since Levi Garcia in the St Vincent game last year have I seen an immediate impact by a substitute like that. He has pace, control and when he’s in the box he showed much composure when he’s under pressure from the defender. His two goals were very good, and Coach Lawrence could fit him with the foreign-based players when he finalizes the WCQ squad:
Lastly I’ve said that with two former defenders as coach and assistant, I figured that there would be a lot of emphasis on the back 4, which on Friday was led by Daniel Cyrus playing as a central defender, instead of his usual fullback spot. They held up well against the Bajan attack, obviously helping Marvin Phillip keep the sheet clean, while the fullbacks were pushing up the wings to aid in the attack. Alvin Jones (brother of Seattle Sounders player Joevin) put himself on notice by pulling this off:
Put him on the side.
Q Sports 