Warriors proclaimed ‘well-balanced’

It was a point made by team coach Leo Beenhakker when asked about Chris Birchall being the first white player to score for the country in 60 years.

“It doesn’t matter at all. It has nothing to do with if my players are red, white, black or yellow,” Beenhakker said at the team’s hotel in Manchester yesterday.

“It’s the same and I don’t base my selections on race or colour. Chris has been a good addition to the team and just like the rest of my players, once he can fit in and make the right kind of contribution then it’s good for all of us,” said the Dutchman.

He also said there was no difference in his job leading the Netherlands in Italy 1990 and Trinidad and Tobago in 2006.

“The place makes no difference whether it’s with a big club or a small country. I love it everyday until now. It’s football,” he said.

“The football in Trinidad and Tobago is based on a Caribbean and Central American style. With some days especially in our first days there, it was a little bit mixed up because there were guys playing all over.

“But we worked on it and we made important decisions. Actual football is more than ever a passing game with heavy patience and taking time to win the ball. It (TT style) is now a mixture of the talent and skills of the players and my idea of how to actually play the game,” Beenhakker added. Following an eleven against eleven session on the pitch, team chef Cecil Wint had the players smiling yesterday evening treating them to a well-balanced supper which also included stew chicken and ox-tail pelau.