National Team head coach Wim Rijsbergen says his biggest test over the next week will be to ensure that he has a full squad of fit players to contest three matches in five days in the upcoming CONCACAF Gold Cup.

Rijsbergen and his 22-man squad will depart San Pedro Sula on Monday for Los Angeles where it will play its first two Group B games against El Salvador (June 7) and United States (June 9).

Following Saturday’s 3-1 defeat to Honduras after being a goal up at half time, Rijsbergen was concerned over the fitness of some of his players. He was unconcerned over the mental readiness of his team despite the loss.  The team had a recovery session at the Copantl Hotel facility on Sunday. The contingent switched from the Intercontinental Hotel at short notice on Friday on request of the Honduras FA which handled the accommodation.

“We started pretty good and we scored the first goals. But what I keep telling the players is that we still have some that are struggling to be fit to play with more pressure going forward for 90 minutes,” Rijsbergen told TTFF Media. He added that it was not an excuse at this stage of the preparations, and didn’t revert to adding that he didn’t have the majority of players who were not considered for selection due to an impasse with the TTFF.

“In the first half we had some good parts and we came on the level that  we played with in the Digicel Shield but  we lost the game in the second half  because we lost our head in a couple of moments and then the game was turned around.”

Looking back at the goals, which came in quick succession at the start of the second haf before another one inside the closing ten minutes, the Dutchman said lapses on concentration was the cause which also resulted in Christian Baptiste’s sending off for a second bookable offense.

“If there was a bit more pressure in midfield, then the guy would have had no chance to shoot on goal and Jan slipped a bit on the wet ground. Then a we had very bad moment when  we gave away the penalty  in a situation which was not necessary. It’s a matter of defending well.”

“If you have a yellow card then you have to play more with your head and with more caution. It was not a game anymore when we lost Baptiste. We had to try and survive and then of course the third goal came.

“Hopefully the boys will learn from that… hopefully they also talk as a group and then we can bring this forward to the Gold Cup.”

Rijsbergen felt that two wins out of three matches leading up to the Gold Cup is not that bad of a preparation

“If it was a game where they blew us off the field then it would be a big problem mentally but  we all saw the game and we had mistakes that made the difference. It wasn’t a situation where they outplayed us throughout the game, of course they did in the end but because we had ten men. The physical part will be the biggest problem for us now but we will try our best to work with it with three games in five days. We did it before in the Digicel Cup. W will try to give everybody some playing time but also start with the best team,” he concluded. (June 3, 2007)