Yorke's Flicks And Tricks Almost Prevail

Sydney Morning Herald

Saturday June 17, 2006

Michael Lynch in Nuremberg

MEMO to would-be internationals: playing in the A-League does not damage your World Cup aspirations. Well, not if you are a legend in your own country and have won all there is to win in European football.

For Sydney FC captain Dwight Yorke, who has won Premier League titles and a Champions League trophy (as well as the inaugural A-League trophy), the last mountain to climb was the World Cup.

Finally, at 34, he's at the pinnacle of the global game, leading his tiny country of 1.1 million people - the smallest nation to ever qualify for the finals - to the competition for the first time.

And isn't the Sydney skipper enjoying himself.

For an hors d'oeuvre last weekend Yorke played a sterling role as 10-man Trinidad & Tobago held out for a draw against European powerhouses Sweden after Avery John was dismissed just after half-time.

But on Thursday the former Aston Villa and Manchester United star surpassed that performance, almost leading his team of lower-division professionals and battlers to what would have been an unprecedented draw with one of the competition favourites, England.

Sven-Goran Eriksson's men ultimately won 2-0, but it was a much closer run thing than anyone would have expected.

Trinidad & Tobago, whose squad was assembled by Dutch coach Leo Beenhakker from several of the world's less glamorous footballing leagues (T&T's 23-man party includes players from clubs in eight different countries), may have been rated the tournament's $751 outsiders when they qualified in a play-off against Bahrain last November.

But on Thursday they looked like they should have been a much shorter price as for 83 minutes they frustrated the star-studded England side. At the heart of their resistance was Yorke, playing in the deeper midfield role that he occupied with distinction in the A-League with Sydney.

He may be older now, the explosive power and acceleration may have gone, and he needs younger players to do his running. But he still has the brain, guile, presence of mind and calmness to exercise authority even on such a vast stage as this.

Yorke played a key role in organising a barrier which stymied England's attempts to prise openings through the middle. With his feints, spins, flicks and tricks, Yorke was in his element, assisted by the predictability and slowness of England's approach and the paucity of their ideas through much of the match.

Beenhakker was in no doubt about the value his captain brings to his team. "What Beckham is for England, Dwight Yorke is for Trinidad. These are the players who are individuals but they can make the team play better as a team."

© 2006 Sydney Morning Herald

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