Whitmore: No Excuses

Theodore ‘Tappa’ Whitmore said he will not be making any excuses for Mount Pleasant Football Academy’s 3-0 loss to LA Galaxy on Wednesday in the Concacaf Champions Cup despite being forced to play a weakened squad after visa issues.

Mount Pleasant lost the first leg of the round of 16 in the Champions Cup after falling to the Major League Soccer (MLS) club.

After the game, Whitmore said he would not be looking to make excuses for the game’s result despite playing with a weakened squad.

Mt Pleasant were forced to play the match without several of their key first-team players after a number of their players were unable to secure a visa.

Of the players rejected, seven are Haitian nationals, with Haiti being one of the countries targeted in US President Donald Trump’s immigration policies.

Mt Pleasant turned to their academy to fill the gap, and Whitmore said this allowed for the club to give their young players valuable experience in a professional environment.

“Despite the challenges, we would have had probably 12 or 13 of our regular players out, but we make no excuses. I think the boys tonight, they put in a decent shift,” Whitmore said in his post-match interview.

“There’s a lot we could take from this game. It gave our younger players the experience, and they would understand the level of competition, so there’s a lot to gain from this game despite the result.”

Whitmore said his team gave a good showing, but he was disappointed in the timing of the goals conceded.

Mt Pleasant conceded their first goal within the first five minutes of the game and conceded two more in the final six minutes of the game.

“The way we conceded the goals tonight, it was in the first 10 minutes of the game and the last 10 minutes of the game, we conceded three goals,” Whitmore critiqued.

“But overall, I think it was a decent performance from our team, as I said, despite [the challenges]. But make no bones about it. I think we played against a decent LA Galaxy team tonight.”

The second leg of the fixture will be played on March 19 at the National Stadium.

Whitmore said anything is possible for the club as they will be focused on preparing for the return home leg as best as possible.

“This is football. We don’t know what will happen, so we just have to prepare ourselves,” he said.

“Recovery is important. As best as possible, we want to go out there, and we want to represent Mount Pleasant. We know it’s going to be difficult. We’re going to make it difficult for LA Galaxy team, but as I said before, I don’t know what will happen, but we’ll give it 110 per cent.”

gregory.bryce@gleanerjm.com