MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica (CMC):

Head coach of the Trinidad and Tobago football team Stephen Hart says he is extremely impressed with the standard of the 2014 Caribbean Cup which concluded in Jamaica on Tuesday.

Hart, whose outfit lost a penalty kick shoot-out to Jamaica in the final match, has praised the overall quality of the finals saying the availability of overseas professionals contributed.

He says the fact that losing teams like Curaçao and Antigua and Barbuda were hard to beat is evidence of a tough and competitive tournament.

"I thought the tournament was excellent. Almost every country got the players that they wanted back," Hart said.

"The standard was quite high. Physically it's difficult, but the teams handled it well. It was good quality."

T&T and Jamaica battled to a 0-0 draw after regulation and extra time before the Reggae Boyz prevailed in the penalty shoot-out to lift their sixth CFU Caribbean Cup title.

Despite their loss, Hart remains enthusiastic about the future of the T&T national team.

"We are fine. We are in the Gold Cup. So, now we have to look for some international games, settle our internal problems and build the squad," Hart said.

"If you look, we have the nucleus of a good squad. We still have a few players to bring in, that were not available for selection. So we have till July (Gold Cup). We should be fine."

Since the former Canada national coach took charge in June last year, the Soca Warriors, who have beaten all Caribbean opponents including Jamaica, have shot up 30 spots in the FIFA world rankings to a creditable 49th position.

They are likely to climb higher up the rankings on account of their three victories and a penalty shoot-out defeat in the final of the Caribbean Cup.

"We were behind physically and if we need to play at a higher level, at a Gold Cup level, we need to be much fitter and the players need to be playing football," Hart said.

"If you look at their (Jamaica's) squad, they have a lot of players playing consistently with their clubs. We are the opposite. We have a lot of players that are not playing 90 minutes."