Five Executive members of the United States Soccer Federation arrived in the country on Wednesday night to meet with officials of the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation and Local Organising Committee on the topic of the “Soca Warriors” 2006 World Cup planning and an overview of the Germany experience.
Heading the local committee was Special Advisor to the TTFF Jack Warner, with other members of the LOC as well as Team manager Bruce Aanensen and assistant George Joseph were also part of the meeting which lasted for just over three hours at the CONCACAF office, Edwards Street, Port of Spain on Thursday morning.
From the American’s side, Dan Flynn, General Secretary of the USSF, Tom King (Director of Administration), Jay Berhalter (director of marketing), Mike Gressle (Administration) and Jim Moorhouse (Director of Communications) were present to lend their expertise.
The idea to have the Americans here was thought of by Warner who felt it would be wise to hear further from a country that has been to the Finals on seven occasions (1930, 1934, 1950, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002). In recent years the United States have emerged as a force to be reckoned with, qualifying for the last four FIFA World Cup finals. The Americans reached the quarter-finals at Korea/Japan '02, losing narrowly to the eventual runners-up Germany.
The Presentation made by the USSF was called the “The People’s Team” as they rightly explained that they believed the current team belonged to the citizens of the country and they admired the euphoria that followed the 1-0 victory over Bahrain last month.
The Presentation was designed to assist in the planning for the World Cup itself, to outline potential opportunities surrounding the team and to provide a general road map for the next seven months leading up to the World Cup. From selection of training camp and living facilities in Germany, team preparations, merchandising, ticketing for local matches, sponsor activities, communications to a general outlook at the cities in Germany were discussed as the USSF related their way of doing it all.
The USSF’s Moorhouse admitted that the invitation from Warner to come here was readily accepted as they felt T&T’s achievement was not just one for the country and the Caribbean but for CONCACAF by extent.
“We followed T&T’s match against Bahrain very closely because we know this would be a great accomplishment. In our office on the day of the match we knew that the game was on but by the time the game was going on, there were about twenty of us alone in my office glued to the television screen rooting for your team to get through,” Moorhouse told TTFF Media.
”We felt now that in whatever area we could assist would be valuable and as such it was an easy decision to take up when Mr Warner made the call. We felt it would be great to be able to just give that guidance to a country like yours which is going to the World Cup for the first time and really could is the Cinderella story of the next World Cup in terms of qualification.
“Our hopes are that Trinidad can be one of the picks of the World Cup. No one expected Senegal or Croatia to do what they did last time. All it takes is one good result in one of your early matches and the whole perception changes. Four countries from CONCACAF now have a chance to make use of this opportunity.”
Moorhouse added that he could not recall this sort of partnership between the USSF and another country in terms of planning and preparation for a World Cup Finals appearance.
“It’s not been in this way. This is unique. I think because of your qualifying story and then with the playoffs and the country making its first appearance just made a lot of sense for us to get involved.”
And Warner too maybe was part of the reason for the Americans taking up the opportunity to assist the “Soca Warriors”.
“That’s an easy way for people to look at it too but I don’t think it’s as big a factor as looking at it from a standpoint where six months ago we were battling it out on the field and here we are now looking to do well as a Confederation. This is a unique situation where a country like T&T can benefit now from our past research and planning for a World Cup,” Moorhouse ended.