The best T&T goal I
have ever seen
Was in a friendly between T&T and
Crystal Palace in 1991 I think it was. The goal was scored by Leonson Lewis.
He shot into the roof of the net, from about 6 yards out (in one motion. NOTE
HE DID NOT TRAP THE BALL AND HIS BACK WAS TO GOAL WHEN HE SWIVILLED AND
SHOT!!! This to me will always remain the greatest goal scored by ANY T&T
player EVER (Although I do expect Stern John or Dwight Yorke to go one better
sometime in this WC Campaign) P.S. Leonson Lewis scored a hattrick in that
game.
Will T&T ever
Qualify for the World Cup
I believe that T&T has a magnificent
OPPORTUNITY to qualify fot WC 2002. I say this based on the potential that
exists with the current squad. Remember to date T&T is YET to field its
"BEST" possible line-up. With players the calibre of Stern John,
Shaka Hislop and Ronnie Mauge yet to kick a ball in the semi-final round, I
sincerely believe that the best is yet to come. When one also considers the
sheer depth of the squad (again potentially)with the likes of Nixon, Wise,
Rahim, (Avery) John all competing for places on the bench, then the
realisation of a place in the final 32 for South Korea/Japan looks highly
achieveable based on talent alone. However we know that talent ALONE is NOT
enough! Yet Coach Porterfield's tactics have thus far yielded success and
provided a dream-start for the team's campaign. I have always rated Mexico and
the USA as our greatest challengers in CONCACAF. Now Jamaica and Honduras have
shown that they too are capable of providing a challenge as well. Costa Rica
remains unpredictable, losing to the likes of Barbados but then re-bounding to
beat the much vaunted Americans! Indeed it is safe to say that the standard of
play in this region has risen a great deal and no one has a
"God-given" right to win the 3 allotted places. Whether we make it
or not this time, will depend as much (if not moreso) on our off-field
performance (ie. Adminstration, team selection, match preparation and
training, warm-up matches etc.)
To answer the second part of this
discussion, will we ever? Earlier in 2000 I was one who firmly believed that
the T&T talent well was finally drying up. Dismal performances at youth
level, including Under 17, under 20 and Under 23 over the last 18 months led
to this belief. However the emergence of Brent Rahim,Carlos Edwards, Hector
Sam as well as a much-improved Gary Glasgow has me believing that the future
may not be as dim as I thought! So, while I still maintain the current crop of
players at Senior level to be among the greatest EVER assembled in T&T's
history, should we falter this time, as disappointing as it would be, there
remains a foundation on which to build a new team that can do it!
By: Brian "Patriot" Springer
Based In Trinidad & Tobago.
Who is
T&T's worst enemy.
This is a trick question, since at first glance one would think it's our arch
rivals Jamaica or the team we couldn't beat, Canada..well until recently. But
listening to the fellas on the forum, reading the local press in TnT and
speaking to friends back home, I have to say that their worst enemy is ...drum
roll please...
1.
The life fool called Jack Warner...simply put it's always his way or the
highway. This is doing considerable damage to our current team, and the lads
of the future. This man have to be kept away from the national team.
2.
The team itself, we have a few on the team that are not committed. Be it
coming home for the games, showing up but, only hearing that they are more
interested in the hype surrounding them and all the best fetes. Then we have a
few that just feel that they are above the game, and like Mr. know-it-all
cannot commit to training and bringing their game up to another level.
3.
Then comes "Mr. Manager of Pro team"..yea that egotistic bastard,
that thinks he can bully the TnT Admin... you know -> Alex Fuckerson.
4.
And finally I would have to say the fan support in TnT ... they find it
diffficult to go support the lads, and when they do they are so polite to
visiting teams...Our national team does not have a home field advantage, since
it's not intimidating to play in TnT.
By: Jumbie00.
Is Ian
Poterfield the right coach for the job
Porters' right now is the man for the job.
He is getting the required results. The team seems to be responding to him,
especially at the beginning of the second half of games. Responsible for bring
TnT biggest find, Dennis 'de original Tallman' Lawrence onto the team. The
nicest goal was scored by Hutson Charles in the qualifyer against the US back
in '89. World Class! No pannick was involve. best player right now is Dwight
'Anna" Yorke, he was responsible for all the goals scored so far in the
qualifyers.
By: Tongue.
Based in Washington DC USA
Is
Poterfield the man for the job!
No ! I do not think it is necessary for TNT to have a foreign coach. In
Trinidad and Tobago there is a general perception that anything foreign is
better that something local, this ideology is at the heart of most of our
problems. Trinidad and Tobago has been blessed with enormous amount of
footballing talent. In the late 60's and early 70's There were numerous world
class players. These players can now form the nucleus of the footballing brain
to drive the development of TNT football. Gally came very close in 1989, he is
a Trinidadian there are probably a lot of other nationals who could coach as
good as or better that Gally. Most of these historical football stars are
scattered across the globe, maybe even coaching in foreign countries. We have
lost that talent because we did not have the necessary structure in place to
promote the development of good players into good coaches. And of the coaches
that were developed they were not given the opportunity by the T&TFA to
become national coaches , instead being overlooked for foreigners who have no
permanent stake in Trinidad and Tobago. In another decade or two this football
generation will be lost and the football of Trinidad and Tobago will be no
better off than before they were born. Self belief is imperative to become a
world class sports person. If we do not believe that someone from Trinidad and
Tobago has or can develop the Mental, Physiological, and Sociological capacity
to coach and manage a football team then why even bother playing?
By: KND
Based in Connecticut USA
T&T
should keep the name "Soca Warriors".
I am based in New Jersey. I am a student at
Rutgers University (Engineering Program). Anthony Rougier was my Neighbour in
Sobo Village, La Brea a small village by the "Pitch Lake." Good Luck
Flex.
By: Craiggmac
Based in New Jersey USA
Hey Flex,
As a true Trini, it real hard to answer
one.:-) Also, I am unsure what you mean by best goal. If it is that you mean
how it made me feel at the time, then it is Kerry Jamerson bullet, with a
layoff from Latas. Anyway I must say your site is one of if not the best I
have seen. It is one of the few sites that is so informative and is also
updated very, very regularly. I visit your site everyday, as soon as I get to
work,( before I do anything else) and on weekends. I may not write very often,
but I assure you, I visit this site a few times a day, every day. I really
appreciate the time and effort that you put into this site. You make Trinis
like me, who no longer live there, feel proud. Great Job. Anyway I moved here
in August last year. I worked for Gtech in Trinidad and was transferred to
Rhode Island. Sorry I do not know the Lotto numbers:-) . You have my e-mail.
If you need any other info, I will be happy to send it. PS, I planning to make
a big banner for this group, to show off at the game when I visit next week.
Any Ideas? Thanx
By: Ammon, Sean
Rhode Island USA
The greatest Trinidad
goal.
Well, boy there have been some doozies.
However, In 1982 or 83, not too long after
the W Cup, Paulista Corinthians, came to TT, to play ASL. Their Captain, was
Socrates the Braz. captain.
I believe ASL, lost the game 7-3. However,
the goal by Leric "Lobo" Joseph is what stands out. Running down the
right side, more or less in line with the right post, running into the box, a
ball was chipped to him. The Rastaman dove into the air - literally in mid air
- flicked it with his head, past the Corinthians keeper to the far left of the
goal. To this day it remain the finest header I've ever seen at all levels of
football. Peace,
By: VB
Based in Toronto, Canada
A Quick view of all
1.
T&T 1 vs Mexico 0 July 2000 (best one in a long, long time)
2.
(GK) Hislop, (D) Marvin Andrews, (M) Latapy, (S) and our best player Yorke.
3.
I'm not sure. I still think the team needs Mr. St. Clair. He has a certain
defiance about him that rubbed off on the players. His (Porterfield) style
will suit most of the players coming from England and Scotland though, since
this is the brand of football they play, day in day out.
4.
Kerry Jamerson 89th minute T&T 2 vs Guatemala 1 (correct me if I'm wrong)
in 1989.
5. I
think we can. I'm not predicting anything. We have the players. All we need to
do is to put them together on the field and have them working as a unit
towards the same goal.
6.
He has helped the team, but I think he feels he owns the team and consequently
the players. I don't think I could handle a situation like that around me
constantly. A feeling of too much pressure being exerted on the players is
what I would feel.
7.
Not only they should play more warm up games, but against stiffer opposition.
Barbados and Guyana just can't cut it for me.
8.
Our roster is one of the most scary on paper. I sometimes wonder how can we
not be the best team in Concacaf, but that's the truth of the story. Players
don't bring ranking; team performance do, and to be very honest, our
performance as a team after 1989 never really came into being, until the 2000
Gold Cup.
9.
Only the best teams in the Concacaf: Mexico, Jamaica and the USA. Out of these
three I think the USA is our biggest enemy (November 19th 1989; need I say
more?)
10.
Why change from "Soca Warriors". If any change is to be made it
should be "Calypso Warriors". I am comfortable with Soca Warriors.
Leave it alone. I like it.
11.
If they really want to play for T&T, of course. Nothing less than 110%
will be accepted. I'm very happy about the committment showed by Yorke and
Latapy pertaining to these all important World Cup qualifiers. What has made
me extremely happy is Yorke saying bluntly, he was determined to be a part of
our World Cup drive. And with people like Stern John, Anthony Rougier, Marvin
Andrews and the rest of the foreign-based posse comnig together to focus
solely on the goal at hand, I think our chances to progress further has
definitely increased.
12.Flex
site wicked like mi mudda Sunday lunch. The more additions it gets, the
better, more user friendly and interseting it seems to be. Keep up the good
work. Later and respect.
By: Richard G.
Trinidad & Tobago's
worst enemy
I chose to answer the question regarding
Trinidad's worst football enemy. I am sure that many will agree that it is the
U.S.A. They have been our archrivals for a long time and in most recent
history they played the biggest part in stopping our world cup campaign (NOV
19, 1989), a match that I will never forget, a team I will never forgive. I
await our encounter in the next phase of this campaign. PS. Jamaica is a close
2nd.
By: ball analyst
Question 10 - Answer : Soca Warriors all
the way!!!!!!!
By: d'saint
Should
T&T play more warm up games.
I think T&T need to play more friendly
games and not only aganist other Caribbean teams, but aganist Stronger
opponents, such as Gremany, England, Scothland, Bolivia, etc, we could get
these opponents to play us, because our so call Jack Warner is the Vice
President of FIFA and he could probably work something out as he normally do,
we still have a long way to go in this WCQ stage this is only the first round
and we are not through yet, I know its hard for the players that are playing
aboard to keep coming back and fourth, but they should atleast make a attempt
to show up atleast once or twice, I also think Poterfield should start
training the younger lads so they can replace the pros when they are not
their, it would be much easier this way.
By: Sando
Based in Trinidad & Tobago
1)
Best TT game ever I've seen a few but two stand out in my mind the game vs
martnique in the shell cup finals a few years ago where we were down by two
goals I think against a strong martinique team that i believe had beaten
jamaica and we rallied or should i say David Nakhid rallied us minus latapy .
leonson and co . to a 7 -2 victory with Nixon smoking hot.
2)Best
player is god's gift to Trinidad Russell"little magician" Latapy...each
country is allotted one gift per lifetime ...Argentina had Diego, Brazil had
Pele, Trinidad has Latapy, the likes of him will never be seen in TT again.
3)Wether
Porterfield is the man for the job remains to be seen ..he's done a few things
of note regardless of wether we like him or not he has gotten two of the
biggest wins in our history stats are stats...he has discovered Dennis
Lawrence in his best position I think. The job is to get us to the "big
dance" if he gets us there then he is...if he doesnt well..nuff said
4)Trinidad
vs Vilnius Zalgiris ....many will put forward "bullets",
"screamers" etc but unless its a screamer like Rasiliev Vas from
Russia in the 1986 world cup against Batts of France or a swerver like
Nellinho in the third place playoff of the 1978 world cup between Italy and
Brazil vs Dino Zoff I prefer specially crafted goals.......and the winner is
Russell Latapy (was there ever a DOUBT) he picks up the ball just before the
half line..as always eyes probing for the space , perfectly balanced and
prepared to strike like a deadly cobra then the opportunity opens up...us mere
mortals are unaware of this only this "gift of god" sees it,
...Maurice Alibey has just bent his run behind Latapy and is now steaming down
the right flank yelling for the ball.....similar elctric runs are being made
on the left flank by inevitably ..Leonson lewis....."latas" begins
his trek from the half line with the ball glued to his feet...he eludes one
and then skillfully sidesteps another faking and feinting this way and that as
if to give the ball up to either Alibey or Leonson...Not this day he advances
by may calculations 45 metres up the pitch straight to the middle splitting
the entire defence with provocative notions of releasing his ball and does the
one thing that the team didnt expect took it straight through the middle the
goalkeeper senses the danger but is sadly unprepared "latas" fakes
to place it with his right foot and in a michael jordan like motion changes
feet and subtlely stabs it with his left the keeper is completely immobilized
and he doesnt dive, jump or move he just crouches and looks on to his right at
the agonisingly , accurate piece of clinical finishing he had the privilege of
being an integral part of as the ball roolls slowly but surely into the far
corner of the net...Latas jogs to the stands and points to his adoring
fans...No.! He points to me...saying "Ngozi this is for you to take to
your grave"....Tony Cozier eat your heart out....Flex u know u have to
put this up...to be continued peace, love and respect!
By, Ngozi
Based in Atlanta Georgia USA
The Best T&T game I
enjoy the most
I wish I could answer all de questions, all
ah dem good. Anyway the game I enjoyed the most was the Trini vs Guatemala in
Trinidad in '89 during World Cup qualifiers. Latas (my choice for best player
ever :> ) ) was mashing dem up and de Kerry Jamerson bullet (my choice for
best goal ever :> ) ) in de last minute brought so much joy to Trinis and a
fitting end to the game that all shots from outside the box after that strike
were called ah "Kerry Jamerson". Anyway, that's my two cents..KEEP
UP THE GREAT WORK!!!
By, TriniFootballFan
Washington DC USA
Overall View
The best T&T game that I ever saw was
in the early 90's T&T under-20 team was preparing to go to the WC. In a
warm up game they defeated the Brzilian under-20 4-2 in the National Stadium.
I was always in awe of Brazilian football but when we defeated them, it gave
me new sense of national pride. I don't remember who scored in that game but
what I do remember clearley is that our goalkeeper punted a ball and Angus
Eve, in one fluid motion trapped the ball with his butt and left a defender
for dead. This was the best starting eleven I had ever saw, pitty they could
not have stayed together, because I think they had good chemistry and would
have our future senior national team.
The best player category is difficult but
here goes, goalkeeper: Shaka, Lincoln Phillips ; defender: Clayton Morris;
midfield: Latapy; forwards: Yorke, Ian "dread dribbler" Clauzelle
I was very critical of Poter's in the
beginning, but I guess as time goes by he is steadily improving. The team just
needed time to gel.
The best goals that I saw were in a Shell
Cup final Yorke scored to manificent goals, one was a volley from a difficult
angle and the second was a free kick that he hit to win the game, the keeper
did not even move.
T&T will qualify point blank!!!!!
Jack Warner, what could I say the name
speaks for itself, he is just notorious.
More games are needed for the team to gel,
Until we go to the big dance I cannot
consider us as the best team in the region. We may have some of the best
players, but that does not count. When we start consistently beating our
regional neighbours and have them fearing us again then we could consider
ourselves up there. JA USA and Mexico have all gone to the WC so until we do
so I think we are the fourth best team in the region.
SOCA WARRIORS ALL DE WAY
Flex I must commend you on a great site. It
is very informative and educational, that is why I think this should be the
offical TTFF site, everything is already in place all you may have to do is
change the name. I always recommending this site to people and they alwys have
nothing but complements about it.
By, FOTBOLFAN
Foreign Based
Soca Warriors
How could soca singer Alyson Ayers decide
to change the official nickname of the team without consulting the
players, management and any of the hardcore T&T football followers from
the (TTFSC) T&T Football Supporters Club?
The T&T team had officially adopted the
nickname 'Soca Warriors' since early last year well before we won the Copa
Caribe!
An uninformed singer just can't come along
and change the official nickname of the team, can they?!
I think Alyson Ayers better re-record the
song and change the reference to the T&T team from 'Soca Bomb Squad' to 'Soca
Warriors'.
I will not refer to the team as the 'Soca
Bomb Squad' just because some singer decides to call them that! How long have
they been following the damn T&T team?! The T&T team has been dubbed
the 'Soca Warriors' over a year now! Does Alyson Ayers or her song writer read
the T&T newspapers or follow the T&T football team closely? The name 'Soca
Warriors´ was a democratic decision decided by the players and management (be
it under St Clair's reign as head coach) over a year ago! Where is democracy
going to these days?
Alyson Ayers needs to go back into the
studio and correct her error with the team´s name before it is released or
scrap that sound all together. As a DJ I will not buy it and play it on my
radio show as it is undemocratic for a singer to change the name of the team
without consulting the players and proper fans!
As a top football writer Shaun Fuentes
should have done his duty by now and publicly corrected this gross error made
by a bandwagon soca singer who has just jumped onto the T&T football team
WC bandwagon and haven't been closely following the affairs of the team!
Shaun, why have you not corrected this? You
of all people know that the team was dubbed the 'Soca Warriors´ over a year
ago and have regularly referred to them as such! On top of this we don´t want
to have to redesign the supporters club logo and tee-shirts we have been
working on with the much more inspiring and established team name 'Soca
Warriors´.
Who else feels annoyed like I am about this
latest development?! We may just lose our patients and decide to disband the
whole bloody TTFSC because of this! :-)
Again I repeat that this new name the
singer wants them to adopt is totally undemocratic plus 'Soca Bomb Squad´
reminds us too much of the old nickname 'Soca Strike Squad´ which is
synonymous with out failure to qualify for the 1990 WC by just one point!
This time round we need a team with more
grit and determination and which does not get overconfident and count its
chickens before they hatch, hence the nickname 'Soca Warriors´ being most
appropriated and inspiring apart from having been democratically decided upon
over a year ago.
We have to be careful that this campaign
doh blow up in our faces with this unwise new 'Soca Bomb Squad´ name that
Alyson Ayers come up with in her new song.
We need to fight like warriors (Soca
Warriors) to stand any chance of qualifying this time round for the first time
and I don´t want to see our WC campaign blowing up in our faces because of
some silly new song referring to our team by an unwise nickname that could
negatively affecting the team's psychic!
Socapro "sticking with the nickname
Soca Warriors regardless of what some bandwagon soca singer say!´
By, Socapro
Based in England
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