2006 World Cup? Keep dreaming!
By Lasana Liburd (Express).[/size]
12-Sept-2002 - Trinidad and Tobago national under-20 coach Zoran Vranes is confident in his own abilities to do many things on the football field. But performing miracles, he said firmly, is not one of them.
And, as the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (T&TFF) ponder over their choice of coaches for the 2006 World Cup campaign, Vranes expressed his reservations about their chances of getting to Germany.
It has been seven years since the 51-year-old Yugoslav first set foot in Trinidad and Tobago to prepare the tiny Caribbean island for the 1998 World Cup campaign.
Older and wiser, Vranes claimed he was still interested in accepting the top post but not if it meant fulfilling Brazilian technical director Rene Simoes’ promise of a spot in the next FIFA senior tournament.
“If they ask me to promise World Cup 2006, I wouldn’t accept,” said Vranes.
It was a sober verdict even before the “Soca Warriors” officially begin their latest World Cup offensive, but Vranes insisted that his opinion was a practical assessment based on the state of the national game over the past two years.
He pointed out that most of the players who the T&TFF had relied on in the past were now coming down in age while the retirement of Blackburn Rovers striker Dwight Yorke and Glasgow Rangers playmaker Russell Latapy also left a huge void.
Trinidad and Tobago, he claimed, were simply not producing sufficient quality to replace them.
There was little sign of top class potential from the national Olympic squad this April when they were beaten 2-0 by a Germany under-25 university team while the T&T under-20 and under-17 teams both failed to win a single game as hosts in recent CONCACAF and FIFA tournaments.
“Last year in the March under-20 (CONCACAF) competition, Costa Rica beat us 5-1, United States beat us 3-0 and we drew with Guatemala,” said Vranes. “I am not saying that we cannot play better but fact is we lost two and drew one. Our under-20 team did not show quality.
“Do you expect to develop those players in just two years to beat Mexico, Costa Rica and the US?
“I don’t see enough young guys (here) to develop to play at the top level so fast.”
Trinidad and Tobago football, in his opinion, is slipping.
Vranes noted the difficulties now posed by the less fancied Caribbean islands like Martinique, Cuba, Haiti and St Kitts and advised the T&TFF to begin CONCACAF Gold Cup preparations as quickly as possible or face possible embarrassment.
If asked, he would do his best to help but he warned that the climate was not right for him to emulate his relative success in his first stint as head coach in 1995-96.
Then, Vranes won the Caribbean Cup twice and led entertaining but unsuccessful campaigns in the 1996 Edmonton Olympic Games qualifiers and Gold Cup tournament.
After two years of preparations, though, he was fired after his first defeat in the World Cup qualifiers.
Impatience, he said, remains the T&TFF’s biggest shortcoming.
“You have a plan but the very first bad result and you are under pressure,” said Vranes. “Countries like Germany and France have technical directors for eight years but, after one bad result, you change the coach or whoever is in charge.
“If you don’t believe in (the coach) don’t pick him (in the first place).”
But Vranes, for one reason or the other, has always found himself at the head of the selection shortlist.
The stocky five foot seven gentleman with a fondness for track suits has filled more holes than the little Dutch boy since his arrival in the Caribbean.
Just call him FIFA vice-president Jack Warner’s personal fire extinguisher.
More honest than Ian Porterfield, less wordy than Simoes and more agreeable than Bertille St Clair, Vranes has shown more longevity than all his predecessors.
But is he a superior coach?
Should Vranes have been given—as he thought he deserved—the opportunity to lead “Team 2001” in the 2001 FIFA Under-17 World Championship?
His resume hardly screamed his case.
After a professional career which ended two years service to the Yugoslav national team, Vranes—who holds a degree in physical education—spent just under a decade fine tuning his trade in his homeland before receiving an invitation for his first international assignment in T&T.
His biggest achievement, at the time, was steering Rudar Plevla to the Yugoslav Premier Division as well as a six month stint as assistant coach to the famous Red Star Belgrade.
Vranes was immediately interested when colleague and former Dundee United coach Ivan Golac told him about the T&TFF opening and soon a man who had never coached outside his country at any level was giving orders to the likes of Yorke—one of Europe’s hottest commodities.
(He could not explain why the offer came from Golac and not a member of the T&TFF).
Still, Vranes did not do himself any harm in the post which he inherited from ex-Defence Force coach Kenny Joseph.
And, with Joseph by his side, he stormed to successive Caribbean Cup titles in 1995 and 1996.
There was also some entertainment value in failed Gold Cup—T&T fell 3-2 to El Salvador and the United States respectively—and Edmonton Olympic Games qualifying campaigns.
But it all came to nought after just one World Cup qualifying defeat to Costa Rica in 1996.
A Ronald Gomez strike from a distance meant a 1-0 home defeat in their opening CONCACAF qualifier and Vranes was quickly fired by Warner along with Keith Look Loy, Richard Abraham and Lester Osuana.
It remains a bitter memory for Vranes.
“I never felt it was my fault because many bad things happened,” he said. “There were not good relations between the staff.”
He claimed that he was forced to endure many interferences with his team selection and his efforts to groom several talented younger players like Stern John, Marvin “Dog” Andrews, Avery John and Lyndon Andrews was fiercely resisted.
“Somebody always had a friend to support,” said Vranes. “I went on vacation after the Edmonton (under-23) tournament and, before I came back, the senior team was named already and released for the Shell Cup.
“I was very vexed about that.”
He had several questions about the Costa Rica match that were never sufficiently answered.
Why did David Nakhid and Dwight Yorke both fail to take the field?
Nakhid claimed at the time that his passport had been seized in Lebanon while Yorke, Vranes claimed, declared himself unfit.
“Why Yorke didn’t play when he was ready to play and played two or three days later for Aston Villa,” said Vranes. “I never discovered (why) but feel something (was) wrong. I’m still vexed about that.
“Either Aston Villa didn’t want him to play or someone from here didn’t want him to play. Because he told me that he was ready.
“But, just before the team was named, he said he was not ready.”
The problem was compounded when team captain Russell Latapy limped off the field at the interval and the visitors seized the initiative to win the match in the second half.
It would not be the last time that whispers of sabotage followed the dismissal of a national coach.
St Clair was understandably similarly upset when Yorke was ruled out of a 2000 Gold Cup semi-final match through injury although he played within days for Manchester United in the English Premier League.
By then, St Clair had already been dismissed.
Unlike the Tobagonian, Vranes has resurfaced on the national front with impressive regularity.
“If I was wrong in that time,” he said, in his defence. “I wouldn’t again be here. The same people who fired me then, hired me now.”
After finding speedy employment with Antigua and Barbuda, Vranes was summoned by the very person who sacked him just a year later to lift a slumping Joe Public.
The “Eastern Lions” responded admirably and recorded a streak of 10 consecutive wins to end in second place in the Semi Professional Football League (SPFL).
He returned to Antigua for a promising run in the 1998 Caribbean Cup while there were further summons from Public and another stint with the T&TFF.
Vranes was selected on the recommendation of Fifa director Alvin Corneal to strengthen Porterfield’s defence during the 2002 World Cup campaign but quit after professional differences of opinion with the Scotsman.
Last season, he was hired full time to lead Public and steered them to the FA Cup title and the Professional Football League (PFL) runner-up spot.
His work with Public this season has also been commendable considering the many changes in back room and playing personnel and he promised big things in the near future.
There has been a faltering start to his stint as national under-20 coach after the controversial dismissal of Clayton Morris but Vranes explained that he needs more time.
The fate of the young team depends on a positive result in Cuba on Saturday after a 0-0 draw in their first leg match at the Hasely Crawford Stadium on September 1.
Vranes is hesitant to be the fall guy again.
“I simply (thought) that somebody had to help the country and guys,” he said. “I was not pleased because (there was) such short time to help them...but I couldn’t say no when Trinidad and Tobago asked for help.
“But I think I made a mistake...I know I can help these guys but time is too short and I am not going to damage my reputation for nothing...
“If the Trinidad public has a better solution then good for me because I already have a job with Joe Public.”
He fingered Morris, Stuart Charles, Alvin Thomas, Dexter Francis and Nakhid as all possessing the qualities to be a future national team coach.
“Guys who know about football,” he explained.
He is willing to throw his hat in the ring as well.
Just don’t expect any miracles.
