Rijsbergen backs Corneal in SSFL rift.
By: Lasana Liburd (Express).
Trinidad and Tobago national football team coach Wim Rijsbergen is set to meet with Secondary Schools Football League (SSFL) representatives to discuss the use of national under-17 players who still attend school. However, Rijsbergen announced his support for the stance taken by his youth teams coach Anton Corneal who said the interest of national team must take precedence over that of the schools. "There should only be one interest," said Rijsbergen, a former Dutch World Cup player and an assistant coach for the Soca Warriors at the 2006 World Cup.
Corneal said last week that he might withdraw players from the SSFL so as to improve their chances at the final Concacaf qualifying phase for the 2007 FIFA Under-17 World Cup, which will be staged next April.
Corneal, head coach of the national youth teams, said that his players would be doing strength training and should rest rather than represent their schools on off-days. He also suggested that the low standard of the SSFL would erode the forward steps made by his players in their third place finish at the 2006 Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Youth Tournament.
But Secondary Schools Football League (SSFL) general secretary Azaad Khan said the schools would resist any effort to stop national players from competing.
Khan said he could not see how the schools' league, which ends in October, could hinder the national team's preparation for a tournament that starts next April and pointed that FIFA rules only allowed countries to withdraw players five days before a match.
George Hislop, a retired magistrate and former chairman of the SSFL Disciplinary Committee, also insisted that a student's development included extra-curricular activities and urged the Ministry of Education to ensure students were not unnecessarily disrupted from their curriculum with the often unrealistic lure of a future in professional football.
Rijsbergen said such matters should be dealt with in a constructive manner between the respective stakeholders, and urged that everyone work together for the sake of the country.
But he showed no sign of budging from Corneal's stated position and did not accept that national duty might be an unnecessary distraction for students. He said it was normal in Holland for young players to practice before school on mornings and then after school in the evening.
This, he explained, was the professional ideal. It would take Trinidad and Tobago some time to get to this level but, he felt, it was in everyone's best interest to help take the country there.
"We have to sit down and make a plan with the schools," said Rijsbergen. "We cannot have a situation where we are bad talking the schools and the schools are bad talking the national sessions. There is only one interest and that is the national team and the country. "A lot of players want a good education and, if we can achieve that, then that is the best thing for everybody." The 2006 SSFL season kicks off on Thursday with competition in the north, east and south zones.