U-23s impress coach McComie
By JOEL BAILEY Friday, July 27 2007
TRINIDAD and Tobago’s Under-23 assistant football team coach Michael McComie is impressed with the form of the squad as they prepare for the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Olympic qualifying series.
The Trinidad and Tobago team will meet Guyana, Netherlands Antilles and hosts Suriname from August 31 to September 4 for a spot in the CONCACAF qualifying phase.
McComie is currently acting as the coach in the absence of Dutch-born Jan Van Deinsen who is recovering from back surgery in his native Netherlands.
The TT squad were involved in a training camp in the sister isle Tobago last week.
“Generally, the camp was good. We got a lot more out of the camp in Tobago with the Under-23 players than we thought we would have,” said the 35-year-old McComie. “Much credit must go to the players because the effort of the players was magnificent.”
Noting that he regularly interacts with Van Deinsen concerning the team, McComie noted, “the technical staff was absolutely surprised in terms of how the players adapted themselves.
“It’s young players and they’re eager to learn and they’re very disciplined, so that made it easier for us,” McComie added. “But, having said that, the work in terms of the pattern of play and the formation that we want to is different (from their) clubs.”
McComie, who is also serving as interim coach of 2006 Pro League champions Joe Public, stressed that it is hard to mould the team with only one-day-per-week training sessions.
“At the camp, we were able to do two sessions a day,” he said. “Even the days that we played a match, especially the Tuesday match (a 4-1 victory over Tobago United), we overloaded them in the morning, purposely to see their reaction in the evening and the players responded well.”
The former goalkeeper, who played for Trinidad and Tobago from the youth ranks to the senior team, was high in praise for the physiotherapists Wayne Lawson and Ashton Mills.
“I think the players came back much stronger and much more knowledgeable in terms of the way in which we want the Under- 23 team to play,” he said. “The speed of the game was good and the ball possession was much more improved than how we played previously.
“So we’re just hoping that we can take that and build on that with the players,” McComie added. “We’ve had team meetings and the players understand that it’s a short space of time and we need to make every training session count.” With regards to the improvements within the team, McComie highlighted possession of the ball, moving the ball and trying to keep the shape.
“When we played, the possession was okay but eventually they would lose the shape, especially coming down to the end of the first half and midway through the second half,” he continued.
“Training once a week really does not help that. In that aspect, it was fantastic, we worked on stuff in the mornings and then, in the games in the evenings, we’ll see them trying to execute,” added the easy-going coach.
“In terms of possession of the ball, it was fantastic. And then we had the time now to set up because when we lose the ball, we actually have a plan to win the ball back.
“The players took to that very well, they understood and they applied themselves,” said McComie.
The players are currently engaging in training sessions twice a week, before they embark on another camp next month. “When we take games now, we’ll try to play tougher opponents to make sure that they understand and how to execute against faster opponents and stronger opponents,” ended McComie.
