Maturana takes up senior coaching job.
By: Shaun Fuentes (TTFF).
The Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation on Thursday announced Colombian Francisco Maturana as the new interim head coach of its National Senior Team for a six-month period in the first instance.
The 58-year-old arrived in Trinidad on Tuesday following an invitation for discussions by the TTFF and met with its special advisor Jack Warner and subsequently agreed to take up the position which he will begin officially February 1.
Maturana, a former Colombia and Ecuador National Team coach at the World Cup level, will witness the February 6 friendly international against Guadeloupe as his first official assignment. But Anton Corneal assistant coach of the Senior Team will oversee the preparations for that game and it will serve as a bridging period between the two coaches.
The TTFF also announced the eight overseas-based players invited for the friendly international. They include Sunderland striker Kenwyne Jones, Swansea City striker Jason Scotland, Wrexham midfielder Silvio Spann, Walsall goalkeeper Clayton Ince, Ujpest FC midfielder Densill Theobald, MLS-based Collin Samuel, Sparta Rotterdam forward Darryl Roberts, Southampton striker Stern John and Sunderland midfielder Carlos Edwards who has indicated that he expects to return from injury in time for the affair.
Warner added that on request, a list of available international coaches was submitted by the FIFA Technical Commitee and of the twelve names, Maturana was agreed upon, particularly after special recommendation from FIFA Technical Study Group member Alvin Corneal. Corneal (Anton) will oversee training over the next few weeks with selected home-based players.
The Federation also announced Yugoslavian and past Senior Team coach Zoran Vranes as coach of the T&T Under 20 team and head of its youth development for a four-year period. And David Mohammed was formally introduced as the new manager of the T&T Senior Team with Earl John appointed as CEO of the LOC 2010.
Speaking briefly via a translator at the Queen’s Park Oval Banquet Hall, Maturana said he took up the challenge because he wanted to be part of T&T’s dream.
“It was an offer I couldn’t turn down. I decided to come and be part of the dream of Trinidad and Tobago, Mr Warner and the Federation. It is a challenge but I am looking forward to it and I believe we can get everything together and I will do my best to achieve that while I am here,” Maturana said.
More on Maturana (As provided in media conference press kit courtesy wikipedia and Maturana).
As a Player[/b]
Born in Quibdó, Chocó, Francisco Maturana moved with his family at an early age to the city of Medellín. Here he played professional soccer while attending the University of Antioquia where he later obtained a degree in Dentistry. He began his professional career in 1970 at Atlético Nacional where he became a starting defender until 1980. During his time in Atlético Nacional he won two Colombian League Championships in 1973 and 1976. In 1981 he transferred to Atlético Bucaramanga and also played 6 matches with the Colombian National Team during the qulifying matches for the 1982 World Cup. In 1982 he played his last year with Deportes Tolima until he retired at the end of the season.
As a Manager
By motivation from Uruguyans Aníbal Ruíz and Luis Cubilla, he started managing Colombian team Once Caldas in 1986. The following year the Colombia Soccer Federation hired him to manage the national team's youth squad and then was quickly promoted to manage the Senior Squad to compete in the 1987 Copa America where they reached third place by beating the host Argentina. During this time, he was also hired to manage his former team Atlético Nacional. Then in 1989 he had his most successful year in his career. He led Atlético Nacional,composed of many Colombian legends, to win the Copa Libertadores for the first time for any Colombian club. Using Atlético Nacional players as a base for the National Team, he qualified the team to the 1990 World Cup after 28 years of absence. In December, he lost the Intercontinental Cup to AC Milan at the last minute of overtime. An upset to what would have been the perfect season. The following year he lead Colombia to its best perfermance in World Cup competition by reaching the second round and losing to Cameroon.
After the World Cup, he was hired as coach of Spain's Real Valladolid. In 1993 he was voted as the South American coach of the year by El Pais and he was ranked third in Spanish Newspaper Marca's list of the worlds greatest managers.
He returned to Colombia in 1992. and got his team América de Cali champion of Colombia. In 1993 he got Colombia qualified for a second time in a row to a World Cup, with a historic triumph over Argentina in Buenos Aires by 5-0. That score made Colombia a surprising favorite for the 1994 World Cup, but the performance there was disappointing, as the team was eliminated in the first round, being defeated by such teams as the United States and Romania.
He had later a brief stint as coach of Atlético Madrid and in 1995 he was hired as the trainer of Ecuador National Football Team. After failing to get Ecuador qualified for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, he returned to Colombia to coach Millonarios.
In 1999 he briefly coached Costa Rica, and in 2000 he also coached for a few months Peru. He would later return to coach Colombia for the 2001 Copa América, winning it for the first time. His latest jobs as a coach would include Saudi Arabian side Al-Hilal, where he won the domestic league and the Asian Champions League and a new stint for Colombia and Argentina's Colón de Santa Fe.
Francisco Maturana is considered to be one of the greatest South American coaches of all time and a legend of the Colombian game.
He worked for FIFA as a technical adviser where he has hold various coaching seminars around the world with the likes of Fabio Capello and Cesar Menotti.
In April of 2007 Maturana accepted an offer from Argentine Club de Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata. He directed his first game on April 22, 2007, the derby against Estudiantes de La Plata. In August of 2007 Maturana ended his relationship with Club de Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata.
Honors
As a Player[/b]
Copa Mustang (2): 1973, 1976 with Atlético Nacional
As a Manager
Copa Libertadores (1): 1989 with Atlético Nacional
Copa Mustang (1): 1992 with America de Cali
Copa America (1): 2001 with Colombia
Saudi Premier League (1): 2002 with Al-Hilal
World Cup Qualification (2): 1990, 1994 World Cup with Colombia
Bridge work for T&TFF.
By: Lasana Liburd (Express).[/size]
Colombian W/Cup coach leads Warriors
The Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation, by the admission of its president Oliver Camps, is recovering from a disastrous 2007-on and off the field.
Former Colombia and Ecuador World Cup coach Francisco Maturana, once a dental professor at the University of Antioquia, was yesterday unveiled as the man to rebuild bridges between the national football administration and the public as the T&TFF announced its plan to earn a 2010 World Cup berth.
Maturana takes up duty as national football team interim coach on February 1 although Anton Corneal, who was assistant to former coaches Leo Beenhakker and Wim Rijsbergen and also serves as understudy to Maturana, will oversee preparation for the "Soca Warriors" before the friendly battle against Guadeloupe on February 6.
England Premier League striker, 2006 World Cup player and new Sunderland sensation Kenwyne Jones leads a list of nine foreign-based players who were invited home for the fixture. The others include six World Cup players-record goalscorer Stern John (Southampton/England), versatile midfielder Densill Theobald (Upjest/Hungary), pacey winger Collin Samuel (Toronto/MLS), veteran goalkeeper Clayton Ince (Walsall/England), in-form striker Jason Scotland (Swansea/England) and tricky winger Carlos Edwards (Sunderland/England).
Utility player and free kick specialist Silvio Spann (Wrexham/England) and left-sided striker Darryl Roberts (Sparta Rotterdam/Holland) complete the list of invited players.
Maturana addressed the press conference, which was held at the Queen's Park Oval, in Spanish with former CONCACAF youth development officer Keith Look Loy serving as translator. Whatever Maturana's command of English, his abilities as a coach are beyond dispute.
The 58-year-old Maturana was named South America's Coach of the Year in 1993 while the Spanish newspaper Marca once hailed the Colombian as the third best coach in the world.
He is remembered most fondly for his work with the Colombian national team which he took to the 1990 and 1994 World Cups, after a 28-year absence, with the inimitable styles of shaggy haired playmaker Carlos Valderrama, sweeper goalkeeper Rene Higuita and maverick striker Faustino Asprilla in tow.
FIFA vice-president and T&TFF special advisor Jack Warner reiterated that Maturana was just holding on, in the first instance, until the T&TFF reaches an agreement with present coach Wim Rijsbergen who is serving a six-month suspension for indiscipline. But Warner left no doubt that the Dutchman-who came to blows with at least two former football heroes and T&TFF employees David Nakhid and Lincoln Phillips during his three-year stint here-was not expected back on local soil.
"He has to decide whether he can work with the T&TFF and its staff," said Warner. "My personal feeling is that Mr Rijsbergen will not be back here. He has not contacted us once since his departure."
The T&TFF used yesterday's press conference to offer conciliatory noises towards its players and Camps spoke of "soul searching" within the T&TFF executive committee "for the betterment of football".
"Football will be much better in 2008 than it was in 2007," said the long-serving T&TFF president and former national team manager.
Warner promised that local football fans would soon have reason to be excited again with a slate of friendly matches "that would blow your mind". It is the centennial year of the T&TFF and, although only friendlies with Guadeloupe and Jamaica were announced thus far, the FIFA bigwig suggested that negotiations were underway with more high profiled football nations.
There were more administrative appointments too as David Mohammed inherited the national team manager portfolio from Sam Phillips while CONCACAF employee Earl John is now CEO of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) and Felix Hernandez was named Chief Operating Officer of the Centennial Committee.
But Maturana's selection, even on an interim basis, should create the biggest stir and eclipses even the return of Brazilian Rene Simoes to the helm of the Jamaican team.
Maturana, in his capacity as FIFA technical committee member, studied the Warriors at the 2006 World Cup and rattled off statistics of their recent performances at the Caribbean Cup and Gold Cup tournaments. He has already requested video footage of recent games from the T&TFF.
He described himself as a "worker and achiever" but declined the opportunity to crow about the expertise he brings to local football.
"I am very humble," said Maturana, via a translator. "It is better to discover (my attributes) than for me to show you on a piece of paper. I am very open and, as I work day by day, people will get a chance to see for themselves." The T&TFF and the Warriors are bracing for a fresh start from the Colombian dentist.
