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Author Topic: Trinidad vs. USA - More of the same?  (Read 3089 times)

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Offline NC

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Trinidad vs. USA - More of the same?
« on: March 09, 2005, 02:31:46 PM »
Please note the following was written before the game!

Last Thursday we all woke up to two very interesting headlines as it relates to football in Trinidad & Tobago (T&T), "Dwight York is back" and "Bring back David Nakhid".  Both headlines ignited a lot of discussion among Trinidadians all around the world, as to whether or not football in T&T is heading in the right direction - which ultimately led to this response.  The individuals debating this topic are all supporters of our national teams, some of them ex-national players, whose only desire to see T&T participate at the highest level in football.  But that desire raises the question, have the people responsible for football in T&T done everything possible over the last four years to ensure our qualification to the 2006 World Cup (WC).

As I read both articles it became apparent that the recent performance of the national team has caused panic among the T&T coaching staff.  Hence the "knee jerk" reaction of adding the individuals in question to the roster without considering the impact it would have both short and long term, on the players that will be sacrificed, but more importantly the impact it would have on the game itself.  As Dwight is allowed to return, play and even be captain, what message would that send to our young players as it relates to what is acceptable behaviour.  While these comments are not intended to pass judgment on neither David nor Dwight, it is difficult for one to discern why it is that the coaching staff would introduce both players as members of the team six days before such an important game (with Dwight only being available five days before).  It must also be mentioned that both individuals have not been playing at this level for more than six months.  It leaves one to question, whether or not we would be having this discussion if the teams' performance in the Digicel Cup and more recently against Haiti were up to par.  This introduction can only serve to do more harm than good because of the timing and the fact that both players may not even be close to the type of fitness that is required to compete successfully at this level.  One immediate consequence is the addition of a third friendly against Haiti, that will conclude less than seventy-two (72) hours before such an important game - apparently to accommodate these individuals at the expense of the entire team.

Our opponent, the United States (US) started preparing for this game four years ago, hence the reason they would most likely earn three points from the game.  For those of you who do not like the previous statement - the truth is often painful.  To put in context, recently, T&T U-20 team participated in the youth WC qualifiers and lost 6-1 to the United States and subsequently lost the other two games to Costa Rica and Panama.  In preparation for that tournament the United States played more than twenty (20) friendly internationals against teams from around the globe, to included South America and Europe.  Our national team in preparation for the same tournament played a couple of games against Cuba, and a couple of games against youth teams here in Trinidad.  I mention this only to highlight that the problem would not be solved by desperately introducing David and/or Dwight at this critical juncture, but a more thorough look at our culture and how it is affecting our ability to compete successfully in top flight football, along with developing a serious long term plan starting with the development of young players.

Currently our young players are being shipped to countries such as England, Scotland, Wales, America and Japan to play professional football.  None of the countries mentioned above have enjoyed success in recent history, yet we continue to send our young players to those countries.  Now, who benefits from this?  Some would argue that the agents luring these guys off to play second and third division football in some of the countries mentioned above are the sole beneficiaries.  As a country, are we benefiting from this?  Are our players being properly developed as they ply their trade in some of the countries mentioned above, are they being equipped with the tools that allows them to return and compete for this country successfully?  I think we all know the answer to that, we have more players today than any other time in our history playing professional football overseas and we are unable to establish ourselves as a force to be reckoned with in international football.  In my humble opinion, we have two areas in which we need to focus on inorder to develop our young talent so that we can start qualifying for the youth World Cups, which would serve as a foundation for the senior team to qualify for the WC eventually.  First, we need to invest hard dollars in the development of football (Mr. Warner cannot do it alone), and we need to have our young talent play professionally in countries such as Argentina and Brazil so that they can truly learn the game of football and develop a culture about the game that is conducive to winning - second and third division in England and Scotland for example, is not the same as second and third division in Brazil and/or Argentina.

Finally, it was a little disconcerting to read in one of the articles mentioned above, again six days before such an important game, the following comparison made between David and the existing players.  "When I saw David play recently  his touch was very clean  much more cleaner than any of the others.  Nakhid had matched and surpassed all of the midfielders in the current squad."  The previous comments could serve as a de-motivator to a team that appears to be trying their utmost best under what seems to be difficult circumstances.  Most of us really hope that we can qualify for the 2006 WC; however, my fear is that if we do qualify, we would begin to believe that we had it right all the time. 

GOOD LUCK TO THE TEAM, WE ARE ALL WATCHING!





 

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