ALVIN CORNEAL is just covering up for his son Anton when by writing that severe cold weather, the choice of venue and the lack of friendlies against top class opponents were the major caused of the downfall of the Under-20 national side, who failed to win a single match in the Under-20 World Cup qualifying tournament in California, USA, against the USA, Costa Rica and Panama two weeks ago.

This is the opinion of Earl “Mango” Pierre, a Trinidadian living in Brooklyn, New York, who was a key member of the Players’ Association for T&T footballers playing in the US.

T&T bowed 1-6 to the Americans, 1-2 to the Costa Ricans and 0-2 to the Panamanians.

“After reading the article by Alvin Corneal which appeared in the Guardian Sports Arena on Wednesday, I personally think he is just covering up for his son because he failed,” Pierre said.

“What Alvin wrote about the weather conditions, the field and the refereeing are just petty excuses for our failures over and over again.”

“As I have said before, we need more experienced coaches to coach our national teams. Coaches who have stats—winning records with clubs etc.

“This is about the third time Anton Corneal got a chance with a national team with no results.

“We need to send young coaches like Anton and Ron La Forest and some others to coaching academies abroad for them to really understand more about coaching from the real professionals in the sport.

“When are we going to be truthful and deal with the real problem which is starting with 11-year-olds or younger and take them to the top?

Said Pierre: “Other nations look at us as a fete match team, believe it or not, and again I will stand firm by saying until we have a Players Association—not just representing cricket but all sports especially soccer, so we can put some pressure on the authorities—there will be little change in our development and nothing better in our quest to reach the World Cup finals.” 

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