Former national coach Jamaal Shabazz says the days of a magician coming to Trinidad and Tobago and making magic with the country’s football is an illusion.
Shabazz was speaking in light of T&T’s performance at the Concacaf Gold Cup in which the local team reached the quarter finals stage before losing 1-0 to Mexico on Saturday.
“I think where we go as a nation depends a lot on what the Federation provides to the various technical staff and coaches. I am not taking away from his input, but the team should have qualified for the quarterfinal regardless of Beenhakker’s appointment, because that is where our programme is at.”
“The days of a blonde magician coming to our shores and making magic is an illusion. Football needs resources to back up technical know-how if it to achieve anything, whether it is Anton Corneal or Leo Beenhakker at the helm.”
Shabazz praised the standard of play by the T&T Pro League-based players, who were instrumental in T&T’s progress and the eventual 1-0 narrow defeat at the feet of Mexico but said mechanisms were in place for T&T to reach the quarterfinal and play as it did against Mexico before the start of the tournament.
“I am very happy to see some of the Pro League players rise to the occasion, namely Daneil Cyrus, Cornell Glen, Joevin Jones and Jan Michael Williams, who joined with the players like Kenwyne Jones, Khaleem Hyland and Carlos Edwards and those playing in the highest levels in their (respective) leagues. The Pro League players were able to match their performances,” said Shabazz.
“I think some of the players have done enough to progress in their career. Hopefully these results warrant positive movement in the Fifa rankings, which would ultimately affect those who need work permits. It shows too, that teams like Honduras cannot field a second string team against T&T and expect to come out with a good result.”
Shabazz, who with Hutson Charles, guided T&T to its first Gold Cup final since 2007 after reaching the final of the CFU Caribbean Cup believes the results were expected given the resources made available to the technical staff.
“I expected the team to reach that phase. Anything further than that would have been great. But, where our programme is at, I think reaching the quarterfinal would have been a reasonable target.”
In that regard, Shabazz said there are between 10-15 coaches in the country who are capable of leading the national team, but it is a matter of resources being provided for them.
“The local staff works with no resources and then they bring in a foreigner and give him resources, and they call him a magician. Its not just resources and technical know-how. Nobody could tell me we don’t have at least 10-15 coaches home and abroad with the technical competence,” said Shabazz.
“Throughout my 15 years, I think local coaches, only on a few occasions got the resources to do the job. And every time they got the resources, they made an impact,” said Shabazz, citing former head coaches Bertille St Clair and Everald Cummings. “I can tell you of situations where local coaches did not get resources or support.”
Shabazz said coaching at the national level is no longer part of his plans.