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Jack WarnerRussell Latapy's stint as Trinidad and Tobago head coach could very well end in a week if he fails to get immediate results.
Forty-year-old Latapy was appointed on Wednesday following the resignation of Colombian Francisco Maturana and the former Porto and Boavista midfielder will have his first two matches in charge two months away as T&T continue their 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign.

First, the Soca Warriors host Costa Rica on June 6 and are then away to Mexico on June 10.

Yesterday, Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF) special adviser Jack Warner gave a mixed reaction to Latapy's appointment.

"You can never have total confidence," Warner said. "What you can have is hope and you have to have commitment. At the end of the day, Latapy should know more about these players than anybody else because he has lived with them and so on. And it is our belief that we should give him a trial run, so to speak, that is why it is an interim appointment."

Warner indicated that the "Little Magician" will have just a few matches to make his mark as head coach before a new appointment is made.

The FIFA vice-president made the remarks yesterday at a b-mobile-sponsored sporting symposium at Cascadia Hotel, where he was the feature speaker.

"I am very optimistic that he shall do well. We shall take it from match to match and see what happens," Warner declared. "We have told Latapy that he has whatever technical assistance that he needs. He has whatever players he needs and if as he goes along, if he feels he needs help he will get it. If he feels he needs the help of the Jabloteh coach, we will do that. Latapy must decide that from his own judgement."

With just two points from three matches, Trinidad and Tobago are bottom of the six teams in CONCACAF'S World Cup qualifying series.

Under Maturana, the Soca Warriors drew with El Salvador (2-2) and Honduras (1-1) and suffered a 3-0 defeat to the United States last week.

But Warner believes there is still a lot of time to get T&T into a better position.

"We are 100 per cent better off than we were four years ago. Four years ago, we had one point, now we have two points, and therefore I have no reason to lose faith or lose hope."

Warner also felt it was the right time to change coaches. And he dismissed the idea that Latapy's presence on the technical staff as assistant coach-player since January might have undermined Maturana and inevitably led to the Colombian's resignation.

"We struggled to play against Bermuda, remember, that is a team we beat every Monday morning. We went for the Gold Cup and didn't qualify, remember, for the first time in many years. Latapy was not around in those days. So therefore to bring Latapy and talk about intimidation was not fair to either Latapy or Mr Maturana.

"I can only say what he (Maturana) told us at the meeting yesterday (Wednesday) and it amounted to a technical disconnect between him and the players, and he felt that staying with them longer would serve no useful purpose.

"He did say that we have to try and heal the division within the team because that division mitigates against a unified team. And he was telling us there is a division between the locally-based players and the overseas-based players, and the locally-based players feel threatened when the overseas-based players come. And therefore we have to find ways and means to heal it," Warner concluded.