Former national footballer Russell Latapy is expected to be resume his role as coach of the T&T Soca Warriors ahead of the 2014 Fifa World Cup campaign today.
The confirmation is expected to announced by Fifa vice-president and T&T Football Federation special advisor, Jack Warner at a media briefing to be held at the President’s Box, Queen’s Park Oval, Tragarete Road, from 2 pm.
In addition to the naming of the national senior team coach, Warner is also expected to name a full technical staff to work alongside Latapy with the aim of preparing T&T for the qualifying campaign to the 2014 World Cup Finals in Brazil.
The 40-year-old Latapy nicknamed the “Little Magician” previously held the position as coach during the 2010 Concacaf Final Round World Cup qualifiers after Colombian Francisco Maturana vacated the post on April 8.
This was after a string of poor results during the Final Round qualifiers. However, under Latapy’s reign, T&T did not fear much better in terms of results with one win, one draw and five defeats during the qualifiers which ended in November along with Latapy’s short-term contract.
The T&TFF executive and Warner were then expected to meet to determine the fate of Latapy and his assistant, former T&T captain Dwight Yorke two weeks later.
However, no decision was taken and Warner indicated that unless the federation secured financial support, it could turn to volunteerism. Warner said the T&TFF and its technical committee had a meeting to look at various technical staffs for teams but the underlying factor continued to be funding.
“Who will pay for the staff for these teams,” Warner asked. While no known financial support has been sourced by Warner of the T&TFF it is felt that any further delay in the naming of a national coach will severely hinder the team’s progress towards qualifying for 2014.