Latapy praises players for T&T rankings jump
T&T Express reports.
Trinidad and Tobago head coach Russell Latapy, not one to elaborate on any kind of success in the game, yesterday expressed some good feelings over T&T's jump by seven spots up the FIFA world rankings and regaining top spot in the Caribbean.
T&T climbed up FIFA's September ratings, reaching No.63, while Jamaica stayed at 69th for the second month in a row.
With their 1-0 World Cup qualifying victory over El Salvador on August 12 being computed in the latest rankings, T&T return to the Caribbean Football Union's top spot for the first time since June, the only other month this year the Jamaicans have not been No 1.
"It's good to know that we are back again as the leading team in the region and our intentions are to remain there for as long as we could," Latapy told Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation media officer Shaun Fuentes yesterday in Honduras, where the national team are preparing for Saturday's World Cup qualifier.
"Given the time and support that is expected and promised from all parties involved in our football, we could and should be there for an extended period. I think it's a credit to the players, given all the challenges, for being able to achieve this and this goes for all levels of football in the country, from the senior team to the Under-20s and the ones after that to the women's teams, especially as we look ahead to hosting the Women's World Cup next year in our country," added Latapy.
T&T's current rating is the highest since September 2006 when they were 56th. Then in August 2007 they stood at 63rd.
The only other time T&T stood higher dating back to Germany 2006 was in May/June 2006 when they were rated 47th in the world.
Trinidad and Tobago's best-ever position was in June 2001 when the team stood at #25 under the guidance of the late Ian Porterfield.
T&T could further enhance their current ratings and 2010 World Cup prospects with a good result on Saturday in their critical CONCACAF qualifier against Honduras in San Pedro Sula.
The rest of the CFU's top five rankings remain the same as August--Cuba third with a world rating of 87th, followed by Barbados (103rd) and Antigua and Barbuda (106th).
The USA, now rated 11th in the world, are CONCACAF's No. 1 team for the 12th month in a row ahead of Gold Cup champions Mexico, who are 24th on the FIFA list, followed by Costa Rica (39th), Honduras (42nd) with Trinidad and Tobago fifth.
Canada (66th) are sixth in CONCACAF, followed by Jamaica, Panama (75th), El Salvador (85th) and Cuba.
Brazil remain FIFA's No. 1 team ahead of 2008 Team of the Year Spain, followed by the Netherlands, with Italy moving up one to share fourth with Germany. Russia are sixth, followed by England, Argentina, and Croatia with France tenth.