Remember when we got 5 from Guatemala?
Remember when we all cried on Nov 19?
Remember when Haiti robbed us?
Remember when Jamaica made the world cup before us although we use to always win the Shell Cup?
Remember when we had to support another country because our own was not in the big dance?
Remember when this forum was cool and men (and women) use to catch kicks and have ah good time with the small talk?
This post is going to be very long so now is yuh chance to stop reading.
This summer I am working with people from several different countries and we are all big football fans and following the world cup. These people are from countries such as Brazil, England, France, Argentina, Nigeria, Spain, Ghana, Mexico, China, Jamaica, and Peru just to name a few. These people from the 11 countries listed above were very impressed by the Soca Warriors. Three things impressed them
1) Pictures I showed them of our celebrations back home after we qualified and local newspaper articles
2) My excitement over the Sweden result
3) Watching our team of low division players and bench warmers play against big players like Lampard, Gerrard, Larsson, Zlatan, Ljunberg, Cuevas, Ferdinand, Rooney, etc. and hold their own.
Some players impressed more than others. I am not going to call names and point out men for criticism or compliments. I firmly believe you win as a team and lose as a team. My biggest and only disappointment in the WC campaign was the qualifier against the US in Connecticut. Drove all the way to Connecticut, broke as hell, spent money I didn't have and before I could sit down in the stadium, TNT concede a goal and proceeded to play the most amount of shit I have ever seen. There was one positive thing that...Kelvin Jack. Otherwise the scoreline would have been at least 6-0.
Positives
1) Qualified for the world cup for the first time.
2) Smallest nation to ever qualify.
3) Did not get any blowout defeats in the world cup.
4) Did not lose our first game in the world cup, USA played 9 world cup games in Europe before they finally managed to avoid a defeat.
5) Latapy and Yorke got an opportunity to play on the big stage after they experienced Nov 19.
6) Seeing people from different countries with a big football tradition supporting us and wishing us well.
Negatives
We can all come up with negatives.Brazil won the world cup in 1994 and their fans had a lot of negative comments. So imagine how much negative stuff we trinis can come up with after 1 draw and 2 defeats. So I will leave the negative stuff to the ungrateful ignorant people.
In my view, fans are there for 2 reasons..1) To support 2) to offer constructive criticism. However, some people have gone overboard. I have played sports at a competitive level, football not being one of them (i am a small goal loafer). I know about some of you forumites who have played football at intercol level, US college level, national youth level, etc. So you guys have an idea about playing competitive sports and the pressure it entails. Then there are some of you couldn't play anything at all, not even chess but here on this forum criticizing players like you have any experience in playing serious sports. I am not saying don’t offer constructive criticism but think before you post especially when you can’t even trap a ball (referring to certain men I know who surprisingly criticizes the most, the guys I know play serious football are not as critical..very interesting).
My point is none of us have played at World Cup level. We don't know what it feels like to run out on a field in front of large crowds and play against guys who make more money in a week than you make in a year.
Some of us don't understand what is like to train everyday and play competitive sports and undergo continuous criticism from fans.
Leo Beenhakker has been demoted from genius to a sell out coach. Personally, I did not agree with several decisions. Decisions such as not playing Latapy, selecting Theobald, selecting Wise, and replacing Shaka today were a bit strange. However, he did a few things that no other coach have done for us. He qualified us for the World Cup and we held Sweden to a draw when most people expected us to get blowout.
Personally looking at that these guys play leading up to the WC, I expected 3 losses and about 9-10 goals conceded. Not that I didn't believe in them or wasn't supporting them but it was based on what I was seeing and accustom to. True we did not score but we only conceded 4 goals and got 1 point. Beenhakker is human, so he must make mistakes. I am sure he and the players as well wished they had done certain things differently.
Some of you acting like we could have won the WC or even qualify for the second round. Qualifying for the 2nd round was possible but highly unlikely. It was nice to play the 3rd game and still have a chance of qualifying but honestly speaking, we didn't have much of a chance before the WC started. The good thing is these players gave their best and hopefully they will realize that they are capable of competing with the big teams.
Now we need to build on this. Maintain the positive stuff (strengths) and improve the negatives (weaknesses). I hope all you local people flood the airport when the team returns home and give them a warm welcome, make them feel they won the world cup. We need to reestablish our dominance in the Caribbean and challenge Mexico, USA and Costa Rica for Concacaf supremacy.
P.S. I am taking a hiatus from posting till the dust settles on this forum. Too much cussing and disrespect going on. Man talking about people mother and all kinda real madness. I will just read and try to enjoy.
I feel I just break Alberta Trini record for longest post ever..sorry about that.
