Worrying times… Warriors’ near season finale.
By: Lasana Liburd (Express).[/size]
Just over 4,000 patrons turned up at the Hasely Crawford Stadium on Saturday as the Trinidad and Tobago national football team took the field in its first home appearance since a heroic showing at the 2006 Germany World Cup tournament.
Four months ago, more than ten times that crowd turned out to see team captain Dwight Yorke and company walk through customs at the Piarco International Airport. And they were not doing ball juggling tricks either like those Brazilian show offs.
So where was the love?
An overcast evening seemed to do little to invoke any romance between even the Warriors and the dignitaries who did turn out.
President Maxwell Richards flew 14 hours to see the “Soca Warriors” play a historic qualifier in Bahrain and attended a luncheon with the players in Germany. But he was not led on to the field to greet the squad before kick off against St Vincent on Saturday. In fact, no one from the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (T&TFF) bothered with the traditional nod and handshake ceremony that seems to precede any match worth attending.
Presumably, Richards knew all the players by now and Yorke did not show any obvious signs of disorientation at the snub. Hey, so long as your boss pays you at the end of the month, right? Indeed.
No love lost on the field either. Two Vincentians were sent off for unsporting tackles and Trinidad and Tobago cruised to a 5-0 win.
National record goal scorer Stern John notched a double to take his tally to 67 goals from 99 caps while Chris Birchall, Yorke and substitute Kerry Baptiste contributed a goal apiece.
John was distinctly underwhelmed at the affair.
“I think we could have gotten better opposition,” John told the Trinidad Express. “We way past St Vincent… It is like we went back a few steps.”
But Saturday evening seemed to have little to do with St Vincent or even South Africa 2010. It had scarcely anything to do with football at all.
Four thousand plus spectators did not have World Cup qualification on their minds. They paid for front row seats to the disbandment of the popular “Soca Warriors” who, on Friday, announced plans for a mass retirement after a dispute with the T&TFF.
Yorke, in a prepared statement, suggested that the local football body was dishonest—at the least. T&TFF general secretary Richard Groden responded by labeling the players as delinquent and dishonourable. Rijsbergen tried to stand as still as possible so no one would ask his opinion.
It was not football; it was a reality show.
Would T&TFF special advisor Jack Warner take action to stop Yorke and friends from voting themselves out of the series? Might the players ask the fraud squad to investigate the T&TFF’s alarmingly inconsistent accounting?
Last December, the T&TFF announced a record US$11.8 million ($73,036,500 TT) clothing deal with Adidas. When it came time for the players’ cut, though, the T&TFF claimed that Adidas actually only offered US$292,683 ($1.8 million TT).
From just one deal, $71 million was missing. It is a good thing Warner is also FIFA’s Finance Committee deputy chairman or fans might have really been worried.
Forget Vincentian captain Wesley John, the fans in Port of Spain would have paid double the $100 and $200 admission fee to see Yorke and Warner whip out calculators and try to match financial statements.
Yorke was scheduled to leave Trinidad yesterday for England. Warner, according to the T&TFF, is still abroad at ports unknown.
The local football scene cannot seem to afford both of them. Synergy’s “Model Search” reality program is not nearly as gripping.
Go figure.
… Warner mum as Warrior spirit fades.
By: Lasana Liburd (Express).
$5,644.08 per player!
FIFA vice-president and Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (T&TFF) special advisor Jack Warner maintained his silence yesterday as the “Soca Warriors” continued to slide towards disbandment.
On Friday evening, the Warriors, led by team captain Dwight Yorke, declared their intention to resign from international duty due to an alleged breach of contract by the T&TFF.
A hasty release from T&TFF general secretary Richard Groden, which erroneously accused the players of planning a boycott of Saturday’s friendly against St Vincent, suggested that the problem lay with the distribution of sponsorship money.
Groden submitted an audited statement of income and expenditure to the national media, which claimed that the T&TFF received $18,255,952 for its part in the Germany 2006 World Cup.
The players are believed to be concerned about the accuracy of the T&TFF’s accounting.
For starters, there was no mention of money accrued from television rights. The deal, which was agreed to between the players and Warner two days before the first leg World Cup Play Off against Bahrain, did not agree to split money for the Bahrain legs as well as a host of friendly matches against the likes of Iceland, Wales and the Czech Republic. These matches were televised throughout Europe by prestigious stations like Sky Sports and Euro Sports.
There is worry that several sponsors were omitted or figures doctored as well. The T&TFF’s accountant, by its own admission, is Kenny Rampersad who was revealed to be Warner’s business partner during investigations on Simpaul Travel Services last December. Rampersad, at the time, was mandated to act on Simpaul’s behalf.
Worse, as far as the players were concerned, the T&TFF then deducted expenses before handing over the agreed split to the Warriors. And a $9 million share was reduced to $141,102 to be split 25 ways—24 players and one share for the players’ committee.
Last Thursday, Yorke and his teammates were told that their reward for taking Trinidad and Tobago to its inaugural World Cup—a feat that secured them a place in FIFA’s history book as well as $1 million and a Chaconia (Gold) Medal each from the government—was worth $5,644.08 TT per player to the T&TFF.
The sponsorship figures had more nips and tucks than a week at any plastic surgeon’s office.
But, in short, Groden contended that sponsors hustling to get on board after the team’s qualification for the Germany World Cup were coherent enough to insist that the T&TFF put aside one third of their money for the 2010 campaign.
The T&TFF also deducted expenses before sharing the spoils although the players insisted that there was no such agreement for the division of the money. Even if the T&TFF’s version was correct, the local body calculated expenses from February 2005 while the deal with the players was done nine months later.
The income and expenses section both had questionable figures too.
In near two years—a period that included six World Cup qualifiers and the farewell fixture for retired legend Russell Latapy—the T&TFF claimed to receive just $5,217 from its bar. The bar was clearly a monumental failure considering that, in the expenses column, $238,715 was deducted for refreshments.
There was also the Adidas deal. Last December, the T&TFF announced that Adidas had spent US$11.8 million ($73,036,500 TT) to join the World Cup party. At the time, the local body boasted that it was the biggest deal in the Federation’s history.
But, when it became time to give the players their cut, the T&TFF claimed that the clothing deal was actually worth just $1.8 million (US$292,683)—a difference of over $71 million.
Yorke might have been surprised to note that the players were paying their own salaries too. The players’ match fees, allowances, accommodation, transportation and refreshment were all deducted from their World Cup bonus package as were the T&TFF’s “FIFA/CONCACAF dues”, gate equipment and scouting fees.
He was also entitled to wonder about the whereabouts of the $45 million in taxpayers’ money that was given to the T&TFF to negate all expenses for the 2006 World Cup campaign. Neither Warner nor Groden indicated that they did not receive or are no longer promised government funding.
Yorke does not hold an accounting degree but he clearly felt that something was awry.
“We cannot see how we can build on anything if the contracts that we enter to are not worth the paper they are written on,” said Yorke, who read from a prepared statement. “It is for these reasons we now feel the need to say goodbye to the international stage.”
It is Warner who agreed a contract with the Warriors but, to date, Groden has had to defend the T&TFF’s interpretation of it.
Yorke was scheduled to leave Trinidad yesterday evening to return to his employers, the Sunderland Football Club, in England. The Warriors’ 5-0 win over St Vincent might be the last time that local fans see him sport national colours.
T&TFF press officer Shaun Fuentes could not confirm Warner’s whereabouts yesterday. Presumably, he will have something to say about the turn of events when he can spare the time.
Rijsbergen pleased with on pitch performance.
By: Shaun Fuentes (TTFF).[/size]
Head coach Wim Rijsbergen was pleased to see that members of the National team were able to concentrate solely on their game on Saturday evening and put on the kind of display they did in the 5-0 win over St Vincent and the Grenadines at the Hasely Crawford Stadium.
Rijsbergen was in charge of the team for the first time on local soil as skipper Dwight Yorke and his men gave a commanding performance against the Vincentians who were coming off a 8-0 and 2-1 victories over St Lucia and Jamaica respectively.
“It’s a good win and of course you know we didn’t have a very good preparation because most of the talking was about other things. But I am happy that with all the talking they still knew what they had to do and they had a good performance on the field,” Rijsbergen said.
“Of course for us it was a good win because the last couple of days were not the best days for preparations. I saw a lot of guys having a lot of conversations and meetings but most of it was not about football but other things. I was happy for a moment they could separate that.
“It is very hard still to beat any team in the world today. Hopefully something positive comes out of all the meetings. I’m not part of any conversation in this manner between the Federation and the players, I’m here to coach and I’m not here to be in politics,” Rijsbergen added.
He went on to speak highly of the performance of young Kerry Baptiste, who got his first goal for T&T on the evening as well as Nigel Daniel and substitute Andre Toussaint showed, adding that it was important to have them playing and training with the more experienced players.
“That’s the reason why I always say if you want to get this improvement with the local players you have to use them with the better experienced players and this is why we had to cancel some games before and hopefully that will happen in the future too where we can get the experienced guys with the age to help us to the Gold Cup and help us in the qualification to the next World Cup with a mix from both sides.”
Rijsbergen will now look ahead to Wednesday’s friendly against Panama as well as the November fixture away to Austria and a proposed training camp in the US.
“The spirit was good after the last couple days of conversation and they proved that they are professionals and that is what I like - that they can separate the things and I hope to get the same thing against Panama.
“We still have to play Austria in November and then we have a mini camp in the US to look at players there and in Canada. Hopefully by that time we will have a good player pool for the next Digicel Cup and Gold Cup,” He hinted that the squad for the Digicel Cup in late January will comprise mostly of home-based pros.
St Vincent coach Zoran Vranes meantime said he wasn’t totally dissatisfied by his team’s display.
“I am not totally disappointed because I know it would be tough. I didn’t expect 5-0 at all but I also got what I was looking for out of the game and we will have a different team in January for the finals,” said the Yugoslav-born coach.
News from the 08th of October 2006.
St Vincent collects a handful.
By: Shaun Fuentes (TTFF).
For one evening, with money off their minds, Trinidad and Tobago’s senior footballers demonstrated their superiority over World Cup rivals St Vincent and the Grenadines with a 5-0 victory in Saturday’s friendly international at the Hasely Crawford Stadium.
Playing before a crowd of 4,116 fans, the Dwight Yorke led team of which the World Cup players signaled their intentions to consider retiring from the international stage due to contract disputes with the TTFF, left all their worries off the field as they outplayed the visiting Vincentians.
A double by a much fitter looking Stern John, a fabulous strike by Chris Birchall and one each by Yorke and Kerry Baptiste had the fans cheering on.
T&T showed early intentions to take control of proceedings. Inside the opening five minutes, defender Atiba Charles found Carlos Edwards out on the right and he played inside for John whose effort narrowly missed the target.
The Vincentians took long to settle and paid the price for it. On 13 minutes after Edwards was brought down by Markneil Lewis, Yorke’s header was cleared and Birchall did the rest, smoothly unleashing a low right footer which went in off the right post.
A sharp looking John then hit one wide and then after leaving his man for dead, he saw his right footer crash off the crossbar on 35 minutes.
A bit earlier the Coventry City man made no mistake though when goalie Melvin Andrews failed to handle Birchall’s cross and he was on spot to tuck it home after 24 minutes. Strike partner Jason Scotland also had a good try at goal before the interval.
With a 2-0 lead at the break, T&T picked the pace up again after the resumption. This time, John had a time as he left two defenders and eased the ball over the advancing Andrews for a 3-0 lead on 48 minutes.
As the game went on, St Vincent did manage some tries on goal but goalie Jan Michael Williams kept them at bay with some flawless work between the sticks. And frustration kept in as the visitors lost Benford Joseph (two yellow cards) and Dexter Walker in quick succession to play the final 25 minutes with nine men.
Following the foul on Kenwyne Jones which led to the second sending off, Yorke picked his spot with ease, sending the ball into the left of the net from the free kick. And substitute Baptiste met a left side cross from John and hammered home on his first touch of the match to complete the rout. Next up, T&T are scheduled to face Panama at the same venue on Wednesday from 6:30pm.
Line-Up.
1.Jan Michael Williams; 8.Cyd Gray, 2.Atiba Charles (Andre Toussaint 70th), 6.Dennis Lawrence, 13.Nigel Daniel; 11.Carlos Edwards (18.Kerry Baptiste 75th), 7.Christopher Birchall, 19.Dwight Yorke (capt), 12.Collin Samuel; 20.Jason Scotland (15.Kenwyne Jones 60th), 14.Stern John.
News from the 07th of October 2006.
Game on from 6:30pm today.
By: Shaun Fuentes (TTFF).
Pursuant to the undertaking given by the TTFF that we would, by noon today, advise of developments in the situation involving The Soca Warriors, we wish to advise that the game against St Vincent & the Grenadines will proceed as scheduled from 6.30 pm at the Hasely Crawford Stadium.
Captain Dwight Yorke and the full squad will take the field as originally agreed and for the purpose for which they had been brought to Trinidad & Tobago by the Football Federation. Although nothing in their statement indicated otherwise, we felt the need to proceed with caution, given the degree of surprise with which the players' news conference was sprung upon us yesterday.
We take this opportunity to reiterate that the players had agreed to ventilate the causative issue on Monday and we were surprised when, notwithstanding this decision, their representatives chose the course of action that they did.
Today's start team is as follows:
Jan Michael Williams, Cyd Gray, Atiba Charles, Dennis Lawrence, Nigel Daniel, Carlos Edwards, Christopher Birchall, Dwight Yorke (capt), Collin Samuel, Jason Scotland, Stern John.
Subs:
Marvin Phillip, Dwayne Jack, Avery John, Kerry Baptiste, Andrei Pacheco, Andre Toussaint, Kenwyne Jones.
Sincerely,
Richard Groden,
General Secretary,
Trinidad & Tobago Football Federation.
