Messi, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Maradonna, Cruyff, Barthez, Valderamma, Wanchope,Petr Cech, Buffon, Cristiano Ronaldo, Osvaldo Sanchez, Hugo Sanchez, (and the list goes on and on, of course) are ALL players that were in a position to RECEIVE WORLD CLASS INSTRUCTION from some WORLD CLASS ACADEMY or another, IN THEIR RESPECTIVE COUNTRIES where they were taught from as early an age as they were able to understand: the fundamentals of football.......short and long passing, trapping, shooting, heading, team tactics, spatial awareness, defensive discipline, proper goalkeeper training, fitness, movement with the ball and without it, proper nutritional habits, PROPER SHIELDING WHEN YOU HAVE POSSESSION OF THE BALL, where to shoot the ball when you are in a 1-on-1 with the keeper at various angles, etc and the list goes on!!! Where in T&T are ANY of our young players really receiving this kind of training? At which Junior PFL team, at which national youth team training camp are our youths receiving this kind of knowledge and technical breeding at the level that the aforementioned superstars were/are receiving in their respective countries. How many WORLD CLASS former professionals that received the same training as youths, and then played at the highest levels are running these same academies in T&T that can impart their knowledge upon our youths? Even the Jamaican youth team that played in the youth World Cup in Argentina 2001 played at a level that we would salivate to attain, never mind that Saviola and Company mash dem up. Is Anton Corneal himself even qualified ebough to raise the level of the youths that he is tsasked with? Corneal only startin' the blame-game, pointing a finger now because he is FULLY aware of the task at hand, given our lack of investment in our football programs and he knows that he ain't the one to bring about the necessary changes, so why not blame the SSFL from all now?!?
Until we have a PROPER sytem in place to turn our youths into world class footballers, Corneal just need to hush he arse and do the best he can with what is afforded him. Show Trinidad and Tobago that you can take these players and lead them to the Under-17 World Cup next year!!