T&TFF president tells Warriors: Contact us, we'll listen.
By: Ian Prescott (Express).[/size]
Blacklist ruins Wim's Gold Cup.
Trinidad and Tobago head coach Wim Rijsbergen said his plans for the June 6-24 CONCACAF Gold Cup have been ruined by the T&T Football Federation's blacklisting of players who represented this country at the 2006 World Cup. But the Dutchman might get a late reprieve which could work in his favour.
T&FFF president Oliver Camps seemed to be handing out an olive branch which may yet resolve the impasse between the players and the Federation, which began ten months ago over the distribution of revenue generated by the Soca Warriors' qualification for the World Cup.
Dissatisfied with their allocation, the players threatened to take legal action, resulting in the T&TFF not selecting those involved in the dispute for next month's Gold Cup.
Contacted yesterday, Camps said: "Once they come to us, we are willing to hear them," adding that the Federation was willing to find a solution to the dispute.
In the interim, Rijsbergen has named a 24-man squad made up mainly of locally-based T&T Pro League players due to the unavailability of the foreign-based professionals who played in last year's World Cup.
At Monday's training session at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Rijsbergen announced a local line-up after realising that invited pros Carlos Edwards, Jason Scotland, Clayton Ince and Dennis Lawrence had apparently withdrawn from the national squad in support of their teammates who are under the T&TFF ban.
Rijsbergen said the impasse has been a frustration to his plans.
"My plans were already ruined when they, of course, are still talking about blacklist.," Rijsbergen stated. "And, of course, it has influenced the boys that are not here. As I said before, it is not a good situation because we want to go there with the best team."
Rijsbergen is also skeptical whether the situation can be resolved in time for the tournament.
He said that had the four invited pros been interested in playing in the Gold Cup, they would have presented themselves by 12.30 p.m. on Monday when the team went into camp at Crowne Plaza Hotel. Asked if there is still a chance for the World Cup players to rejoin the team if there is a last-minute resolution before they leave for the Gold Cup on June 1, Rijsbergen said he was unsure.
"That's not up to me. If we start training now and most of the guys are on vacation and all of a sudden they will change the situation, I don't know if we can still bring guys back in," he said.
"At the moment, I think most of these guys, if they had the chance, they should be here...at least the guys who were on the list. But, they stick together with the rest. Of course, it's up to them," said Rijsbergen.
The Dutch coach said they have picked the best of the players they have seen in the Pro League and will work with them. Several of the players in the team have international experience, although many have not played at the level of the Gold Cup.
Among the experienced players are Densill Theobald, the lone World Cup player in the squad, and Silvio Spann, who was also involved in the World Cup qualifying campaign. Strikers Gary Glasgow and Errol McFarlane Junior have played several major internationals, while stopper Keyeno Thomas has also represented T&T several times.
Rijsbergen's squad also includes several players who were on the national team earlier this year in the Digicel Caribbean Cup and recent tour of Panama and Costa Rica such as Kerry Baptiste, Dwayne Jack, Seon Power and Kerwyn Jemmott.
The coach said he will give the local guys all of his support.
"This will be a whole team of guys playing here and let's see what we can do with them. Maybe, they will surprise me too. Of course, we will work hard and that's what we did in the Digicel Cup."
