Whitley to captain T&T vs England.

[E-man]

Whitley to captain T&T vs England.
By: soccer365.com

Trinidad and Tobago based professional Aurtis Whitley, one of the surviving members of the Trinidad and Tobago squad which lost out 2-0 to England at the 2006 World Cup will wear the captain's armband in Sunday's friendly against England.

Whitley was a force throughout T&T's qualifying campaign in 2004/2005 and has led the team in recent matches against Grenada. Barbados and Jamaica. Head coach Francisco Maturana has kept the faith in him.

Meantime, former Manchester United star striker and current Sunderland player Dwight Yorke will appear only as a guest of the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation at Sunday’s match.

Yorke, who had been invited by the TTFF more than a month ago to be part of the team, only responded this week and by then head coach Maturana felt it would be inappropriate to have Yorke in his line up as he is focusing on building and preparing a team for the 2010 World Cup qualifiers which starts on June 15 against Bermuda in Port of Spain.

Maturana wants to stick to his current core of players and decided against having Yorke as a guest player against England.

"We see this as a very important preparation match against England and we want to use the players who will be part of the squad that will help us get to the next World Cup. This is not an exhibition match," Maturana said. "I have a lot of respect for Dwight Yorke and Russell Latapy. I have seen them play and they are fantastic players but we are working towards the next World Cup," Maturana said, having also informed the TTFF and its special advisor Jack Warner of his feelings.

Warner was the one to initially invite Yorke and Russell Latapy, a former FC Porto and T&T idol..

The Colombian-born coach did say however that he would still consider Yorke for future matches if the former Aston Villa player would commit towards helping his country in the qualifying campaign towards South Africa.

With all due respect, the TTFF did invite both Dwight and Russell for this game because it's an affair to mark a significant milestone in the country's football history but the coach had the final say and he wants to take a team into Sunday's game that he can rely on for the qualifying campaign and unfortunately he doesn't have that confirmation from Yorke and we know Russell has hung up his international boots. The coach has said that he holds them in the highest regards and so does the Football Federation," TTFF spokesman Shaun Fuentes stated.

“ They will forever remain legends here but the big man wants to continue building a team and he doesn't want to let Sunday's encounter against England go by without giving the current players that exposure. win, lose or draw," Fuentes added.

"We definitely feel they have a positive part to play in the future of the country's football development and we will look forward to that as to this day they are definite role models."

The other stars in the T&T team for Sunday's affair include young Sunderland striker Kenwyne Jones and midfielder Carlos Edwards as well as Southampton topscorer Stern John and a host of promising young professionals based in the Trinidad Pro League.

Yorke, along with former T&T Olympic 100 metres Gold Medalist Hasely Crawford and Cricket world record holder Brian Lara, all of Trinidad and Tobago, will meet the teams before kick off on Sunday.

[SUPA]

Although Stern is mey boi, it is only fare tuh leave Whitley wid de arm band. He has been doing a fine job on de field as far as playing and his leadership role. So doh break de man spirit, let him keep building on his confidence, I cool wid dat Maturana  . HIGHLY BLESSED.

[samo]

Although Stern is mey boi, it is only fare tuh leave Whitley wid de arm band. He has been doing a fine job on de field as far as playing and his leadership role. So doh break de man spirit, let him keep building on his confidence, I cool wid dat Maturana 

I agree. Personally though I find the captain should not be a forward... Keeper defence or midfield... But if Stern had gotten it I would not have complained..

[trinbago]

So from the above article....is not Latas or Yorke that decline...is Maturana that blank dem..or at least so Corneal, Warner Maturana making us believe

[Brownsugar]

Yuh understand Trinbago!!....steups..all de time it was on the TTFF who was arranging for them to play, now dey get blank, is de other way round....lawd fadder....

[Mose]

Game done sellout so it doh matter who play.

[Brownsugar]

Game done sellout so it doh matter who play.

Mose, it actually had people who thought Latapy was coming, yuh shoulda see mih co-worker face dis morning when he find out is not so......de unenlightened actually did believe de hype....oh lord imagine when it dawn on dem dat is a depleted UK side dat coming...heh heh heh...good one Jackula....

[Cocorite]

Good news. I think Maturana is right. I think (hope) T&T will get a realistic test and measure of where "the team" is developmentally at this juncture.

Something feels good about the preparations.

JACK doh messssssss it up nah.

[WestCoast]

Something feels good about the preparations.

I feel dais just the asphyxiophilia that Jackula doing to the Nation oui

[kiffysmooth]

Although Stern is mey boi, it is only fare tuh leave Whitley wid de arm band. He has been doing a fine job on de field as far as playing and his leadership role. So doh break de man spirit, let him keep building on his confidence, I cool wid dat Maturana . HIGHLY BLESSED.

I feel wha yuh saying broddah....my only ting doh is dat ah hope odder men who playing dey ah foreign doh let de big player mentality go to dey head and lessen de respect Whitley deserve.  And from another perspective, I hope Whitley doh fraid to ball up men according to he belief...."Not because dey have more experience dan him"...............All in all, dis kinda move will always have ah conflict of interest...I cyah see Autis telling Stern or Carlos or Kenwyn to do someting different because of how he feel.  Ah jes cyah see it.  And if dem players disagree wid he instructions - I cyah really give dem wrong either......unless it come straight from de coach.

[weary1969]

Let c how long he remain captin

[just cool]

Allyuh cyar see maturana like whitley style, the man cool cool and reserve. i tend to agree with his choice.

[SUPA]

Although Stern is mey boi, it is only fare tuh leave Whitley wid de arm band. He has been doing a fine job on de field as far as playing and his leadership role. So doh break de man spirit, let him keep building on his confidence, I cool wid dat Maturana . HIGHLY BLESSED.

I feel wha yuh saying broddah....my only ting doh is dat ah hope odder men who playing dey ah foreign doh let de big player mentality go to dey head and lessen de respect Whitley deserve.  And from another perspective, I hope Whitley doh fraid to ball up men according to he belief...."Not because dey have more experience dan him"...............All in all, dis kinda move will always have ah conflict of interest...I cyah see Autis telling Stern or Carlos or Kenwyn to do someting different because of how he feel.  Ah jes cyah see it.  And if dem players disagree wid he instructions - I cyah really give dem wrong either......unless it come straight from de coach.

Yuh have a very good point dey. But yuh know what, so long as Whitley have de full backing of his coach and entire management staff, mey boi Stern, KJ, Edwards, etc, dey better fall in line. Cuz dis coach look like de type, dat will leave yuh out of de team, if yuh doh follow his instructions on de field, or for disciplinary reasons. HIGHLY BLESSED.

[Babalawo]

Whitley is ma boy.  But I see Carlos Edwards moving like a real leader these days.  I think he should get the arm band from now

[SUPA]

Whitley is ma boy.  But I see Carlos Edwards moving like a real leader these days.  I think he should get the arm band from now

Me personally, I feel as far as being humble, experienced and leadership qualities, Stern is de best man for de job. He is a very tuff cookie tuh crumble, and dat is what you need in a leader. A team captain must have de ability to pass on his knowledge of de game to his teammates, be firm wid dem, yet still respect each and everyone of dem and be able to hold de team together, especially in de bad times. I said Stern, not because I'm cool wid him, but people can look at his records, think back to when de wasn't scoring goals for club and country, just look at how he responds to pressure, he shows time and time again, what he is really made up of mentally.

However, I think if Carlos is given the opportunity, he will do a great job also, but I just know Stern have more of what is needed for that position. Now wid dat said, I will take nothing away from Whitley, he is doing  a great job for us so far. So as de saying go, if it didn't break, why fix it. So whitley, if you read meh post my brother, keep doing yuh think, yuh going in de right direction, hopefully as we get deeper in to the WCQ, you would have gathered enough tools to deal wid your responsibilities as a captain, so dat you can lead T&T to 2010 WC. Bless. HIGHLY BLESSED.