Honeymoon over for Soca Warriors coach Maturana
By PETER O’CONNOR Sunday, September 14 2008 Newsday
ALTHOUGH we in the Caribbean welcomed our
respective Olympic Medallists, during the past
week, there was little else about which to
boast—Shivnarine Chanderpaul being our one exception.
It was a gloomy week for Caribbean football, as
none of the five nations in the CONCACAF
semi-final round achieved what they needed.
In the matches played last week Saturday and on
Wednesday night, only TT came away with a
point—and a solitary point at that. Jamaica,
Cuba, Haiti and Suriname all lost twice, and all
will find it difficult to win enough points in
the final three matches in order make the final
round of six countries in 2009.
We too now have our work cut out for us, as we
sit, with Guatemala, on four points, and still to
play Guatemala in Guatemala City (October 11th),
USA here (October 14th) and Cuba (here November 19th).
It is unlikely that Cuba will present a challenge
to any of the teams at this stage, but hopefully
they will rise against Guatemala in Havana, and
set the Central Americans back.
The United States should defeat Cuba and
Guatemala in the USA and stay on top of the
group—which now suits us, and we should hope that
the Americans win both these encounters. However,
The Americans do have a habit of dropping their
standards, and using reserves, once they have qualified.
However, whatever happens between the Americans,
Cubans and Guatemalans in their encounters, we
must win ours, and this includes beating
Guatemala in their home, and the Americans and
Cubans here at Hasely Crawford Stadium. What are
our chances of this? First, let’s go back to our last two matches.
The two points lost in the final minute against
Guatemala will hurt us until we pull back points
which we may not have expected. While most of us
were satisfied with the Soca Warriors’
performance—it was an excellent game of football,
our failure to score remains a weakness. However,
my greatest disappointment was the absence of all
the so-called fans of the Soca Warriors.
Those who came, with the huge National Flag and
their painted faces, were reasonably vociferous,
but there were less than 10,000—in a stadium
seating 24,000. So where were you, Mr and Mrs Soca Warriors fan?
You, “Soca Warrior till ah dead”, let an
important home qualifier pass without your
attendance and support. But you going South
Africa, right? Yeah! At the end of the Final
Round we go see you (sic), looking for your ticket and claiming your loyalty.
In June, while you all complained about the price
of the friendly against England, you filled the
stadium to see Beckham, not to support TT. So
when you have a World Cup qualifier but without
Beckham, you have no time for the Warriors. Thanks a lot folks!
I tried to watch the replay of this match on C-TV
on Sunday afternoon. I accepted that, since it
was not live, they would interrupt for
advertisements (although FOX and ESPN—first world
broadcasters— do not interrupt soccer re-runs!).
However, C-TV suddenly, without announcement or
apology, indeed without even acknowledgment, cut
from the football to run an old Discovery Channel
re-run, cancelling the last six minutes of the
match! What is wrong with you guys at all?
I could not watch any of the match against the
United States, but I tried. I only saw distorted
and broken images for a while, then a blank and
silent screen stating “temporarily off the air” for C-TV.
As I seek to discover where the fault lay—C-TV,
FLOW, or my set—I am calling upon TTFF to ensure
that those to whom broadcast rights are given,
they “deliver” the match, in full, uninterrupted, and on time.
Roj (Roger James)
