Ok so we might not be playing in the GC again, and it all seems pretty dull now, but here is the deal.
From what I remember, we will be formally announcing and introducing the new coach tomorrow.
this in itself should be the catalyst we need to move forward.
The way to think of it is that all we really missing out on is 2 games in the USA, we all know we would not have gotten past the first round there in the Gold Cup.
For T&T, because we are ranked 11th in CONCACAF (lord have mercy), we now have to start WCQ very early - in SEPTEMBER 2011, thats 5 months to get ready..... 5 months. The top 6 teams in the region get away fro this potential tripping point (USA, Mexico, Honduras, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Cuba) and enter at the Semifinal round middle 2012. So we all know what happen vs Bermuda in 2008 in Tunapuna. We now have to play in a group of 4 with some supposedly smaller Caribbean teams like Bermuda and win the group just to get into the semi-final round. That means playing teams like Grenada, Suriname, Haiti etc etc.
If we do make the WC for Brazil, we will have to play at least 22 games (maybe 24 if we come 4th in CONCACAF). If we trip up later this year, we play ony 6 and wont be playing WCQ's for another 4 years.
Anyone in the TTFF with some strategic acumen will look to the Gold Cup and see that groups B and C will be playing Caribbean teams not too different to T&T. That means there is the potential to arrange friendlies with some of these other non-caribbean teams... Heck, can't we even get a game with Grenada before they jet off to play Jamaica?
We should then be looking to use every single FIFA date till the end of August. I know that is plenty poltitics with club managers, but we could strategically spread it around.... Notice the correlation with JW becoming more immersed with politics and T&T friendlies/performance dry up. Can we not organise our own stuff without his help?
With regard to the football, the way i feel it will most likely unfold is that we will build a core team around men like Carlos Edwards, Cornel Glen, Kenwyne Jones, Chris Birchall, then some of the PFL standouts who have been reppin recently with limited success, and approach men like Jloyd Samuel, Jake Thomson and beg them to play. There will be one or two from the U-23 team thrown in there. Coach Pfister will have his work cut out.
My big worry is that we decide to go with a totally local PFL team later this year, and we win the group still like we did for the CFU championship late last year, feel we on song, then send out a similar team to the semi-round and we get mauled. I think its now pretty obvious that a mainly local team can only go as far as high level Caribbean play. Our success beyond that will depend on our ability to mix European and MLS players, with a very small sprinkle of local standouts (2-3 max). We have to use history to help us not repeat failures - we need a core of players by August 31st who will be the backbone of the team that goes all the way, not a group fo locals for this round, a group of MLS for the semi round and the europeans/MLS for the final round. Every game played together helps the team in the end. I hope efforts will be made to get people like Jake Thomson and Jloyld Samuel playing later this year.
We have lots of work to do ASAP. Many nations already left the blocks with the Gold Cup and will know their squads moving forward. We have to use our absence from the GC as a wake up call, a reality check of how far back we already starting off. Football is cycles. 5 years ago we was on d world stage, now we not even on a stage.
Also, I heard Pfister will be using a local team of assistants... Can someone please be the bigger man and get Terry Fenwick involved in some capacity with our football. We have tried many others not as good as him, he has more than deserved this chance, and he is now available.
To be honest, I dont have much confidence in our new coach, just a gut feeling, but we have to support him. He will need all the help he can get.