Soca Warriors manager waiting.
By Ian Prescott (Express).
David Muhammad is awaiting a phone call to find out whether he is still manager of the Trinidad & Tobago senior national team.
"I have no clue," Muhammad said yesterday when asked if he was still the Soca Warriors manager.
"We thought that when the appointment of Otto Pfister as head coach took place on April 5, the technical staff would have been announced also. But that was not done. The Federation (TTFF) haven't been telling us anything. We are all still awaiting word."
Muhammad confessed to wanting to retain his position of national team manager, stating that in the past few years he had gone above and beyond what was required of him.
Among other things, the technical staff had continued to function despite being unpaid for the last 13 matches.
"We still have not been paid," Muhammad said when questioned. "We went to at least four countries without a cent to travel."
Due to communication problems within the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation, Muhammad said recently he had to undertake additional responsibility of arranging friendly internationals.
"It must be the first time a manager took on the responsibility to arrange matches," Muhammad said. "After showing that kind of commitment, I would think that I would have a clear case to be retained."
Efforts to contact former T&T head coach Russell Latapy to determine his current standing with the team proved futile.
Latapy has been replaced as head coach by Pfister. But, at a recent press conference, FIFA vice-president Jack Warner admitted that the ex-Trinidad and Tobago captain was offered, and accepted, the position of assistant coach.
However, a media report yesterday states that coaches Anton Corneal and Hutson Charles have been made Pfister's assistants.
Corneal had been assistant to former T&T head coach, Dutchman Wim Rijsbergen, while Charles was assistant to national Under-20 coach, Serbian Zoran Vrazes.
Contacted yesterday, TTFF media officer Shaun Fuentes said no official position had been taken as to who Pfister's assistants would be.
However, other TTFF sources confirmed that a selection committee had recommend Corneal and Charles to be Pfister's assistant coaches and that it was a formality that the recommendations would be made official.
"I was interviewed for the assistant coach position, but I have received no official word," said Corneal yesterday.
