Angus Eve Thread.

[Thomo]

Eve claims to have been working behind the scenes and nothing shows as nothing has changed. He picked the same useless people. Not one new face. You telling me Darius Lewis at Botafogo, Antwoine Hackford at Sheffield both said "1. nah I good 2. I not ready yet 3. let me get right with my club 4. my passport expired or I don't have one".
But he pick useless Kareem Moses, Joevin, slow big belly Neveal & paper knee Molino still.
SMFH

[asylumseeker]

Eve claims to have been working behind the scenes and nothing shows as nothing has changed. He picked the same useless people. Not one new face. You telling me Darius Lewis at Botafogo, Antwoine Hackford at Sheffield both said "1. nah I good 2. I not ready yet 3. let me get right with my club 4. my passport expired or I don't have one".
But he pick useless Kareem Moses, Joevin, slow big belly Neveal & paper knee Molino still.
SMFH

Notable.

[Trini _2026]

Imagine the jamaican coach name his 23 man  but angus keeping his a secret . The Plane tickets done book  say who are the players

[Fyzoman]

Thomo is ah man after my own heart on this!! I was laughing hard, hard, hard

I wanna add Mr. Bateau -- who cannot make a decent 7 yard pass to foot, or to lead the person he's passing to -- to your list!!

IMFO, Hackshaw is the main reason why Eve doesn't deserve to be the coach...for glaringly obvious friggin reasons.

[asylumseeker]

Yuh mean Bateau who has been named Mechelen club captain or the imposter/impersonator who shows up for NT duty but doesn't "show up"?

[Trini _2026]

Seems like molino has called it quits ...

[Thomo]

Seems like molino has called it quits ...

Good call by him. He has to look after his future and with all those injuries he can't be playing too much for TNT. He has to manage his body differently now. Joevin, Bateau and Moses need to go now but we all know donkey, Eve will pick them instead of approaching the young lads in UK who can bring more to the team.
The number 10 spot belongs to Molik Khan now I say. Shaping up to be a complete midfielder from the highlights of his recent games.

[Thomo]

Thomo is ah man after my own heart on this!! I was laughing hard, hard, hard

I wanna add Mr. Bateau -- who cannot make a decent 7 yard pass to foot, or to lead the person he's passing to -- to your list!!

IMFO, Hackshaw is the main reason why Eve doesn't deserve to be the coach...for glaringly obvious friggin reasons.

I dunno how he gets a look in everytime. I could be wrong but he never looks fit.
Plus he's too slow but hey that's just me.

[real madness]

Let's not get carried away. Highlights in ah US 4th division game is not enough to assign him the #10 spot. That being said Molik is one of the young group of players we need to build around assuming they continue to develop. In addition to him, there are players such as Ajani, Dantaye, Auvray, Nathaniel James, Lindell Sween, etc. who can have an impact with the "older" heads such as Levi, Keston Julien, etc.

[Tallman]

Angus Eve: Support the footballers, even if you don't like me
By Roneil Walcott (T&T Newsday)

After vital wins over Curacao and El Salvador to start the 2023/24 Concacaf Nations League (CNL) A campaign, T&T men's football coach Angus Eve has urged the public to not let their personal feelings about him cloud the excellence of his young team.

He said that more support should be given to the young players who are representing their country in a positive manner.

"(The fans) may not come out and support Angus Eve because they may have an issue with Angus Eve," the T&T coach said, during a media briefing at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Mucurapo on Friday. "Let's support these players who are trying to do something positive for their country and nation. It's extremely important that people come out and support and understand that this is a new beginning.

"The campaign has started like a house on fire, but it's a new beginning. There is a lot more work to be done but we are well-placed and we have a good platform to build on."

Eve again pointed to the spate of violence in the country, and he said the T&T footballers are a beacon of hope.

"Our country is in a state where we're losing young people every day through violence and gun violence. And to see young people do something positive for the country (is great) – to see these people go out and give their hearts to their country. It may be a case where we need to come out and support that."

T&T sit atop their Nations League group with a maximum six points from two matches, with matches still to come against Guatemala (October 13) and Curacao (October 17) respectively. With a win vs Guatemala, T&T can book a spot into the CNL quarter-finals where they will meet one of the four seeded Concacaf nations; Canada, Costa Rica, Mexico or the US.

Eve stressed on the importance of the 12th man, and he urged the T&T supporters to give their players that extra lift when they face Guatemala at the Hasely Crawford Stadium next month.

"Any team at home is dangerous. Some places don't think home advantage means anything, but it means a lot to these fans in (the Concacaf region). We need to capitalise on home advantage and we need to capitalise on this start we have gotten.

"Hopefully, the fans will come out and celebrate these kids and push them forward so they can continue to achieve excellence."

Despite their perfect start to the group, Eve says survival in Nations League A remains the first goal.

"If I ask any of you here today if you feel we would've been in this position, you'd say no. We are in a good place. We are in a place where we didn't expect to be, especially with what we're trying to do.

"Our first inclination would have been trying to stay in (Nations League) A, just like any team who (has been promoted) to the Premier League. We have to take it one game at a time. If we get a point, we are guaranteed a spot in the Nations League A. If we get three points, then who knows, the sky's the limit for us."

Following a disastrous 2023 Concacaf Gold Cup where T&T made a group stage exit after heavy losses to Jamaica (4-1) and the US (6-0), team captain and playmaker Kevin Molino announced his retirement on September 1, despite being named in the provisional squad for the Nations League.

Veteran Costa Rican-based defender Aubrey David was then named as Soca Warriors captain, and was subsequently selected in the Nations League A Best XI for the September window. Eve commended David's leadership.

"Aubrey David's leadership was exemplary. You heard the things he said and you saw his actions on the pitch. You would have seen how he conducted himself."

The 51-year-old coach says his players are focused and have put the Gold Cup disappointment behind them.

"We believe in ourselves and we believe that if we go out and do the work we can do, and match these teams' intensity, we can compete at this level."

[asylumseeker]

Angus Eve is in need of a media advisor. Suddenly public sentiment is about him PERSONALLY? Wow! Perhaps he should carefully revisit the themes pertaining to emotional intelligence to which he was recently exposed. He is starting to dribble himself by the corner flag.

He is the only MNT coach in recent time who gets a grade that's deemed passing, but insufficient. Think the CXC Grade III of yesteryear. Reasonably good for one's confidence or self-assurance, but frustratingly ineffective as a matter of advancing.

Others have either failed or passed outright, absent marginal performance. Perhaps he should work on giving himself better margins.

His battle is not with the footballing public of Trinidad and Tobago, nor the people of Trinidad and Tobago with him. His battle is with and within himself. He should focus on his margins rather than on the false narratives.

Improve your product, Angus Eve. Both on the field and in media delivery. You've made several justifiable decisions, but your public argument (both on the field and in the media) is not yet airtight or watertight such that it should be free of debate.

We doh have time for Angus against a world of straw men.

[Controversial]

Yes Angus we don't support puppets or sell outs...

live with it, save us the talk and resign with Hadad the other puppet...

we have had enough with our football being hijacked by a bunch of people who are beholden to foreign entities that are not working in our best interest

So yes Angus we don't like you or what you stand for or your lack of ability in coaching our national team

[Tallman]

Hating on Angus
By Fazeer Mohammed (T&T Express)

Now that a whole highway has been named after Leroy Deleon and Warren Archibald, what about replacing the Haig Street sign with “Angus Eve Street?”

I mean, we’re talking here about a Carenage native who has represented the senior national men’s football team 118 times, scoring 36 goals. There aren’t too many around in the global game with those sorts of numbers. And now, carrying the mantle of head coach of the same team he represented for so long, he has taken Trinidad and Tobago into the quarter-finals of the CONCACAF Nations League and yet another of those end-of-year decisive duels with the United States.

There seems to be a reluctance to give Eve much credit for this run, moreso now that Kevin Molino has properly washed his mouth on his former head coach with accusations ranging from him being more keen to do the bidding of the Normalisation Committee than seeking the interest of the players, to lacking in tactical acumen, and the now standard presumed kiss of death phrase: losing the dressing room.

And yet, here we are, even in the aftermath of an embarrassing 5-3 loss away to Curacao a week ago, into the knockout phase of the Nations League. It is something no-one was prepared to forecast ahead of the group stage, where the side showed spirit and tenacity in coming from behind on more than one occasion, culminating in the dramatic 3-2 defeat of Guatemala at the Hasely Crawford Stadium.

So was all this down to the players alone? Is Eve not deserving of any credit at all for what they were able to achieve against the odds, even if they also required other results to go their way following the whipping from Curacao?

Of course, the defensive showing in Willemstad last Monday was worse than a joke. I only watched the first half but in that 45 minutes, the frequency with which players were dispossessed or gave away possession or were caught out of position made you wonder what the so-and-so was really going on. And now that we know the Americans are the next opponents in a home-and-away tie, can we really expect to survive with so much amateurishness at the back?

If we are going to cuss Eve for such a shambolic showing, shouldn’t the players also bear their share of responsibility? As incompetent as many will want to argue that he is—including 95 percent of the players according to Molino—isn’t passing the ball to a teammate rather than an opponent, especially near your own penalty area, a skill so fundamental that it shouldn’t require the intervention of a tactical genius to ensure that it is accomplished regularly and properly?

What doesn’t help Eve’s cause though are statements which are either contradictory or just plain nonsense.

One minute he suggests no attention should be paid to rankings when Trinidad and Tobago are 100-plus on the FIFA table, only to change tune now that his side has advanced into the double digits. After the 5-3 loss to Curacao, one of the many excuses was that the players were “leggy,” the suggestion being that two games in five days had taken its toll. But isn’t that going to be the same situation against the States in a month’s time, so should we brace for a proper cut-tail whether or not the Yanks are at full strength?

Rather than judge Eve the coach on the basis of superfluous issues though, like saying one thing today and something else tomorrow, or lacking the charisma of a Jose Mourinho or the combative feistiness of an Alex Ferguson, maybe we should use results as the ultimate baseline.

In that regard he hasn’t done badly. In fact, he has exceeded expectations by getting Trinidad and Tobago to the quarter-finals of the Nations League. No amount of dismissive references to him being just very lucky will change that fact. Whether or not he is a Robert Hadad stooge the reality is that under his watch the players are putting in enough of an effort, notwithstanding an array of glaring deficiencies, to overcome several hurdles.

However overcoming the Americans is a different challenge altogether, and while we will always be able to point to that shock win at the Ato Boldon Stadium six years ago which led to their failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup finals in Russia, every reliable indicator points to elimination four weeks from now.

So, should the concept of an “Angus Eve Street” in his hometown of Carenage hinge on pulling off an even bigger upset against the USA than what has been achieved so far? No, it should be based on the value placed on his body of work as a player, coach and representative of his community.

Everything else is peripheral.

[ffisback]

Placing 2nd without playing the 2 top teams in the group has more to do with luck of the draw than anything else I would rather play the 2 top teams loose and not qualify for the quarterfinals than to be humiliated in the quarterfinals the last nation league games we reached the Gold Cup through the back door and got humiliated and now we qualify for the quarterfinals through the back door to get humiliated again this is embarrassing.

[Tallman]

Angus is the right man: Shabazz, Theobald endorse Eve ahead of next year’s FIFA World Cup qualifiers
By Ian Prescott (T&T Express)

Has Angus Eve done enough to remain as Trinidad and Tobago’s senior men’s national team head coach when his current contract ends in March, and FIFA World Cup qualifying begins?

Guyana head coach Jamaal Shabazz and former national captain Densill “Bleeder” Theobald both believe that 51-year-old Eve has done enough to retain his place for the upcoming FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign.

Since replacing Englishman Terry Fenwick in June 2021, under Eve’s guidance the Soca Warriors qualified for back-to-back CONCACAF Gold Cup tournaments and for the Nations League quarter-finals for the first time.

T&T was promoted and will also remain in CONCACAF Nations League A in 2024 and also still has a chance to qualify for the 2024 CONMEBOL.

“I feel they can keep Angus and continue to upgrade the staff around him,” stated Shabazz, a former T&T men’s and women’s national team coach. “Of course there are areas he can develop, but I believe Angus has given a good account of himself.”

Likewise, Theobald also feels his former teammate had proven himself. “I would love for him to extend his contract leading into the World cup qualifiers, given the opportunity of course,” stated Theobald.

“I think Angus deserved the right to prove himself in the international arena as a national coach,” he continued.

“More so for the last couple of games, barring the game that we played in Curacao. Not only the results, but the performances as well.”

He added: “Being able to beat Curacao 1-0 with a late goal. Being able to go away to El Salvador, a difficult place, and get that result there. And then being able to come back home and beat Guatemala and the USA.”

Trinidad and Tobago has just a meagre five wins, and only three in official competitive matches, against the USA, in their 23-match history.

However, the last two visits by the American team to the Caribbean nation have resulted in 2-1 defeats-- both occasions managed by local coaches, Dennis Lawrence in 2017, and Angus Eve 2023.

Even the highly-regarded Dutchman Leo Benhakker, who coached T&T to qualify for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, failed to beat the United States during his tenure as head coach.

A member of T&T 2006 World Cup team in Germany, Theobald says victories over the Americans are not easily won. He was ecstatic about Monday night’s victory-- against a country with over 330 million more people than the twin-island Republic.

“Oh my God, I was so happy and pleased,” Theobald exclaimed. “Not only the result in our favour, but the performances of the team in the last two games especially.”

He went on: “During my time of playing, I never had the opportunity to beat the USA or even hold on to a draw with them. That’s why I’m so pleased for the boys. You are able to see now that the landscape of football, that gap, is getting closer and closer. So, that any given day in football, anyone can beat anyone.”

Meanwhile, Shabazz rated highly T&T’s victory over the USA.

“I am so proud of Angus Eve and his staff. Not just because of this game, but for the rest of results he has gotten. Results matter,” Shabazz stated.

“His detractors have literally wanted him to turn water into wine,” Shabazz continued, “What he has shown as a young coach, at different times with the senior team, is an ability to grind out big results.”

Eve’s current staff, mostly locally-based, consist of former national players such as Derrick King, Reynold Carrington, Anton Pierre, Clayton Ince, manager Richard Piper, along with other support staff.

Shabazz believes Eve should remain head-coach, while at the same time continuing to improve his backroom staff.

“Trinidadians feel that our programme is of the magnitude where we could hire and fire coaches. But just as we want a coach to build a team, the Association must help to build the staff,” added Shabazz.

As head-coach of Guyana, Shabazz has recently been afforded privileges which he did not have, when taking a chance with the Golden Jaguars many years ago, when they were among the poorest of South American and Caricom countries.

Shabazz now functions like a traditional English Premier League manager, with specific coaches to implement his strategies. He has a first-rate match analyst, travels with two physios, two equipment managers.

“I have a backroom staff second to none. In little Guyana,” Shabazz revealed.

“It is their expertise and work ethic that has contributed to the resurgence of Guyana football.”