Stop the football fooling

[Tallman]

Stop the football fooling
By Fazeer Mohammed (T&T Express)

On a day when a lot of damn foolishness is tolerated – and indeed encouraged – all over the world, maybe it's appropriate to try and be a little serious about the state of football in this upside-down country.

I'm sure Shane Shillingford and Sunil Narine combined couldn't impart the degree of spin that accompanies every development in our most popular sport, especially when it comes to the senior men's national team. Yet whether it's just plain old Trini arrogance that convinces us that we are better than we really are, a deep sense of insecurity that means we should only accentuate the positive and ignore the negative, or simply the determined pursuit of a selfish agenda, it is really difficult to make head or tail of the state of the side.

Heading into this new year, there was a justifiable sense of optimism given that a squad without the vast majority of foreign-based talent fought and scraped their way into the final of the Caribbean Cup last December, also qualifying for the CONCACAF Gold Cup for the first time in more than six years. Yet in speaking to media colleagues in Antigua during the T20 Internationals at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium a month ago, and listening to them describe the standard of play in the Caribbean Cup as among the worst they had ever seen, those hopes became increasingly guarded.

And now, on the heels of a goalless draw in swampy conditions in Belize followed by a 3-0 whipping administered by Peru in Lima, it appears reasonable to suggest that no significant progress has been made at all under the joint stewardship of Jamaal Shabazz and Hutson Charles...so far. Okay, so maybe there are probably some encouraging signs in relation to camaraderie, the work ethic and a desire to give all for the cause of the country, but when it comes down to actual performances on the pitch, not just the final scorelines, where is the improvement?

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[coache]

 I enjoyed reading this article.. especially coming from a layman..

[Trinitozbone]

Fazeer is on point! He is no layman by any means. He is a Sports journalist for more than 25 years. He has a lot of institutional memory and very familiar with all the actors in the play. It will be ole talk and promises for as long as this charade is allowed to continue and perpetrated on the football loving public of T & T . We deserve better!

[Sam]

Nice article on father and son- Shabazz and Theobald.

Then you've got the challenge at the other end: strikers and midfielders who dream of being the local equivalent of a Messi or a Ronaldo but who lack the killer instinct to put away the half-chance, whose work-rate is so sub-standard that they are incapable of creating more than the odd opportunity or who are unable to exercise such sustained pressure on opposing defenders that they can force an error through sheer determination and perseverance. - Theobald.

Stop the football fooling - Shabaaz always trying to find excuses and NOT correcting them. Stop fooling around and stop trying to fool the public, accept you cannot coach at this level.

[just cool]

I beg to differ, fazeer made some good observations, but he was way to cynical.

the team lost to puru twice, and any realistic person would not be too surprised by this. the object here was not to win or draw, but to get match practice against strong opposition, and to assess players to see who fits in where and who lack where, i'd much rather lose and have a clear scope on our deficiencies so we could close the gaps and make adjustments, than to win and have a false sense of security.

i say instead of crying we should reach out to the coaches and share our observations, i don't think hutson charles is soooo inaccessible especially to someone like fazeer.

i remember when jack and camps was in charge, we saw a friendly now and again and the coaches were hands off, but since they flew the coop the two federation presidents were very good to the football.

 we had four friendlies last yr and this yr we already had four, and heading to the gold cup for the first time in six yrs, what the fack more they want, blood??

IMO it's too late to hire ah new coach, plus we don't have money to do so anyway. i say lets just support the coaches and say thank God we playing football again, be patient, rome was not build in ah doggone day ppl!!

[fitzinho]

I beg to differ, fazeer made some good observations, but he was way to cynical.

the team lost to puru twice, and any realistic person would not be too surprised by this. the object here was not to win or draw, but to get match practice against strong opposition, and to assess players to see who fits in where and who lack where, i'd much rather lose and have a clear scope on our deficiencies so we could close the gaps and make adjustments, than to win and have a false sense of security.

i say instead of crying we should reach out to the coaches and share our observations, i don't think hutson charles is soooo inaccessible especially to someone like fazeer.

i remember when jack and camps was in charge, we saw a friendly now and again and the coaches were hands off, but since they flew the coop the two federation presidents were very good to the football.

 we had four friendlies last yr and this yr we already had four, and heading to the gold cup for the first time in six yrs, what the fack more they want, blood??

IMO it's too late to hire ah new coach, plus we don't have money to do so anyway. i say lets just support the coaches and say thank God we playing football again, be patient, rome was not build in ah doggone day ppl!!

I understand where you coming from, but after watching those games did u get a sense that the team was playing to a specific set of plans? The impression I got was that they were told, get the ball to Kenwyne/Cornell, Kenwyne/Cornell get the ball in the net. Even I could do that. Our team lacked structure, shape, ambition and ideas and sorry but I can't be glad to just continue watching what we are currently trying to pass off as football.