T&T’s failed World Cup campaign
By Colin Murray (T&T Guardian).
So much is going on in the world of sport that the feeling of being spoiled for choice may seem borderline ridiculous. From athletics, tennis, cricket, golf and football - the FIFA World Cup 2022 qualifying games around the world and the Euro Championships get going tomorrow. To top it all off, at 10:00 am (Eastern Caribbean time) today, West Indies take on South Africa in the first test match at the Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium (previously known as Beausejour Cricket Ground) in St. Lucia - one of my favourite grounds in the Caribbean. Quite literally, sport is on non-stop and so with the lockdown and curfew in T&T, sports fans must be thrilled and may not think of a better way to spend their time than watching their favourite sports.
Let’s kick off with World Cup qualifying and as someone mentioned to me, Trinidad and Tobago qualification for the 2022 FIFA World Cup ended before it started. T&T did not get out of the first round. One of the darkest days in the history of the sport, far less football in the country.
St Kitts & Nevis (who won the group) performed with heart, determination and exhibited their fighting qualities, something I thought T&T woefully lacked in the games they played. Even though defeating Guyana 3-0 looked good on paper, T&T did not exhibit the characteristics of a well-oiled machine but it was the only game in which the team grinded out a victory and the best teams when they are not playing well, it is their determination and fight that shines through.
Drawing with Puerto Rico after taking the lead against the run of play, one would have hoped for a similar fighting, plucky defensive performance ensuring the Puerto Ricans did not equalise and if T&T had to win ugly by 1-0, the important scenario was the three points. That was a minor setback I thought and with the Bahamas next, who conceded seven goals three days before T&T was up against them, it meant that St Kitts & Nevis match would have been the ultimate decider. The Bahamians made three changes to the team that was hit for more than half a dozen yet the T&T team, who knew full well the importance of this match, could not get the ball into their opponent’s net.
With that draw, T&T waved bye-bye until the next World Cup qualification campaign comes around in another four years. Expectedly, the blame game quickly began. The players were thrown under the bus by the coach for squandering chances, and they probably did, but the fact remains - they could not score a goal against a team that conceded seven goals three days before plus another eight in their two previous games. What a disaster of titanic proportions! Even the hollow victory in what looked like a practice match against a St Kitts and Nevis team in their final game of the round can’t remedy the disaster.
Unfortunately, the coach can say what he wants but ultimately, he is the one in charge; he is the one who makes decisions; he is the one who picks the team; he is the one who plans the tactics; he is the one who looks at the opposition and stops them from playing; he is the one who motivates the team and the buck stops with him. Ask the host of managers in the top leagues throughout the world, when results do not go their way, do the players get fired? No. But we have seen top managers part company with clubs. Coaches are hired to do a specific job and the job of T&T’s coach was to get the team into the next round of World Cup qualification and he failed. Indeed, it is a pity but now is the time to move on.
Football in this country requires a complete overhaul so what has transpired on the field is being mirrored off the field. The constant bickering and fighting among the stakeholders will never stop. There are people who are involved in football that seek their own self-interest. In other words, what can they get out of football? Few do it for the love of the beautiful game and the love of country. T&T’s young footballers are suffering. They don’t know what the next step is and where proper training and development will be coming from. Those charged with handling football in T&T should be looking at the next crop of young people to develop them for 2026 (which may be too soon) but some effort certainly has to be made.
I await the Normalisation Committee’s post mortem on T&T’s failed World Cup campaign. It should make for interesting reading but please, don’t wait with bated breath.
Editor’s note:
The views expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not reflect the views of any organisation of which he is a stakeholder.
RELATED NEWS
Time to do the honourable thing Terry Fenwick
By Andre E Baptiste (T&T Express).
When Trinidad and Tobago thought they could at least smile after Saturday's coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic Ministry of Health Press Conference, things got worse. Not because of what was said, but what came after.
With further restrictions in place on Weekends going forward, from Sunday. This Saturday afternoon into the night should have been one full of smiles, laughter, happiness, the usual banter among sports enthusiasts with anticipation for yesterday's (Tuesday 8th June) showdown with St Kitts & Nevis which is dubbed the Sugar Boyz.
However by 6.51 pm on Saturday, many were left speechless or dumbfounded by what had transpired between 5 pm mayhem.
If you are still wondering what, I am speaking of, then you are a lucky soul, that you did not have to endure watching the football match, between Trinidad and Tobago and the Bahamas and what had unfolded.
Bahamas lost their three previous World Cup qualification matches (7-0 to Puerto Rico, 4-0 to Guyana and 4-0 to St Kitts and Nevis) but managed with the aid of a purposefully lethargic T&T football team to draw 0-0 and end all dreams of qualifying for the Qatar World Cup in 2022.
I have three quick questions:
Was there ever a plan, Terry?
Was there a Plan B if Plan A failed, Terry?
What was the strategy, Terry?
What happened to many of the locally-based players who were training for over six months?
In all of this, just as in the previous matches, we must find out what sort of ideas arose at halftime in the T&T's dressing room, as we witnessed only one change, immediately after the interval. This may have suggested that to everyone else other than approximately 1.3 million citizens, everything was going to plan according to the management team.
Perhaps the main question is, should we have been surprised by all of this? the score lines, the pattern of play, the formations, the style of play, the general environment of the team, the Bahamas parking the bus and eventually the final result.
In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet “to be or not to be, that is the question", has now become more relevant than ever in T&T’s football.
Those that wanted Terrence Fenwick, as national coach, since over 18 months ago whether they are named William (Not Shakespeare), Keith (Not Brutus), Lasana (Not Lady Macbeth), Colin (Not Prospero) or Allan (Not Shylock), may all be planning exit clauses, but in the minds of many, it would certainly be too late, if indeed their support was fulsome and true.
Football in this country has always encapsulated controversy, and negativity but we never witnessed the level of animosity, diatribe and total abundance of hatred and divisiveness, a lot of it attributed to social media links, where identities are generally hidden.
Many have recommended a new beginning, but how will that work, if the atmosphere, which has been described as uneasy, unfriendly and downright fistful by those, closest to the players, is allowed to permeate.
There is in history, many versions of settings, that suggest, - no time is ever good enough or bad, for change - It is the events that follow the change which is critical to any progress or improvement, and therein is the “default”. In this beautiful twin-island republic, we have heard many promises become pipe dreams never to be fulfilled, because of hunger for power.
Trust is going to be critical going forward, and therefore what needs to happen, is that coaches, players and other officials need to work with the T&T Football Association (TTFA) management team to ensure, that there is – League Football – of some kind when the sport is allowed back on the field of play.
As many turn their collective tournament direction focus onto the Gold Cup in the USA, let us hope that a plan is not only hatched but implemented for local youth football, between Secondary School league and any new Unified league.
The fact is, that since the arrival of Fenwick our football has been further divided.
Fenwick has found out, that being a national coach is not as easy as he may have believed and in these circumstances, he has found himself, caught with his pants on fire at ever turn.
While there is little doubt that several of our players underperformed and look clueless at times, the buck begins and ends with the coach – Fenwick.
Unless he can prove, that he can perform miracles with the same players, then he should do the noble deed, and offer his resignation, if not, then there would be no alternative for the Normalisation Committee to terminate his services in the current environment.
And yes it will be costly, but no more, than the loss of confidence from players, the public and potential sponsors in the team, notwithstanding there is a raging school of thought that Fenwick has already lost the dressing room and when that happens is time to press the reset button.