Criteria for National Team Selection

[NC]

Should Conrad Smith eligable for the National team selection, since he does not play in a quality League?

[vb]

Boss i know u trying to stimulate discussion.

But come on?? the A not a quality league.

Most of those teams could hold their own with the top three in TT.

Colin Rocke, Demmin, Richard Goddard are just some of those who have played in that league.
Titus was playing A leage when dey give him a run.

Remember when Demmin was playing with the Rhinos...dis team from a "poor league" win the MLS Cup...beating teams that TT clubs does catch dey ass with.

We giving man contract from leagues in Guyana, St. Vincent and lord knows where else..and u go ask dat?

Wasn't Phillips playing in the A League when he got called up?

Yuh cyah look at man in the Eng. 4th div..or what ever de f^%^ dey does call it these days and then ask that question.


Peace,
VB

[Jahyouth]

Should Conrad Smith eligable for the National team selection, since he does not play in a quality League?

Is the Scottish Second Division a quality league?  Or the Scottish First Division for that matter?  What about the A-League (Tiger Fitzpatrick)?  or even our local PFL?  Is that a "quality" league in and of itself?

[Tallman]

Should Conrad Smith eligable for the National team selection, since he does not play in a quality League?

Of course he should be eligible. Past & present national players like Stern John, Mickey Trotman, Avery John, Nigel Henry, Leslie Fitzpatrick, Brent Sancho, Gary Glasgow, Kevin Jeffrey, Rick Titus, Garth Pollonais, Irasto Knights, Terry St. Louis, Glenn Benjamin, Alvin Boisson, Peter "Sugars" Lewis, Craig Demmin, Dwayne Demmin all played in de A-League. Man like Scott Sealy was playing college ball whe he get call up.

[arrow]

I agree the A-league is fine enough for consideration.  The real question though is whether Conrad Smith is good enough to get selected on our first team?  I haven't seen him play but he seems to have done quite well with the few chances he's had - a good goals per game ratio (9 in 24 with most coming off the bench).
But should he be picked as striker ahead of Stern, Jones, Glen, Sealy, Hector, Nigel Pierre, Glasgow, Scotland etc.?
Perhaps he could play midfield instead but is he better than Dwight, Spann, Theobald, Eve, Edwards, Tiger or even Dwarika, Jemmott and Whitely?

[NC]

Should Conrad Smith eligable for the National team selection, since he does not play in a quality League?

Is the Scottish Second Division a quality league? Or the Scottish First Division for that matter? What about the A-League (Tiger Fitzpatrick)? or even our local PFL? Is that a "quality" league in and of itself?

Following is my position on the leagues:  Currently our young players are being shipped to countries such as England, Scotland, Wales, America and Japan to play professional football.  None of the countries mentioned above have enjoyed success in recent history, yet we continue to send our young players to those countries.  As a country, are we benefiting from this?  Are our players being properly developed as they ply their trade in some of the countries mentioned above, are they being equipped with the tools that allows them to return and compete for this country successfully?  I think we all know the answer to that, we have more players today than any other time in our history playing professional football overseas and we are unable to establish ourselves as a force to be reckoned with in international football.  In my humble opinion, we have two areas in which we need to focus on inorder to develop our young talent so that we can start qualifying for the youth World Cups, which would serve as a foundation for the senior team to qualify for the WC eventually.  First, we need to invest hard dollars in the development of football (Mr. Warner cannot do it alone), and we need to have our young talent play professionally in countries such as Argentina and Brazil so that they can truly learn the game of football and develop a culture about the game that is conducive to winning – second and third division in England and Scotland for example, is not the same as second and third division in Brazil and/or Argentina.

[SHOTTA]

brazil an argentina easy to say but language barrier go realll hinder progress i think they should go to holland or even portugal where english can at least be comprehensivly translated

[JDB]

Brazil and Argentina is definitely easy to say but would our players really be successful there?

Our players are attratcive to England and Scotland because they bring something different while fitting in relatively easily.

As much as we like to think that we are similar to South Americans it is a diifferent brand of football. The money also does not compare to that in England and Scotland, a lower dicvision player in Brazil proably makes less money than a PFL player.

Mexico would be a great place to send our players. the money isn't bad, it is close to home and they develop good players.( good enough to cut we ass at least)

[doc]

brazil an argentina easy to say but language barrier go realll hinder progress i think they should go to holland or even portugal where english can at least be comprehensivly translated

Of those countries you've mentioned, Portugal was the destination of choice. Latas, Leonson and Marcelle had some success there. What happen to the rest? Latas and Marcelle move to Britain anyway, why? Was Portugal less than ideal? or ......

[NC]

Could someone please define success?  Is it the same type of success that Zidane, Renaldo, Ronaldino, Maradona, Adriano, Fido, Beckham, Thiery, and others enjoy.

[doc]

Go an' get some res' NC ... ah feel yuh gettin' tired 

[NC]

Come September we would have this discussion again.