Leo keen on Corneal's input.
T&T Newsday.
Trinidad and Tobago football team coach Leo Beenhakker said he's anxious to have Anton Corneal as part of his technical staff from early next year as the Warriors prepare for their 2006 World Cup campaign beginning against Sweden on June 10.
The Dutchman, in Nuremberg, Germany on Monday to visit his choice of site for TT's main training base for the tournament, said he would be returning to Trinidad in mid-January to continue preparations with a group of home-based players.
His assistant Wim Rijsbergen will begin the training sessions at an earlier date and Corneal will also work alongside him and will be a full-time member of the technical staff for all training, preparation matches and the trip to Germany.
Another Dutch assistant has been hired, but only to work as a scout and will not be in the same position as Corneal, a former coach of the national Under-20 team.
"He definitely will be part of the team and I will hold further discussions with him on my return to Trinidad because it's important that he knows what's happening," Beenhakker said.
The former Ajax boss also said he was somewhat concerned over some of TT's overseas pros not playing regularly with their clubs but had no fear that it would not put a damper on their readiness for the World Cup. He also intends to look at other England-based players including Ricky Shakes among others as well as a couple now based in Germany who are eligible of playing for TT.
"I will be spending the next few weekends checking out the other players and seeing who might be able to join us," he said.
Beenhakker also spoke to officials of the Wachtelhof Hotel and a sports official in Rotenberg, Reinhard Luedemann, about the passion displayed by the players, officials and fans in T&T when the team qualified and he assured them that they will be hosts to a proud bunch from June.
As such efforts are being made to ensure that both set of fans meet up for activities and other events to develop better relationships.
The possibilitity of organising accommodation for fans, close team associates and families in Rotenberg was also an option discussed on Monday.
$4m lost on ‘mother of matches'.
By: Joel Bailey (Newsday.[/size]
The Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF) stand to lose a minimum of $4 million from the cancelled March 29, 2006 "Mother of all Matches" against Brazil at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo.
Revealing that the "Samba Boys" were indeed expected to face the Soca Warriors in the highly-expected friendly international, TTFF Special Adviser Jack Austin Warner said he was saddened by the development.
Warner admitted crying on realising that the Brazil game was off.
Gate prices were set at $300 and $500 (Covered stands) and Warner estimates that the cancellation cost the T&TFF some $4 million in potential revenue.
He said Brazil were set to come with their top players such as Ronaldinho, Ronaldo and Roberto Carlos, and a Johannesburg-based company had already been contracted to handle ticketing arrangements.
"This is the only team who qualified for the World Cup, who will not see their players in a home match before the World Cup begins, " Warner said, adding it was unprecedented, but because 17 of Trinidad and Tobago's players are based abroad, there was no getting around it.
He also stated yesterday that the Football Federation " was is in serious financial straits."
Warner spoke at a press conference at the VIP Lounge, Hasely Crawford Stadium yesterday.
On Monday, the FIFA vice-president disclosed that the friendly was scrapped due to a new match calendar issued by the world body governing football.
Another friendly was planned for February 8, against Wales in Cardiff. But the match is now expected to take place in London, England on Ash Wednesday, March 1.
Warner noted that the TTFF is planning to have chartered flights to carry local entertainers "as a trial run for (the World Cup in) Germany" and national coach Leo Beenhakker will be utilising a number of British-born players who are seeking eligibility to represent TT. Other practice matches are being organised against Norway, the Czech Republic and Hungary, but Beenhakker has refused an offer to play Ghana.
With Trinidad and Tobago scheduled to meet England, Sweden and Paraguay in Group "B" at the World Cup Finals next year, Warner said that Beenhakker was looking to play teams with similar styles to England and Sweden. But he added that the coach was "dismissive of Paraguay" by not focussing on a practice match against a South American team.
Warner, who left late yesterday for Japan, also confirmed that the TTFF, on Monday, spent $2.4 million booking hotels in Austria, for the pre-World Cup training camp in May, and the Wachtelhof Hotel in Rotenburg, Germany for the team's World Cup stay in June. The football administrative giant revealed that, by December 20, he plans to put a case to the FIFA Players' Status Committee concerning British-born pair of Jlloyd Samuel and Bobby Zamora, as well as Brazilian-born Jose Luis Seabra, who have made themselves available to play for Trinidad and Tobago.
On the issue of former assistant coach Theo De Jong, Warner stated: "Beenhakker felt that he had served a particular purpose and he needed a different kind of coach at this point in time. So his contract wasn't renewed."
"It had nothing to do with his competence or such. He just felt that, at this particular level, he needed another coach," said Warner.
As far as De Jong's replacement is concerned, Warner said, "I don't know. I've not shown any enthusiasm or interest," he added. "Whenever Beenhakker is ready to tell us, he'll tell us. But I don't know. He hasn't told me at least."
Warner noted that any local player who feels that he can make the team will have a chance to prove himself to the coach, who has been appointed to the staff after former assistant coach Theo De Jong's contract ended last month.
The T&TFF special advisor added that T&TFF technical director Lincoln Phillips has already been in contact with 150 Universities in the USA and, so far, 160 players have been found. "The door is open until the end of August 2006 to all who feel they can contribute ."
Concerning the allocation of tickets for TT nationals, Warner disclosed that the maximum allocated to the TTFF would be 2,200 which, according to FIFA, would be based on of the small population of the twin-island republic.
Stressing that first priority would be given to "the 201 persons who went to Bahrain" and an estimated 440 from Washington DC and New York City.
"You can't buy tickets on black market because that's an offence. You can be blacklisted worldwide," he said. "So you can't go up there and buy outside, you can't do that. And every ticket has a name."
"At the end of the day, if we have 800-1,000 tickets at our disposal, we're lucky."
Franz "Kaiser" Beckenbauer, who is one of only two persons to win World Cups as a captain (1974) and coach (1990), and now heads of the 2006 World Cup Organising Committee, is expected to make two one-day trips to Trinidad in January and February respectively. According to Warner, the January 18 visit was confirmed on Monday.
Beckenbauer and fellow Germans Wolfgang Neirsbach and Fedor Radmann will make a stop in Trinidad during their welcome tour of CONCACAF qualifiers (January 16 in Mexico, January 17 in Costa Rica and January 19 in the United States). And Beckenbauer would make another stop here, again with a private jet, on February 18 as part of the Coca-Cola/FIFA Trophy Tour.
News from the 13th of December 2005.
'Mother of all GAMES' called off.
By: Kern De Freitas.[/size]
Revised FIFA schedule puts paid to T&T's March 29 friendly.
The much-hyped March 29 friendly clash between Trinidad and Tobago and a high-profile international team in preparation for their World Cup debut will not be played after all.
This came to light after FIFA rescinded the time-frame the 32 qualifiers would have used for their final preparations before the tournament in Germany next June.
Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (T&TFF) president Oliver Camps explained yesterday that the intended fixture-referred to as "the Mother of all matches" by T&TFF special adviser Jack Warner at a news conference earlier this month-would have to be cancelled as the majority of the "Soca Warriors" would not be able to leave their clubs for national duty at that time.
"What has happened," Camps told the Express yesterday, "is that FIFA have changed up their plans for the window of friendly matches. That was a window for friendly matches where the professional clubs would have had to release players. But FIFA has removed that window and therefore it is no longer open for practice."
Camps speculated the reason for the change may have come about due to complaints of professional clubs concerning players' availability for their matches.
The T&TFF president, however, could not say whether the other scheduled international warm-up date of February 8 would be affected.
Camps also cleared the air on the nine-man T&T contingent that visited Germany for the World Cup draw in Leipzig, Germany, last Friday, which Warner pointed out was the smallest delegation present.
"...There were some complaints about why we had to carry nine people to Germany. We had to have people there to carry out the various tasks. FIFA have outlines, and there are practices in different places and other things, so we have to get plently people to do it," said Camps.
"We didn't just take up people and carry them (to Germany). FIFA requested that we send these people."
He indicated they were finalising where they will be staying during the World Cup and that was one of the things-which also included inspections of the facilities hosting World Cup matches that feature Trinidad and Tobago-that the Soca Warriors' management are currently considering.
"That is one of the things the manager and assistant managers are now looking at, and hotels where they (the team) will be staying. All of that is being measured," said Camps.
Fairy tale Hotel base for Soca Warriors in Germany.
By: Shaun Fuentes.[/size]
National Football Team Head Coach Leo Beenhakker, on Monday, joined the three-man T&T delegation in Rotenberg as the inspection of venues, training sites and hotels for the Soca Warriors' 2006 World Cup participation concluded in slightly warmer conditions.
After all, manager Bruce Aanensen and George Joseph along with the team's designated liaison officer for the World Cup Mark Bos and TTFF Media had to battle it out in temperatures ranging between -3 and -7 degrees since Friday's draw as they toured the various sites.
On Monday, not only did Beenhakker's arrival from Austria bring natural warm company but it also appeared to affect the conditions as the T&T home-based team then seemed able to walk around without the use of warm gloves, coats and scarves. And on the penultimate day of the tour visit, several living here said they were confident it would reach a high of 25 degrees celcius by the time the team returns in June.
Beenhakker jetted out to Austria on Saturday to view another site for a training camp which he said will likely be used from the middle of May before the team arrives in Rotenberg to take up a team base at the hotel Wachtelhof which from a first look from the outside appears like some fairy tale-like cottage in the middle of the woods but then on entering, the look is transferred to one of elegance, luxury and friendly feeling unlike the usual buzz of so many big hotels the team may have been accustomed to staying at before.
It's the perfect setting for the permanent base which the team will take up on arrival in Germany, even as they travel to the designated hotels for their three Group B matches. Situated in the reserved town of Rotenberg, it will take the team approximately one hour by plane, all chartered for business class, to get to Dortmund to face Sweden, Nuremburg for England and then to Manheim where the team will stay at the Dorint Kongress Hotel which requires a one-hr bus drive to the Fritz-Walter- Stadium in Kaiserslautern for the match against Paraguay on June 20. T&T will stay at the Hilton Hotels in Nuremburg and Dortmund for their other two games against England and Sweden. Neither of these hotels can compare with the Wachtelhof where Bayern Munich also camped in 1999 and 2002.
"That's what we wanted, a really nice and comfortable place for the players," Beenhakker said.
Hotel director Heiko Kehrstephan assured that his hotel staff would go all out to make T&T's stay a most comfortable one.
"We are delighted to have the Trinidad and Tobago team here with us for the World Cup and we will ensure that all the needs of the team will me met by our staff. They will definitely have a great stay to look forward to and I can tell you too that the town is also very anxious for them to be here. People are asking for flags and shirts and we know too that you recently signed with Adidas, so those here are very excited about that. We also have some local steel drum groups who want to play when you get here and we intend to make it a comfortable partnership between the German people from here and others who may be around us for the World Cup," Kehrstephan told TTFF Media.
Aanensen stated that the entire hotel of 38 rooms will taken for use by the T&T team.
Beenhakker also revealed on Monday that he would be traveling to England on Friday to view matches this weekend involving a couple of players eligible of representing T&T and he will continue to monitor others who can play for the "Soca Warriors".
He hinted that an invitation has come from the Czech Republic Football Federation to play that country in early June leading up to the World Cup. He is also going ahead with plans for a training camp in England at a venue he should have better idea of after this weekend's trip there which will be followed by another training camp in Austria where a couple more internationals may be lined up before going to Czech Republic. The Austria venue has hosted several teams including the German National Team in the past. Beenhakker's men will then take up base at the Wachtelhof from around June 4.
Beenhakker also visited the training ground which the players, according to the Dutchman, will use bikes to ride to for their sessions, located a short distance from the hotel. It comprises of two excellent training fields along with dressing rooms, spas and treatment rooms.
"This definitely has to be the right thing for the players and I can assure you as a team we will make the very best of it," said the T&T boss.
Germans filming local football.
T&T Newsday Reports.
With the attention of the world on the 32 finalists for the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany next year, Trinidad and Tobago will be getting their fair share of publicity, in the build-up to the tournament next June.
During the past two weeks, a trio of Germans — Stefan Ganter, Joachim Loritz and Norbert Edner — was in these shores filming a documentary on the World Cup debutants.
While the TT team will have to show their worth on the football field, the German trio was here to capture video footages of other aspects of the "Land of Steelband and Calypso."
The threesome noted that they were enthralled by the musical talents of Trinidad and Tobago, in particular parang and the work of top local performer Mungal Patasar.
They also noted that, compared to Germany, Trinidad and Tobago is filled with a number of nightclubs and liming spots, as well as a variety of ethnicities.
The group left Trinidad on Sunday but, a day earlier, they were at the Larry Gomes Stadium, Arima for the Lucozade Sport-sponsored Big Six decider between North East Stars and United Petrotrin.
