The Warriors left Trinidad and Tobago Sunday for Miami, USA, where they will train for four days. While there, they were billed to play Honduras in a friendly warm-up in Fort Lauderdale this week, before leaving for Guatemala where they play the first of probably the two most crucial games of their 2005 CONCACAF World Cup qualifying campaign.
The Warriors take on Central American rivals Guatemala Saturday at the Estadio Mateo Flores Stadium, and then fly back home where they host Costa Rica at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Port of Spain next Wednesday, Spiritual Shouter Baptist Liberation Day holiday.
What happens if Trinidad and Tobago were to go to Guatemala and failed to get a point. Or God forbids, they lose at home to Costa Rica. There is absolutely no doubt that the calls for the sacking of national coach Bertille St Clair will be heard far and wide. The pressure on St Clair must be intense. Even in Barbados, the often eccentric St Clair had confessed on Barbados television that his job was in jeopardy after Trinidad and Tobago's less that impressive performance at the Digicel Caribbean Cup. To be exact, St Clair said: "I feel a little disappointed because football is victory. Right now, back home they ready to cut meh neck."
At the moment, St Clair's neck remains intact, but even now it is being muttered that if T&T were to gain no points after their first three games of the World Cup campaign, then St Clair should go. But is it fair to St Clair that his tenure may very well depend on just these three matches, during a 10-match qualifying campaign? Current Warriors' manager, Richard Brathwaite, a veteran of many national teams, has repeatedly said the standard of this country's football may not be as good as in the past. Likewise, former captain and current assistant coach David Nakhid has supported Brathwaite's assertion by stating that though this current players are a far more committed bunch than in the past, the team does not have possess natural quality as those of past squads. In other words, both believe St Clair is not totally at fault for what is being seen on the field. Mind you, coaching is a tough job and getting the sack goes with the territory. St Clair should know, having gotten the boot himself, following a successful 2002 CONCACAF Gold Cup run where T&T reached the semifinal stage-which represents T&T's best run in any international tournament in recent times.
While, many believe that the games against Guatemala and Costa Rica can make or break T&T's 2005 qualifying campaign, outstanding former national goalkeeper Lincoln "Tiger" Phillips, the current Trinidad and Tobago technical director, thinks these games are very important, but not all important. Phillips sees Guatemala and Panama as the teams T&T must beat to get to the World Cup Finals.
"The game against Guatemala is extremely critical to us," Phillips says, "but it is also mainly critical to them."
Phillips says a lot of pressure will be place on Guatemala to win at home and so Trinidad and Tobago can expect a hostile home crowd and a Guatemalan team which will be trying to put loads of pressure on them. A loss, he believes, might very well cost the Guatemalan coach his job, so he will pushing his team to win at all costs.
"Playing over there (Guatemala), may be harder at this stage than playing Mexico in altitude," Phillips believes.
"Against Costa Rica, it will also be tough because they come here to beat a team they are expected to beat-which is Trinidad and Tobago. I think we will do good if we were to get a draw."
Even in the worst case scenario, should Trinidad and Tobago lose both games to their Central American rivals, Phillips believes that all is not lost.
"Even if we lose the two games, the campaign is not over," Phillips insists. "We have 10 games, and even if we were to win the last two games and get a couple of draws, we could still qualify, because people will be beating each other. We here, panic all the time. We panic and we change the coach and everything turns upside down and we fall behind. I am not saying that we should not change the coach-that is a decision for the executive (Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation). But we have to just look back at the last four World Cup campaigns and see where we have made these drastic changes and nothing there has worked out."
Now, I remember Jack Warner stating emphatically at a press conference last year, that he was backing St Clair all the way. Promises, promises, promises. As often said, a promise is a comfort to a "fool". Will promises hold firm when the pressure is on? Will Bertille still be the national coach after next Wednesday? Anyway, that's left to be seen. And that question becomes academic if the Warriors were to come away from these two crucial games with two good results. Bertille will be smiling like a schoolboy. Pressure off - that is until the next match!