THE EDITOR: I read with some amusement two pieces in the Express of January 17 regarding the Digicel Cup return match between St Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago in St Vincent on Sunday and comments from coach Bertille St Clair.
The esteemed coach from my investigations, never raised any concerns about the size of the field with the match commissioner or anyone in any position of note prior to the start of the match.
He was no doubt confident that St Vincent and the Grenadines would once again throw away a lead and lose as happened in two previous occasions.
So Bertille you lost for the second time in a matter of days to two teams from the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS)! This is as bitter as gall, Bertille, so you are looking for excuses.
In Antigua you lost 1-2 because of what you, your players and coaching staff said was poor officiating. In St Vincent and the Grenadines you lost because of an illegal field and poor officiating again.
But Mr St Clair, you must remember what happened with the referee on January 9 when he blew for halftime with SVG having your defence boxed in and begging for mercy.
You and Richard Braithwaite must not look for excuses for your mediocre team.
You came here in August and scraped through a 2-0 win after you should have been dead and buried. You should have been buried again on November 17 and on January 9 but through sheer luck you crawled out of the grave.
On January 16 you were beaten 1-0 by SVG on a minimum size field and some of your players almost needed a golf cart to take them from one part of the field to the other after one hour! Just imagine if it was the maximum size with Shandel Samuel, Marlon James and Wesley John in the line-up. You may have lost by default through not having enough players to remain on the field.
Mexico played you at ground level and whipped you 3-1 and 3-0. At ground level they edged out SVG 1-0 and beat them 7-0 at altitude.
Now Bertille, you and the management should try to see if you can first of all get a team not necessarily of all professional players but good, honest footballers.
You brought a trailer load of overseas-based players including Stern John to SVG in August and your unit looked like a highly paid Caribbean club team.
Now let us look at your chances of going forward to Germany with fair and honest officiating.
How many of those teams have you beaten in World Cup matches on a consistent basis?
The answer will determine your chances, Bertille.
In 1974 T&T missed out, 15 years later T&T missed out. Fifteen years later, in 2004, T&T should have missed but for SVG's squandermania.
Luck is on your side but for how long?
I have been following T&T football for years and looked upon them as my second team but Mr St Clair you are rubbing me the wrong way with your excuses.