CUNUPIA FC are seeking to take the plunge and enter the Pro League as early as next year, according to its coach Michael De Four.
Cunupia had a productive 2018 TT Super League season, winning the League Cup last Sunday courtesy of a 2-1 victory over Queen’s Park and placing fourth in the League on 45 points, behind FC Santa Rosa, Queen’s Park and Prison Service.
And De Four is hopeful his team will be able to meet the registration fee (this year’s fee for a club interested in the Pro League was $130,000) and participate in the highest level of club football in T&T.
“We would like to get in the Pro League as soon as (next) year,” said De Four, during an interview on Thursday. “We have shown consistency, discipline, good management ability as a club.”
He continued, “We want a challenge to be able to compete at the highest level in this country and showcase our talent so the national coach will have an easier viewing of us. It’s that kind of aspiration that we have as a club. That can only be done by performing at the highest level.”
De Four, who has been head coach of Cunupia FC since its existence, believes he can bring something new to the table.
Asked about the players’ mood since Sunday’s League Cup triumph, De Four said, “Everybody is just elated still. It’s the first major title any Super League club from the Central Zone has lifted in the Super League and it’s the first title in the Super League that we have lifted – and we’ve lifted it in a two-year period.
“We did the same thing when we were in the Championship Division,” he added. “This year we placed fourth (in the League) and lifted a title.”
De Four took part in a coaching course in Brazil two years ago at Cruzeiro and he has been using what he learnt at the popular South American club to good effect.
“The key to the team’s success will be philosophy and the style of football that we’re trying to develop,” he said. “Over the last two years, we’ve fine-tuned a little and it has started to bear fruit.”
He added, “There is always room for improvement which I am working on presently. I was supposed to go to Spain this year but was asked by the president of the club (Narvin Charles) to defer the move until a later date.”
Striker Kevon Woodley has been a key member of his team’s success as he notched 23 goals this season.
But De Four, who has been at Cunupia FC for the past decade, insists the team does not revolve around the ex-national beach soccer striker.
“A player or players of his calibre, at the end of the day, have to be able to play within the style of system (of the team). Even if you are ‘a big player’, if you cannot have that discipline to play in this system you wouldn’t be able to play on the squad – no matter who you are.
“You might have noticed Woodley has been moving away from the post-up, go-to role, and in such doing has been blowing past everyone in the goalscoring (charts). He is playing within the system.”
Cunupia FC achievements:
2012-
Ramsingh Sports World CFA Trophy – Winner
Chaguanas Borough Corporation CFA Hugo Francis Memorial Cup – Winner
CRIL CFA Premier League – Runner-up
TTFA National FA Trophy – Quarter-finalist
CFA Award Recipients – Coach of the Year and Team of the Year
SPORTT Spirit of Sport Award Recipient – Community Team of the Year
2013 –
Sanitank CFA League Cup – Winner
CRIL CFA Premier League – Runner-up
Ramsingh Sports World CFA FA Trophy – Third-place
2014 –
CRIL CFA Premier League – Winner
Chaguanas Borough Corporation CFA Hugo Francis Memorial Cup – Winner
Ramsingh Sports World CFA FA Trophy – Winner
CFA Award Recipients – Coach of the Year and Team of the Year
2015 –
CNG NGC National Super League Championship Division – Third-place
2016 –
CNG NGC National Super League Championship Division – Champion
2017 –
TT Super League, League One – Third place
2018 –
TT Super League – Fourth place
TT Super League, League Cup – Winner