Bye Bye South Africa???

Steups!!! Yet again, here I am after looking on after another horrible showing by the Trinidad and Tobago national team. Fundamental mistakes coupled with the lack of obligation and national pride seems to constantly be ‘our’ downfall.

Latapy’s introduction as coach has been a little more than an experiment that has yielded some very mixed results. Some of the policies that he has implemented have been a long time in coming but the previous administrations have not had the guts to do. The expulsion of Dwight Yorke from the national fold should have come at least 3 years ago. The introduction of such promising youth such as Abu Bakr, Kerry Baptiste, Jloyd Samuel and Hayden Tinto (all of who should be starting every game at this point) were great leaps during Lata’s reign. Apart from these great steps, I think that there is an inherent difference between a talented footballer and a good coach. A world of experience is always welcomed, but the ability to properly analyze situations and come up with solutions is what defines the two. As a player you don’t always look at the game in a holistic view. As a coach you must see weaknesses and strengths in your team and must be able to balance it. It has been proven time and again that not every great player is capable of becoming a great coach, case in point Maradona.

The team’s ‘senior’ players have not brought anything to the table for a while now. Marvin Andrews, Dennis Lawrence, Clayton Ince as well as a host of Trinidadian strikers need to realize that they are way past their peaks and should step aside. These guaranteed starters continue to drag the Soca Warriors name in the mud. Our qualification for the last World Cup seems to have made us complacent in our approach as opposed to giving us the drive to achieve greater things. If anything we should use that as a benchmark to qualify for every World Cup from that point on. Clayton Ince should be benched because of his poor judgment as was Marvin Phillip earlier on in the campaign. The difference between Ince and Phillip is that Ince has no more potential for growth whereas Marvin is still climbing his learning curve.

Kenwyne Jones lacks the drive to take his game to the other level and the players that he should be looking up to aren’t doing any better themselves. Kenwyne seems to be suffering from the ‘I am there’ mentality. For someone that has never won anything in his life other than Intercol I fail to see why there is this lack of drive on his part. David Beckham has won a plethora of titles during his career, and so intense was his dedication to his national team that during his current club’s off season he transferred to another league so that he could keep himself fit and remain eligible for the Three Lions.

A friend of mine made a very profound statement this morning. He said, “Trinidad has die hard fans but no die hard players”. If there is no drive these players should not play. There are more than 16 football players in this lovely twin island republic, and I’m sure if the current crop is not showing enough dedication and drive that we are more than capable of finding some that will.

Image borrowed from Trinidad Guardian dated 07-Sep-2009