With his team scheduled to open training Saturday in Florida for its opening World Cup qualifiers at Guatemala Nov. 13 and at home against the USA four days later, Trinidad & Tobago national teamcoach Stephen Hart was at the center of a media storm on Wednesday following a television report he had quit.
The Trinidad & Tobago FootballAssociation had to issue a statement that Hart, whose Soca Warriors won the group title at the Gold Cup ahead of Mexico, had not quit.
“There is no truth to the rumors,” Hart saidin the statement. “We have two crucial World Cup qualifying matches to prepare for and that remains the focus.”
It might seem strange that T&T will hold a training camp in Florida but play its qualifiers in Guatemala and at home, yet it makes sense on two counts. It will allow the SocaWarriors to train away from distractions at home — the coaching staff credits a pre-Gold Cup camp in Fort Lauderdale for the team’s strong showing — and they have to go through Miami to get toGuatemala City because there are no direct flights between Port of Spain and Guatemala.
“The camp in Fort Lauderdale will allow us a few days to work without scrutiny,” Hart said ina statement released by the TTFA, “and we can simply concentrate on our approach to the game.”
Plans for a charter flight had to be scrapped because there were no funds to pay for it.Such was the state of affairs that as of Sunday the Soca Warriors didn’t even have confirmed airline or hotel reservations for the trip to Guatemala City.
That’s all par for the coursefor the T&T national team program that has struggled for funding since former Concacaf president Jack Warner, indicted by Federal authorities in May andfighting extradition, quit soccer in 2011 after being caught up in the Caribbean bribery scheme that resulted in the banishment of Mohamed bin Hamman.
“The senior team is struggling,” Williams Wallace, the Soca Warriors operation manager,
The Soca Warriors, who need $310,000to fund their first two qualifiers, aren’t the only team with problems. Day-to-day problems have extended to all national teams. The women’s national team arrived in Dallas last year to prepare forWomen’s World Cup qualifying with $500, prompting its coach, Randy Waldrum, to issue a plea on Twitter for help. In July, the T&T men and women threatenedto strike in separate incidents at the Pan-American Games in Canada. The T&T U-23s traveled to Puerto Rico with 11 players for Olympic qualifying because they couldn’t get U.S. visas for otherplayers.
The government has funded national team programs, but Brent Sancho — the former St. John’s defender who represented T&T at the 2006World Cup — was highly critical of the TTFA’s lack of transparency in its accounting after taking over as the Minister of Sport early in 2015. (Sancho has beenout of the government since the People’s Partnership/UNC lost in the Sept. 7 general election.)
Hart, the former Canada national team coach, coached the Soca Warriors at the GoldCup without a contract as his two-year deal had expired. For months, there was talk of a new contract being imminent but it has not arrived. In the meantime, Hart and his assistants are workingwithout pay. Even Wallace, the team manager, told wired868.com he was workingpro-bono.
In the long term, there might be some daylight for the national team. A $3 million uniform deal was recently announced with a Dubai manufacturer. The TTFA is also looking intobuilding a federation complex with offices, fields and housing by pooling the money from two FIFA grants totaling $1 million.
T&T opens against Guatemala, which it beat comfortably,3-1, at the Gold Cup. It tied Mexico, 4-4, to win its group and then proved that was no fluke with a 3-3 tie against El Tri in a friendly in September. The Soca Warriors exited the Gold Cup with adefeat as they lost to Panama in a shootout in the quarterfinals. They gained revenge for that defeat with a 2-1 win over the Canaleros in September.
T&T, which heads to GuatemalaCity with a seven-game unbeaten streak, has called up four MLS players — Daneil Cyrus, Kevan George,
Trinidad & Tobago Roster:
Defenders: Daneil Cyrus(Chicago Fire), Justin Hoyte (Dagenham & Redbridge/England), Carlyle Mitchell (Seoul E-Land/South Korea), Sheldon Bateau (FC Krylia Samara/Russia), Radanfah Abu Bakr (Koge/Denmark), YohanceMarshall (Murcielagos/Mexico), Mekeil Williams (Antigua/Guatemala), Aubrey David (Shakhter Karagandy/Kazakhstan).
Midfielders: Andre Boucaud (Dagenham& Redbridge/England), Khaleem Hyland (Westerlo/Belgium), Kevan George (Columbus Crew), Neveal Hackshaw (North East Stars), Trevin Caesar (Austin Aztex), Cordell Cato (San Jose Earthquakes), JoevinJones (Chicago Fire), Lester Peltier (Slovan Bratislava/Slovakia), Keron Cummings (North East Stars).
Forwards: Kenwyne Jones (Cardiff City/Wales), WillisPlaza (Central FC), Jonathan Glenn (Breioablik/Iceland).
Watch Klinsmann lose this one.