Gally talks on 2014 World Cup, Warner and bonus-gate

“Ask me not,” Everald “Gally” Cummings says, “what he did for the game but what the game did for him.”

The former Strike Squad coach is responding to a question about disgraced former FIFA vice-president, Austin Jack Warner.

Inviting the normally outspoken national player to be “brutally honest,” we had asked him for “an honest assessment of Mr Warner’s contribution to local football.” Do you agree, we add, with the view that, for as long as Mr Warner remains in the FIFA doghouse, Trinidad and Tobago’s football has no chance of making it back on to football’s biggest showcase?

Photo: Ex-England football captain David Beckham (left) and former TTFF special advisor Jack Warner.
Photo: Ex-England football captain David Beckham (left) and former TTFF special advisor Jack Warner.

We are made to wait for his answer as he carefully considers what he should say. Then he treats us to the adaptation of John F Kennedy’s famous injunction.

”You know,” he continues, “people talk as if football in Trinidad and Tobago began with Mr Warner. It didn’t. And it wouldn’t end with him either.

“Do you know that if we didn’t get robbed in Haiti,” he asks, not quite as calmly as before, “we would have qualified for the 1974 World Cup Finals? 1974! Where was Jack Warner then?

“And it’s 1989 that launched Warner, not the other way around. Go and check the records. He used the Strike Squad, the Strike Squad did not use him!”

He takes a deep breath, striving hard to keep his cool.

“I think Trinidad and Tobago football needs Jack Warner…but not before we put competent people to run the football. What we need him for is just to tell corporate T&T that they can start to put their money where their mouth is again because the Special Adviser who eye longer than everybody else own no longer in charge… “

We have been discussing the recently concluded World Cup Finals in Brazil. Cummings points out that he supports two international teams, Brazil and Germany.

Photo: Former Trinidad and Tobago national stand-out footballer and coach, Everald "Gally" Cummings.
Photo: Former Trinidad and Tobago national stand-out footballer and coach, Everald “Gally” Cummings.

Long before 1989, long before David Rudder in 1986, Gally felt that, in football as in culture, “Trinidad and Brazil (…) have the same vibrations.” And he had also long admired the German discipline and mastery of technique. When he did coaching courses in both countries, his first-hand experience there reinforced his convictions.

So it was the best elements of the football of these two countries that were fused on to the essential elements of T&T football to yield the blend Gally dubbed “Kaisoca soccer.”


And that is why for him the final outcome of World Cup 2014, in which Joachim Loew’s men claim the coveted trophy after an unprecedented 7-1 rout of the hosts in the semi-final, was bitter-sweet.

But, according to Gally, the German win does not signify a reshuffling of the hierarchy of world football. Samba is definitely in decline, Tiki taka has come to the end of the line but don’t expect the footballing world to start saying “Tiki Kaiser” anytime soon.

Contrary to what many are saying, Gally argues, Die Mannschaft is not about to become the team that all the world’s young footballers want to emulate. Nor will they dominate world football for the next decade. His conviction is based on the results in the last half-dozen World Cups, which make it quite clear that German football has been at or near the top of the world for decades now.

Often, they have had to settle to be the bridesmaid but they seemed to be always there or thereabouts.

Photo: Germay defender and captain Philipp Lahm (second from right) lifts the World Cup trophy with his teammates. (Copyright AFP 2014/Fabrice Coffrini)
Photo: Germay defender and captain Philipp Lahm (second from right) lifts the World Cup trophy with his teammates.
(Copyright AFP 2014/Fabrice Coffrini)

Gally also disagrees with those who say that the recently completed World Cup in Brazil was the best ever. Conceding that it was “very entertaining,” the former Atlanta Chiefs and New York Cosmos professional is in no doubt that the best Finals he has ever seen took place in 1970. The sheer quality of that Brazilian outfit is something those who did not have the good fortune to see them play cannot really visualize.

And the opposition were no slouches either as becomes clear, says the soon-to-be-66-year-old Most Outstanding Player of the 1974 CONCACAF World Cup campaign, from “the greatest save ever made,” England’s Gordon Banks’ magnificent intervention to keep out Pele’s point-blank range header.

Talking footballing greatness, Gally says it is hard to separate Pele and Maradona but he insists that Messi runs a distant third. Both Pele and Dieguito, notwithstanding his left-footedness, were far more complete players than Messi, comfortable in any area of the field.

The Argentina campaign in the 2014 Finals underlined how much less effective the Barca Argentinian is when he is forced to operate outside his comfort zone, on the flanks.

Switching his attention to the domestic scene, Gally said he has “no confidence at all” in the current structure of national football to save the local game. He is certain that a Pro League “organized to cut the clubs off from their roots, from the communities,” is definitely not what local football needs.

Photo: Big truck passing! Point Fortin Civic defender and captain Andre Ettienne (left) forces Defence Force midfielder Curtis Gonzales (centre) to take evasive action. (Courtesy Allan V Crane/Wired868)
Photo: Big truck passing!
Point Fortin Civic defender and captain Andre Ettienne (left) forces Defence Force midfielder Curtis Gonzales (centre) to take evasive action.
(Courtesy Allan V Crane/Wired868)

Maybe something can be achieved with the Super League, he says. He does not, however, expect the men currently in charge of national football to make the necessary adjustments to the existing structure.

Asked for his thoughts on the current national coach and whether he thinks the 54-year-old can guide T&T football back to the World Cup Finals, Gally had little to offer.

“I know Mr Hart’s name and I know he came from Canada,” the former Strike Squad coach confessed. ”I know nothing about his credentials so I have no more to say about him.”

Here he stops to take a side-swipe at the TTFA which is “consistently hiring foreign coaches at inflated salaries and making no attempt to let the country and the fans know what they have achieved as is the norm all over the footballing world.”

“But do you think we have any chance of getting to Russia in 2018 or Qatar in 2022?” we enquire.

A broad smile is the first response.

“Well, if we get back the millions of dollars we collected in 2006,” he eventually says, “we might have a chance…”

“So you agree with the Soca Warriors’ decision to keep on fighting for their money in spite of having got from Government the $1.3 million they estimated was due to them?”

Photo: A Trinidad and Tobago supporter holds up a sign ahead of the Group B World Cup match between Paraguay and Trinidad and Tobago at Kaiserslautern's Fritz-Walter Stadium on 20 June 2006.   (Copyright AFP 2014/Roberto Schmidt)
Photo: A Trinidad and Tobago supporter holds up a sign ahead of the Group B World Cup match between Paraguay and Trinidad and Tobago at Kaiserslautern’s Fritz-Walter Stadium on 20 June 2006.
(Copyright AFP 2014/Roberto Schmidt)

A frown furrows his brow.

“As long as we understand,” he says slowly, wagging a warning finger at me and through me, I recognize, at Shaka Hislop, Brent Sancho, Kelvin Jack and the ten others, “that that money belongs to Trinidad and Tobago football and not to 13 Soca Warriors.

“And that in going after it, they are acting not on behalf of the TTFA or on behalf of the Soca Warriors but on behalf of the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago.”

It is an important point which much of the public discussion of the issue has completely missed.

Or ignored.

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About Earl Best

Earl Best taught cricket, French, football and Spanish at QRC for many years and has written consistently for the Tapia and the Trinidad and Tobago Review since the 1970's. He is also a former sports editor at the Trinidad Guardian and the Trinidad Express and is now a senior lecturer in Journalism at COSTAATT.

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17 comments

  1. Listen, people. Maybe Gally is not a great admirer of Mr Hart but what makes that important?
    It seems to me that there is far more in what he said to talk about: He gave his views on Maradona, Pele and Messi, on Jack Warner, on the Soca Warriors, on the development of football in T&T, inter alia.
    After the interview, I pressed him and he had this to say about Hart:
    “Let’s look at the games Hart has coached. Let’s start with the Gold Cup in USA.
    We played against Haiti………. Honduras, (reserve team) Mexico (Reserve Team )
    Then against Argentina, who used the game against us to evaluate and experiment on their ball possession, shape and pattern, recovery, organization of team play, rhythm and finishing for WC in Brazil. I was there and many times during that game, there were three Argentinian players heading towards our goal with our goalkeeper way up field…
    Should I continue?”
    Make of that what you will…

  2. Mrs. Cummings — thanks for putting Colin in his place!! As Gabre’s team mate back in the day, I can confirm that CIC was indeed the place for him, as he enjoyed both his football and the overall vibes at the school. We all remember what Gally and the Warriors did back in the day — he has earned the right to voice his opinion, we can choose to disagree…..respectfully.

  3. the hart comment is ridiculous, hart has paid his dues and deserves some respect as coach.. to me that sounds like jealousy…

    so in gally’s mind, he is hinting at that if the players don’t get the missing funds, we are not making the WC in 2018 and 2022? what is plan #2?

    i find most people locally are all talk and zero action… very passive

  4. Please don’t bring my son Gabre into this. It was more convenient to drop him off to school at CIC( other than it being a first choice school) with his sister attending Convent opposite and my office a couple minutes away at Queen’s Park West. There was traffic one wanted to avoid in the 80s too you know! LOL!

  5. Lol. Hart is a Trini to the Bone. No doubt about that.

  6. You could have fooled me where his words on Hart is concerned. But everyone is entitled to their opinion including Gally. Besides everybody knows Stephen Hart is a born and bred Trinbagonian except Gally? Who he trying to fool? Wha happen? He doh read Newspapers? STEUPS!!

  7. I’m not saying he is above criticism eh. Just that he is near the pinnacle for me in local football.

  8. Colin I assumed Gally just got a chance to send Gabre to a better school! Haha.
    Debbie Espinal, Stephen Hart has already carved out a bit of history for himself as coach in the 2013 Gold Cup. Hopefully he and Gally will both have a good talk at the next Wired868 Football Festival.
    It is true that Gally can be a bit emotional. He wears his heart on his sleeve.
    But we have to admit that when you add his successes as a player with what he did as coach, he is almost incomparable.
    Only Dwight Yorke could say he did more for the positive face of T&T football.

  9. Gally’s sour grapes is well known to the Blue and Gold Nation. Lasana, you may remember his son Gabre. Well, Gally was so upset that Fatima College didn’t hire him as coach that he sent Gabre to CIC. The fact that Fatima won the National Intercol title on three occasions after 1965 still irks him.

  10. IMHO Gally is showing his sour grapes. When he played Inter Col Football for Fatima my Husband Edgar Espinal Jr played for CIC and knew him well and scored goals against him. Just maybe he thinks the only time Fatima won Inter col is because of him hence the reason for his overly swollen head. He thinks he’s the ONLY Trini who could coach the TnT side and his claim that he doesn’t know of Stephen’ Harts credentials is as good as Anand saying he doesn’t know anything about section 34. Better than that Gally, better than that.

  11. Lasana Liburd you’re right, I was looking at the matches in the wrong order. Nevertheless, other players felt that they ought to have won that Honduras match and they slipped up. I’m merely repeating what they told me.

  12. Based on the potential audience, Everard Cummings’ response was the appropriate response. I have had a one-and-one with him and left feeling the passion he has for the game and the undying love and confidence he has for our football future. Current leadership in our football world, as we all can agree, is questionable and with humongous room for improvement.

  13. That’s not true from the records I’ve seen Nigel. Trinidad and Tobago played Honduras first. After the Haiti loss, T&T won all three remaining games against Guatemala, Mexico and the Netherlands Antilles.

  14. Another thing, I’ve heard other members of the 1973 squad say that even though the Haiti match can be classified as highway robbery, they still had a chance to qualify when they met Honduras, but blew it.

  15. Gally’s comments on Stephen Hart seems kinda dismissive. Even if he does not know his credentials, he could still offer an opinion on what he has seen so far with the performances of the senior team under Hart. I’m sure he would have seen some games. Also, you would think someone of Gally’s stature would actually be interested in finding out about our head coach’s credentials.

  16. Nigel, “dismissive” is the wrong word because Gally’s dissatisfaction is with the TTFA, not Hart. He seems to think that the umbrella body should be less cavalier in the way they treat with the public when a new coach is to be or has been appointed; little or no information is provided, he says.
    I have to say that is a view that I share.

  17. Nice. Not sure why he is not given a major role in T&T football. Maybe rational thinking is not part of our DNA?

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