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“[…] Maybe it’s time we stop calling this bad luck and start asking whether we’re doing enough to create our own luck.
“[…] The Reggae Boyz team missing eight starters, [grinded] out six points from two games: clinical, composed, and ruthlessly efficient. Jamaica didn’t wait for luck to find them. They earned it…”
The following Letter to the Editor, which suggests that Soca Warriors head coach Dwight Yorke cannot afford to wait for luck to swing his way, was submitted to Wired868 by Betterment:
(via Concacaf.)
This result against Jamaica hurts—not because Trinidad and Tobago were poor, but because they were better in so many key areas and still left with nothing.
Maybe it’s time we stop calling this bad luck and start asking whether we’re doing enough to create our own luck.
Dwight Yorke, a national legend, knows better than most what luck looks like at the highest level. He played for Manchester United during the height of the “Fergie Time” era, when the “Red Devils” were infamous for late winners, comeback victories, and things always seeming to fall their way.
Manchester United won 4-2.
(Copyright AFP 2015/ Robin Barker.)
But that wasn’t magic—it was mentality, preparation, and pressure. United made their own luck because they were built to win.
And ironically, standing across from Yorke in this Jamaica clash was Steve McClaren, former assistant at that same Manchester United side. Now he’s in charge of a Reggae Boyz team missing eight starters, yet grinding out six points from two games: clinical, composed, and ruthlessly efficient.
Jamaica didn’t wait for luck to find them. They earned it.
That’s the difference right now: Jamaica are doing what it takes to win; T&T are doing just enough to say they deserved better, but not enough to get better.
(via TTFA Media.)
More possession, more shots, better play—it’s encouraging, but that doesn’t mean anything without goals on the board and points in the table. Yorke himself said: “You can’t score three goals away from home and none of them count.”
True. But you also can’t rely on sympathy when the stakes are this high.
Jamaica are creating their luck. Trinidad and Tobago? Still waiting for it.
(via TTFA Media.)
Yorke’s United were serial winners, and that winning culture made the ball bounce their way. He knows what it takes.
The question is: can he build that same winning belief in his Soca Warriors? Because, at this level, you don’t get lucky—you force it.
If T&T want to make the 2026 World Cup, they must stop depending on “deserving better” and start delivering better.
(via TTFA Media.)
Dominate with goals, not just possession. Be ruthless in both boxes.
Then—and only then—will the luck finally swing our way.
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It really isn’t about luck, I agree. What we are witnessing is Jamaica slowly and methodologically building a soccer program. The results are showing for themselves. You just don’t wake up one morning and get to such a position. It demands foresight, developing structures, setting targets and goals. Some how our administrators seem not to understand this. The sooner they do we’ll see improvements in our play and results. It wouldn’t happen immediately but it will happen. I’ll be harsh in asking, why should Trinidad and Tobago defeat a team or let alone qualify to go to a world cup without following these guidelines for success? The laws of nature doesn’t work that way.