The Trinidad and Tobago national under-17 football team was brimming with confidence today, despite the shortcomings of the squad’s preparation, as the young “Soca Warriors” set off for the first qualifying phase of its Chile 2015 Under-17 World Cup. “We’re going there with every intention of topping the group and …
Read More »Is Lloyd’s appointment a step forward or back for West Indies?
Columnist Earl Best takes an irreverent, even iconoclastic look at the credentials of the new WICB’s selection panel convenor: Clive Lloyd is a tactical genius. Reference the second World Cup of Cricket, staged in England in 1979. Playing against the hosts in the final, Lloyd’s West Indies had posted a …
Read More »Warriors short staffed as Russell ruled out U-17 tournament
The Trinidad and Tobago national under-17 team is almost certain to be without the services of assistant coach and Defence Force Staff Sargeant Ross Russell for the first rung of its Chile 2015 Under-17 World Cup qualifying campaign next week. Russell remains hospitalized at the West Shore Medical Hospital in …
Read More »Madrid millionaires mow down sorry Sevilla; Spiderman ensnares Munich
In the not-so-feel-good story of the 2014/15 season so far, an obscenely wealthy club downed its poor neighbour 2-0 while over 31,000 spectators looked on in the European Super Cup at Cardiff, Wales. Real Madrid’s starting XI cost a combined TT$3.85 billion (£364 million) in transfer fees, which could get …
Read More »D/Force and T&T U-17 coach, Russell, recovers from suspected mild stroke
Trinidad and Tobago national under-17 and Defence Force coach Ross Russell is believed to have suffered a mild stroke at his Diego Martin home yesterday and is awaiting word from doctors today after spending the night at the West Shore Medical Hospital in Port of Spain. National youth team manager …
Read More »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 …
Read More »Satirical shorts: EPL gets vanishing spray, Live Wire picks his target
Do not adjust your television set; there is still no meaningful football on the planet at the moment. Well, to be fair, there is the National Super League and United States Major League Soccer. Hey, sometimes you get a dance with the hot chick at the club. And sometimes you …
Read More »Omertà (Part six): Knifing Mandela in the back
Chapter six: Bribes took the World Cup to Germany A RIO RACEHORSE OWNER was paid $1 million to strangle Brazil’s faint hopes of hosting the World Cup. The dark campaign to give the 2006 tournament to Germany involved the humiliation of Brazil and …
Read More »T&T women split in two continents for Caribbean Cup preparation
The Trinidad and Tobago national women team’s bizarre preparation for the 2014 Caribbean Cup tournament will continue for at least a few days more as the “Soca Princesses” continue training with its squad and staff split between two continents. Fourteen players and team manager Vernetta Flanders are in Houston where …
Read More »Will CPL form propel West Indies to batter Bangladesh?
Earl Best examines current CPL form and looks at the implications for the West Indies’ imminent home series: It’s hard to say today just which team will emerge victorious in the 2014 Limacol Caribbean Premier League. Any one of the top three can still do it. Despite one or two …
Read More »Ramdin’s ready for full West Indies responsibility
Earl Best watches the Limacol CPL and draws conclusions about the West Indian captaincy: I am obsessed with the idea of Denesh “Shotta” Ramdin as West Indies captain. No. Go back and read that again. Not West Indies Test captain but West Indies captain. Period. This ailment is so serious …
Read More »Tears of a clown: Anil’s resignation letter and the PM’s response
Anil Roberts resigns as Sport Minister and MP but admits no wrongdoing in Life Sport programme. To: Honourable Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, I write to you today with a heavy heart to inform you of my desire to resign as Minister of Sport and as Member of Parliament for D’Abadie/ …
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