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Trinidad and Tobago suffered its first defeat to Curaçao in 68 years yesterday as the “Soca Warriors”, who were staffed primarily with Pro League players, lost 1-0 to the Dutch islanders at Sentro Deportivo Korsou in Willemstad, Curaçao.
(Copyright Getty Images/AFP/ Mike Zarrilli)
It was Trinidad and Tobago’s first loss to Curaçao since a 3-0 defeat away to the Dutchmen in 1947. The result was Warriors coach Stephen Hart’s fourth successive outing without a win—the worst run of his two-year spell in charge—after a Caribbean Cup group draw with Cuba and successes losses to Jamaica, Panama and now Curaçao.
In mitigation, the Warriors lost on penalties to Jamaica in the Caribbean Cup final on hostile territory while their past two defeats were by solitary goals and with largely experimental local squads.
Curaçao, who were coached by former Netherlands and Barcelona star Patrick Kluivert, had four Eredivisie players in their squad and were stuffed with Europe-based players.
Kluivert, whose mother was born in Curaçao, is unbeaten in four games since he took over in March.
His men face a do-or-die two legged 2018 World Cup qualifying clash with Cuba later this month.
(Courtesy CONCACAF)
“The days for Trinidad and Tobago just showing up in CONCACAF or the Caribbean and expecting the result to go in its favour because of history or name are over,” Hart told the TTFA Media. “We need to play with a desire and a will to dominate, control the tempo of the game, defend intelligently and win.
“Having said that, we had three days together and as I said, this game will serve as a lesson as to what each international game demands of us as individuals and as a unit.”
Hart, who was without injured Central FC playmaker Ataulla Guerra, gave Central fullback Kaydion Gabriel and Police FC defender Elijah Belgrave their international debuts last night while North East Stars playmaker Keron Cummings made his first appearance in five years and W Connection attacker Shahdon Winchester got his second start under the current coach.
Defence Force striker Devorn Jorsling came on in the second half for his first appearance under Hart while St Ann’s Rangers attacker Kadeem Corbin also made his international senior debut off the bench.
But the night belonged to Curaçao substitute Charlton Vicento, an Eredivisie player with Willem II, who came off the bench to bag the winner in the 85th minute.
(Courtesy Curacao Chronicle)
Kluivert will hope their morale boosting win over the Warriors serves them well when they kick off against Cuba on Monday.
While Hart will decide which players to retain to his first team squad as he welcomes back his full overseas-based contingent for an international friendly away to Jordan on June 6.
“This game will serve us well,” said Hart. “We had some good moments but concentration needs to be better defensively, especially in the midfield, over ninety minutes.
“Curacao deserve credit. They played the game with a passion and desire worthy of a World Cup qualifier which they play on Wednesday against Cuba.”
(Team)
Trinidad and Tobago: 21.Jan-Michael Williams (GK); 6. Daneil Cyrus, 17.Mekeil Williams, 18.Elijah Belgrave (2.Shannon Gomez 83), 23.Kaydion Gabriel, 8.Khaleem Hyland (5.Leston Paul 60), 14.Andre Boucaud (15.Dwane James 60), 20.Keron Cummings, 12.Willis Plaza, 13.Shahdon Winchester (19.Kadeem Corbin 64) 9.Kenwyne Jones (captain) (16.Devorn Jorsling 64).
Unused substitutes: 1.Marvin Phillip (GK), 7.Sean De Silva, 11.Ataulla Guerra.
Coach: Stephen Hart
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It is an honour to drop a comment within this conversation. Trinidad and Tobago is a team that is uncoachable up to this point. We’ve had a couple of Champions League winning coaches World Cup coaches and Great local pedigree. Guess what, all national teams will continue to fail because there is no referendum on football. Until there is, this will just be ‘ole talk.’ Earl Jean said it…there must be a coming together of parties. This could probably be Step 1 in a 10 point plan over the course of 1 to 3 years. I am happy to have a, and probably the only, solution for T&T football and sad that I have no audience. Trinidad and Tobago is one of the best five teams in the world from my objective view as the facts speak for themselves. Coaches have been using the same method to train a horse that they bring to the water. Thing is, they can’t make it bathe! The fans who jumps on gets thrown violently off and then everyone blames each other and the none the wiser horse! A good friend of mine used to say ‘jackass cyar win horse race.’ With this in mind, I pose to all of you, can you train a jackass to run like a horse or a horse to run like a jackass? Unfortunately for me, some of you guys are in a better position to access a national consultation with our technical director than I am as I have never been a national; played professionally nor have his e-mail address. That is…if you want to do your part in finding football, you can then invite me.
Dam right bro!!!!!
Earl you know we come from the same chamber in the shoalin temple ‘if it ain’t looking like what on tv we not doing anything’
My U 16s at Naps are going for a hat trick of National titles are you aware of this Lass? and that’s the other issue a coach in the trenches producing players gets no thanks, so you have to decide on development or prime time, most coaches opt for prime time.
Yes lasana….travis you killing me here….Iol..but understand what you trying to say but its about the quality of the coaches at the youth level where some clubs emphasis may be on development some others maybe on just wining games. ..
Got your point.
I don’t coach youths Lasana Liburd and that exactly my point, because the club’s Don t realize how important it is to have competent coaches at youth level,because they think they will have to fork out a couple extra grand.
You’re on dangerous ground there as a Pro League coach yourself Travis. Lol
Yes amazing support at that time and after 15 years the league still struggling for supporters and proper financial support from sponsors. ..cant they realize something must change. ..who is responsible? MLS full steam ahead..
But our administrators fighting each other. ..wow
I was saying Keith Look Loy was ‘my’ partner. Lasana Liburd American just beat Holland it is only recently the they have Youth systems that have been churning out players all the while their college system is what has been developing players we seem to think that we always have to follow Europe even if it’s not working, I can safely say without apology that when Naps starts training next week ALL the tactical and technical work over last season will have to be revisited because of the garbage that our players would be exposed to over the last couple of months in the youth ‘PRO’ league.
And Suriname is on the up to…its getting tougher every year…boy travis went over to Miami for the concacaf draw ..on monday.and who do I see a certain official from a caribbean islan there …jet setting from fifa Congress or whatever in Zurich to concacaf draw in Miami. ..wonder who or what he was representing or just showed up for the before and after…drinks and dinner ….you know usually all expenses paid for, these guys dont have a club in the competition but living the life…
I just had to laugh so ridiculous. ..and the mafia continues. ..
They associations are in a mess nothing happening but they have the audacity to jet around the globe for drinks….boy ah fed up!!!
Guys i feel ur pain! The question how do we fix it? earl remember in 2006 2007 the crowds we had for cup finals in the proleague ?
As for the ‘fans’ they are the only people in the Caribbean to have access to cable and satellite
Travis/Gordon ….its so annoying at times. …and they come out and speak on issues and after 16 years and more nothing…not a difference. ..but they are in all sorts of high ranking positions…smh
With regards to our senior team’ s latest embarrassment, this is I’ m sure the same team that beat our U-20 under Ross couple years ago,while everyone else is moving up we moving down. While Sancho fighting Tim Kee about money Curacao is on the up Cuba is on the up.Sport for the most part is the means to many people’s end.There is no’REAL’ love for sport among the administrators, politicians, Jack Warner epitomizes my point
Travis Mulraine, you always giving me a different partner every week! Lol.
I believe school football is not best avenue to help our football improve.
But I also believe that with our system in the shape that it is, school football is the best vehicle now. Nothing else is organized even half as well for the youth game.
Earl Jean who feels it knows it, you should be used to the’ experts’ who just use their fingers to express what they feel should be happening in the football, what is their contributions to the game as player,or coach let them take up jobs at the pro league clubs and try producing players with the resources at our disposal, and the mentality if these players who lack ambition, drive,dedication etc hence the reason I say that if left up to me the schools in collaboration with the Min.of education and sport will be charged with players’development and they would play no international football before U-17 cause the club structure is shit to put it mildly. My partners Lassana and Look Loy Don t agree but it’s plain for all to see
Earl Jean i feel ur pain!!! You are spot
on with your comments it is this quick fix saviour behaviour that give rise to the jack warners in our society!!
The in form team win…. Curacao now come out of winning a qualifier with Monserrat…. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMtC8veVRiM
I am stunned! How low is low for T&T Football?
My comments here are being made not having seen the game and so, I am
careful not to address anything that speaks to our quality as a team in
this just-concluded Curacao game. I begin by asking, we hear of a kind of
blame suggesting that our players are only, “Pro-League players” as if that makes the pain any less or, more bearable. Our Pro-League has been in
existence for over 15 years and we are still suggestion that we are not
good enough? So, with these short opening thoughts, I offer that there is
so much to be said about thorough team preparation – with it, we would have
only given ourselves an, “even-stephens” (excuse the pun on coach Hart)
chance of winning; and without it, we have just about rule out every chance
of winning. The players, according to some of the coach’s comments, lack concentration, that being at the top of the list of cited shortfalls –
actually, it seems to be the overarching problem of all play. Concentration
and some of its subtopics belong to the mental side of our total fitness
package and needs to be trained gradually and in sync with the other,
physical, nutritional, emotional, and overall body composition, health and relaxation components. All components need to be trained, some more
intensely depending on the state of the team’s mindset, and especially when including new and relatively new players, and the nature of the upcoming
game/s, etc. This idea of total fitness is not suited for our current
national team today. Coach Hart’s team configuration, for good reason,
shows that he has chosen to work more with players that foreign-based and
that is all well and good. But, by extension, that practice has the
repercussive effect of ruling out working with those “candidates” at hand
and on local soil that can reap the benefits of a “total football” training
and preparation program.
Effective and consistently good team play tends to come more readily when players are more together. And if this is the plan and is being done with
the team as a whole and with regularity, then the players, from their
respective positions will better comprehend, feel, understand, and then,
can harmonize the collective and interdependent nature of the various
roles. This “truth” goes further to engage all players whether, in
components as, offence, defense, and transition play. Thence, they would be
able to simulate their play in the different thirds of the field whether in possession or not and, also be better able to facilitate tactics and
strategies depending on if it is a home or, away game?
I have a great deal of respect for Coach Hart and I know some of his
learning history and he has outstanding knowledge of the international
game. I know too that he can only do what he can do given what he is given
to work with. But that said, I would have hoped for a couple of things to
be done differently as he closes in on the Gold Cup. It is critical for us
to do well in this Cup. Why? It is for us to have something to hold on to
and take us and our shinning talent forward, but more so, others are
getting so far ahead of us in their overall holistic planning that, they
would be striding further ahead of us while we remain, stagnant. And so, in closing, I ask the following question; why play Haiti in our last warm-up
game before hitting the road for Guatemala? The Jordan game, well, that can serve a good purpose. But Haiti! Where in the Haitian playing style and ethnicity makeup are we seeing the likes of Guatemala, Cuba, and Mexico,
our Group “foes”!
We dont have more naturally talented players than the US….
My comments here are being made not having seen the game and so, I am careful not to address anything that speaks to our quality as a team in this just-concluded Curacao game. I begin by asking, we hear of a kind of blame suggesting that our players are only, “Pro-League players” as if that makes the pain any less or, more bearable. Our Pro-League has been in existence for over 15 years and we are still suggestion that we are not good enough? So, with these short opening thoughts, I offer that there is so much to be said about thorough team preparation – with it, we would have only given ourselves an, “even-stephens” (excuse the pun on coach Hart) chance of winning; and without it, we have just about rule out every chance of winning. The players, according to some of the coach’s comments, lack concentration, that being at the top of the list of cited shortfalls – actually, it seems to be the overarching problem of all play. Concentration and some of its subtopics belong to the mental side of our total fitness package and needs to be trained gradually and in sync with the other, physical, nutritional, emotional, and overall body composition, health and relaxation components. All components need to be trained, some more intensely depending on the state of the team’s mindset, and especially when including new and relatively new players, and the nature of the upcoming game/s, etc. This idea of total fitness is not suited for our current national team today. Coach Hart’s team configuration, for good reason, shows that he has chosen to work more with players that foreign-based and that is all well and good. But, by extension, that practice has the repercussive effect of ruling out working with those “candidates” at hand and on local soil that can reap the benefits of a “total football” training and preparation program.
Effective and consistently good team play tends to come more readily when players are more together. And if this is the plan and is being done with the team as a whole and with regularity, then the players, from their respective positions will better comprehend, feel, understand, and then, can harmonize the collective and interdependent nature of the various roles. This “truth” goes further to engage all players whether, in components as, offence, defense, and transition play. Thence, they would be able to simulate their play in the different thirds of the field whether in possession or not and, also be better able to facilitate tactics and strategies depending on if it is a home or, away game?
I have a great deal of respect for Coach Hart and I know some of his learning history and he has outstanding knowledge of the international game. I know too that he can only do what he can do given what he is given to work with. But that said, I would have hoped for a couple of things to be done differently as he closes in on the Gold Cup. It is critical for us to do well in this Cup. Why? It is for us to have something to hold on to and take us and our shinning talent forward, but more so, others are getting so far ahead of us in their overall holistic planning that, they would be striding further ahead of us while we remain, stagnant. And so, in closing, I ask the following question; why play Haiti in our last warm-up game before hitting the road for Guatemala? The Jordan game, well, that can serve a good purpose. But Haiti! Where in the Haitian playing style and ethnicity makeup are we seeing the likes of Guatemala, Cuba, and Mexico, our Group “foes”!
makeshift my asss
I am passionate about the sport so when I start I can go on and on but one thing I do take issue with is the way in which dion comes across always disrespecting the professional game here and the players when as he call himself a stakeholder in the industry he tries to take the same club players to do business with them to make a living for himself and colleagues out in Europe…its tantamount to raping the young boys….from their livelihoods. …
Kester. ..we all want the best for the young sportsmen and women. …I keep saying our administrators are failing the kids some of us coaches are failing the kids because we are not trying to come together to get things right…its happening over and over…some people think that the games are about them and they want all the glory…we need to put the time into this for the young ones we have played the game and enjoyed and achieved now its about spending the quality time doing the business for the kids…putting in the extra hour and the two sessions a day and encouraging the young ones so that they can see a change of attitudes from the heads…and having a way with national teams when players know what is norm when they are on national duties ….we need to find that way and its missing…the football will suffer if we dont change the mindset of our administrators and coaches….for it to trickle down
They train once or twice a week ….sometimes you dont get the numbers you want for training…its a mess because we havent gotten the right system for school and club…its not working….we need to change the way things are going. …in saying that I have seen stuart charles in my time as a school boy in st.luciz changed our fortunes with our youth national teams to senior and developed two decades of footballers from youth straight up without the resources that clubs and the National teams have in tnt. And went as far as coming 3 rd in the caribbean with players learning from vedio sessions with national teams and black board sessions …so not for a minute I would take out thr b responsibilities from national youth teams…at that stage like I said if coaches are willing to spend the time to eductae and put in the time it can be done …its not a one session a day work if we want to go places…people need to stop being lazy and put their hands on deck and make things happen …some we in the Caribbean all think we are big coaches and dont want to spend the hours and sacrifice for the kids but they want the big pay checks…yes I know I see it here in trinidad…..get the infrastructure in place spend more time doing class room sessions educate the dam kids about the game properly and with time we will see the difference. …yes clubs have to do their part but nationa youth teams must produce better quality for the senior team yes and clubs have to do their jobs with all the obstacles. …look up to now clubs cant get their prize monies …and how do u expect clubs to do anything with their systems…how do you get youth coaches to commit when clubs cant pay them…but yet we talk about starting a 6 weeks womens professional league. …are we serious….we cant take care of the mens game and we pushing for the womens league so they can go through the same or worst. …watch no respect for the women when u see the young ladies after training sessions nothing to eat, no where to relax, you can see pictures on facebook….so how do we help them by importing 10 brazilian women for 6 weeks and anoth 10 from another part of the world and still nothing in place for long term. ..then it crashes and who do we blame. ….why dont we plan properly the mens game, womens game and try to get everything towards funding, sustainability of the leagues for nxt 10 years. …why the short and fast way every time! Why give the women something classy something good dont they deserve it….why cant we go to the big Companys and do the same arrangements women/men
Earl, I have in the past and that’s probably where some of the ideas for what i wrote emanated. Lasana, I agree totally agree. That level of exposure should only come when a certain level of competence is acquired. This I believe must be established first or as a precursor to what u’ve said.
Kestor not taking criticism from the the pro league at all…
Clubs have to do alot more to develop the age groups…financial the clubs are in a mess to begin, the systems with the youth teams need an overhaul. ..have you ever had a look at training sessions with the youth teams at clubs in the professional league
That is true Arthlon and it must change. We in the Super league must become better, build stronger programs and change the paradigm. It is mostly so with the senior MNT though as FC Santa Rosa has produced players at just about every age group national team and those were not players that were recruited eh. Those players started at Santa Rosa when they were just about 7 or 8 year olds. That must be the model that we in the Super league must attempt to emulate. If the 16 super league teams can produce one at every age group that is of the standard and the same is done with the Pro league then we will have at every age group at least 26 quality players for national team selection.
Good point Kester Lendor. Although of course these young players would be helped by getting more international experience and a better environment to learn their trade at that level.