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The Trinidad and Tobago National Senior Team slumped to their lowest international ranking in seven years today, as FIFA listed the Soca Warriors as 99th in the world, joint 10th in CONCACAF and fourth in the Caribbean.
To put that in context, the last time the Warriors were ranked this low was in 2010 when then head coach Russell Latapy’s team was eliminated by Grenada in the group stage of the Caribbean Cup. Trinidad and Tobago were subsequently ranked 106th in the world.
(Courtesy Allan V Crane/CA-images/Wired868)
Today’s FIFA rankings mean the Warriors have fallen a remarkable 50 places since David John-Williams was elected as Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) president in November 2015.
At present, Trinidad and Tobago are on a seven-game losing streak while current head coach Dennis Lawrence has won just two of 10 outings—against Panama and Barbados—since his appointment in February.
John-Williams recently told the media that Lawrence, a former assistant coach at Everton but now on his first assignment as head coach, will be given time to rebuild the national team. But the figures do not suggest that the Warriors have improved under the current coach or president and, arguably, again put the president’s sacking of former coach Stephen Hart into focus.
Trinidad and Tobago were ranked 87th in the world by FIFA when then TTFA president Raymond Tim Kee announced the hiring of Hart as head coach.
And by the time John-Williams replaced Tim Kee at the helm, three years later, the Warriors—under Hart—had soared to 49th in the world and were fourth in CONCACAF and first in the Caribbean.
(Courtesy Allan V Crane/CA Images)
Had Trinidad and Tobago retained that average FIFA ranking, it would have meant that local footballers would be eligible for work permits in Britain for the first time since 2006.
Instead, the Warriors’ fortunes went in the opposite direction.
The decline was gradual at first. Hart lost 10 of his first 30 internationals—three of those defeats were on kicks from the penalty mark—as head coach. But, once teamed up with John-Williams, he lost eight of his next 13 matches.
There were several on-field factors. After a one-year absence with a broken leg, ace midfielder Kevin Molino returned to the national team in March 2016 but, despite a hattrick against the Dominican Republic, the MLS player did not inspire in the big matches. Worse, Molino was involved in two distracting incidents when he broke team curfews to party before competitive fixtures.
He was fined for the first indiscretion and given a temporary ban for the second.
(Courtesy Allan V Crane/Wired868)
Perhaps just as significant was the form of team captain and forward Kenwyne Jones, who swapped the England Premier League for the United Arab Emirates in January 2016 and then, six months later, moved to Central FC in the local Pro League.
In 2015, Jones scored four times—including competitive goals against Mexico, Panama and Guatemala. But in 2016, with his professional career in flux and struggling with injury, the giant forward’s only international goal came in a 6-0 rout of St Vincent and the Grenadines.
Off the field, there were early signs that the president and head coach Hart were not singing from the same hymn sheet.
The John-Williams-led TTFA’s first act was to tell the players that they would be paid match fees when the football body was good and ready to pay up—a stance exacerbated by a media statement in which the FA told the public that the players “were not out of pocket.”
Hart moaned then that the stand-off between players and administrators was not helpful and had basically destroyed their preparation for a Copa America Centenario Play-off against Haiti, which the Warriors lost 1-0.
(Courtesy Wired868)
The big confrontation came in May 2016 when, after Hart turned down the offer of a friendly game coming from the TTFA, John-Williams allegedly walked into a national training session and asked the players whether they wanted to play the match anyway—and essentially invited them to overrule their coach.
John-Williams claimed he had Hart’s blessing to interrupt the session but his coach never corroborated the president’s version of the story. And Hart never got another friendly international as Warriors’ coach.
In November 2016, after three losses in his last four matches—one in extra time against Martinique—Hart was summoned to a meeting at the Ruby Tuesdays Restaurant in Grand Bazaar and told that his services were no longer required.
Trinidad and Tobago were ranked 78th in the world at the time and, during his three-year spell in charge, Hart’s troops lost just two of 12 home matches, a friendly against Panama and a World Cup qualifier against Costa Rica.
With John-Williams leading the negotiations, the TTFA Board turned to obscure Belgian Tom Saintfiet—a former Bangladesh coach—who promptly lost his first two competitive matches against Suriname and Haiti at Couva and quit before he was pushed.
(Courtesy Chevaughn Christopher/Wired868)
When Lawrence, a former 2006 World Cup hero, was hired in February 2017, the Warriors had already slipped six spots to 84th.
Lawrence started brightly enough with a friendly win over Barbados and a 1-0 triumph over Panama in his first competitive match on 24 March 2017. The Warriors have not won a game since.
Six months later, Trinidad and Tobago have slumped a further 15 spots to 99th in the world.
John-Williams’ enthusiasm about his own contribution to local football has not been reflected in the FIFA rankings just yet.
(Copyright Allan V Crane/TTFA)
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Lasana Liburd is the managing director and chief editor at Wired868.com and a journalist with over 20 years experience at several Trinidad and Tobago and international publications including Play the Game, World Soccer, UK Guardian and the Trinidad Express.
The bottom line is we do not have players at a high enough level to compete in the Hex. Why can’t we produce players consistently at a high level? We need to analyze our present football infrastructure and what can be done to facilitate a better environment to produce elite players CONSISTENTLY. We seem to produce players the likes of Yorke, Latapy, Hislop, Rougier, Andrews, Stern, Jones, et al in waves. These players came from the wave of the 80’s. After that wave, the well has run dry.
1) Need to benchmark what is done in the EU and South America. Youth football development is controlled by the Football youth academies of the top teams and not the local secondary schools. We need to send our top level youth players to the youth academies of teams like Jabloteh and Central FC. Use the school league as a feeder program to sign top youth players. Youth academies should play in their own league against each other. Local business support will be needed here.
2) Increase coaching level of local TT coaches to international level(note :secondary schools coaching IS not be at international leve). Need to train and educate the coaches on the physical and mental aspects of the game. Poor techique and lack of understanding of the game is apparent during games.
3) Strength and conditioning leaves a lot to be desired. Our team seems to not be able to physically keep up with the competition for the full duration of the game. They seem to run out of gas. Players need to be educated on diet and proper training habits. Professionals sacrifice if they want to make a good living.
In conclusion, we need our administration to be more professional when they approach TT lineage players in the EU and US. Fringe players whom may never get a chance to play in the Olympics, World Cup, etc need to be actively recruited and convinced to commit.
So many talented people in TT and we could only get DJW for our football. What a travesty and lack of leadership! Time for all to get involved and give back to the community.
Ricardo, You have obviously given some serious thought to what needs to be done to improve performance in football in T&T. Have you given any thought to sharing your ideas-at full length–with the Wired868 readership? We’d be willing to provide the forum…
Inbox Lasana at lasanal@wired868.com or contact me at emcdbest50@hotmail.com or 749-9551 and let’s talk.
Harmon Lucas Sterling Manchouck Dana McIntosh Marilyn C. Pendergast Marius Hcm Caballero Nigel Ojagir
It only fair, besides administration, our players have d mentality that once they playing for T&T, dey reach! Dey don’t have no real goals.
what a crying Shame.
Say no more let the stats talk for them. Why we letting one man destroy football in our country.
we move from playing against the best to hmmmm …..
one job yes hmmmmm
Bring back Jack Warner please
Great job by the dumbass President they will soon reach 200 after Mexico and USA kill them off
Stop wasting my money with these kfc eating footballers!
Our ranking is poor obviously but it’s where we are supposed to be at this moment. We can’t be absolutely dysfunctional administratively, prepare poorly, coach poorly and play poorly and expect a higher ranking. What’s highly disturbing are there are no signs of improvement. Just diabolical failure in every facet that is a prerequisite for success. There must be wholesale changes as the only thing we are guaranteed of at this stage is failure.
Kelvin we need responsible ex players like yourself to come back to T&T from first World organizations and make a difference here. Otherwise there will be no change, just the same old empty promises and incompetence. We are ranked 4th in the Caribbean my god?
I not surprise
#progress!
why we not at the 200 mark –slackness
What is the international criteria for players coming into Trinidad from none Caricom countries?
Hyland, Guerra and Peltier were all offered contracts with Portsmouth and Celtic but failed to pass the criteria
It figures the fellas not that good . Cannot blame the coach or manager. The pool to choose from is poor.we have no real international players
Administration from the ground up directly affects the pool you have access to as well as maximizing the pool that exists. Blame all around
why are we suprised by this development
Lawrence and the President must go
Mr wired can you do a piece on how a president is elected?
How many ppl vote?
Who are the voters?
I love local football and right now i mad, i want to channel my anger at the King makers.
https://wired868.com/2016/06/24/djw-unplugged-an-illegal-ttfa-election-tacit-fifa-support-and-a-cfu-power-grab/
Good very , ty
Well done DJW
Not surprised
Mr Nigel S. Scott,I don’t know how you arrive at that conclusion,I am talking about from the sixties to now,
Did you “used to have weekly exposés on the past administration”?
I’m seeing a trend here ,it looks like DJW is the cause of our misfortunes
T&T players have not been able to get work permits in England since about 2006–after which came the TTFA blacklist and our first plummet down the FIFA standings.
Also the EPL changed its rule from teams in top 75 (I think) to top 50, which made it even harder for our players to get work permits.
Khaleem Hyland and Jan-Michael Williams were both signed by English clubs pending work permit approval that they never got. Portsmouth signed Hyland while Sheffield United signed Jan-Michael.
Almost certainly, there would have been other players between the ages of 19 and 23 since then that a British club would have taken a punt on.
Seems like yuh used to have weekly exposés on the past administration… but nothing on thus cabal. What gives?
I beg to differ about the lack of info on the current body. But I’d admit that I don’t write as much as before. That can’t really be helped unfortunately.
But we do have more writers now.
Not really intended as criticism, more of an observation… and it was wrt Wired on the whole, not you exclusively. I think the record speaks for itself in that regard. There was a near daily drumbeat of accusations against Tim Kee/Phillips, alleging cronyism, incompetence, negligence, malfeasance, profiteering from Tshirt gate, lack of accountability and transparency, lying… the list was seemingly endless. Against DJW… relative silence, save for the odd complaint about the current admin’s failure to engage the public and press. Maybe it’s because the leaks have stopped under DJW and your sources have dried up.
I actually don’t think so overall. Maybe the public isn’t as keen on team now and stories don’t go as viral as before. But I can point to several hard pieces and accompanying legal threats from the ttfa
DJW hasn’t been in office as long as RTK yet. And many of the issues of the past administration were related to fund raising. The current body doesn’t seem particularly bothered to raise money. They just rely on fifa and concacaf for the most part.
He’s been in office half as long as RTK was there. At this point there was already accusations of the TTFA trying to profit off the death of Akeem Adams, among other issues. But I won’t belabor the point. Things are evidently running much smoother this go around.
Nigel S. Scott I guess you’re seeing loads of great news then. That’s nice.
Loads of great news? Hardly. But let’s not confuse factual reporting of negative news with what was being reported on Wired during the past administration, I’m sure you recall saying then that you felt no particular obligation to be impartial towards them.
I said no such thing and here you’d have to prove that claim.
Lasana, you most certainly did, and I found it at the time a shocking comment to be made by a journalist. I’ll have to look for the comment.
Nigel find it and the thread too.
??
Nicholas Armstrong
Next Fifa Rankings 16th October after losses to Mexico and USA, TTFA heading for a century
He only studying to sell he players not the national team interest.
Who have eyes to see let them see.
Who are the other Caribbean countries above us? Jamaica? Haiti? And?
Also, has the women’s ranking been so adversely affected as well…
Will check and tell you. Or maybe Nigel Myers can beat me to it.
Curacao. But consider Martinique and French Guiana are part of France or they would rank higher.
Our women’s ranking is 47 right now. Our ranking has always been between 40 and 47 since ranking started in 2003 except once when we lost ranking.
One more place drop and we’ll redefine what “keeping it 100” means…
???
Full hundred
Sad
In this part of the world failure is rewarded whether is cricket or football,e.g DJW and Cameron
The same greedy eyes and brown noses are setting themselves for the “overhaul”
BINGO.
People going into all this technical and philosophical theories.
GREEDY EYES AND BROWN NOSES.
thats it. talk done
T&T players have not been able to get work permits in England since about 2006–after which came the TTFA blacklist and our first plummet down the FIFA standings.
Also the EPL changed its rule from teams in top 75 (I think) to top 50, which made it even harder for our players to get work permits.
Khaleem Hyland and Jan-Michael Williams were both signed by English clubs pending work permit approval that they never got. Portsmouth signed Hyland while Sheffield United signed Jan-Michael.
Almost certainly, there would have been other players between the ages of 19 and 23 since then that a British club would have taken a punt on.
Sad.
This I did not know
It’s harder now with Brexit
Think the top 50 affected jamaica midfielder Rudolph Austin. He was with Leeds united, but because of that ended up moving to club in Switzerland
We have promoted mediocrity for too long and we are experiencing the fruits of incompetence.Before Jack Warner there was Eric James but he had the good fortune of talent,Gally,Corneal,De Leon,Lincoln Phillips,Steve David ,Dwight Yorker,Latapy but now the cupboard is bare,so ingenuity is needed
But Eric James’ power was not backed by the might of regional and international bodies! He was almost certainly JAW’s role model (although never publicly acknowledged as such as far as I am aware) but he never inspired the same degree of fear in subordinates and associates that JAW did.
I have searched in vain for a calypso reference to Jack Warner. Isn’t it surprising that the bards have left him severely alone?
Hmmmmm
He has proven to be an incompetent, corrupt president with an personal agenda, he needs to go
WELL LETS SEE SOME PEOPLE RESIGNING lets see the responsibility passing on to new entities .
We’re #99!!! We’re #99!!!
He wont go anywhere….the rankings are sure to go lower before there is a turnaround…but sometimes something has to happen for somwthing to happen…#awfulladministration
Not good at all. We have really sunk to an all time low.
The ascension of King David has proven to be a developmental disaster for the sport. We have gone backwards, regressing so badly that any turnaround will require a total overhaul!
Good article, we cannot ignore the FACTS, no old talk, no speculation, this is how the outside world judge you, by results! 50 places we dropped!
No plan, still no development, no expertise, clearly no experience and the FACTS speak for themselves. Football under the bus with incompetent DJW mismanagement and appointments.
DJW sabotage our chances with his poor administrative decisions.
He must go…he has single handedly destroyed t& t’s football
Spin doctors will claim the rankings are meaningless…meantime our players will find it harder to get contracts in QUALITY Leagues in Europe…The state of our football just deteriorates further and further…SMH 🙁
Were they getting contracts in quality leagues ??? EpL, la liga, serie A, bundesliga ??? Jus askin
Yes Trini Don. That stopped when the TTFA blacklist and subsequent plummet in FIFA rankings closed the door.
You have obviously forgotten that Khaleem Hyland and Jan-Michael Williams were both signed by English clubs pending work permit approval that they never got.
Bruh…