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Former Soca Warriors head coach Angus Eve will steer Montserrat through their final two 2026 World Cup qualifying matches, after being appointed as stand-in head coach of the Emerald Boys.
The Montserrat Men’s National Senior Team, incidentally, are in Trinidad and Tobago present which serves as the home venue for their clash with Belize next week.
Montserrat face Belize from 5pm at the Ato Boldon Stadium in Couva on Wednesday 4 June before they travel to Guyana for their final World Cup qualifier.
Neither Montserrat nor Belize managed a single point from their respective qualifying campaigns so far but either can maintain a slight chance of advancing to the next stage with a win in Trinidad.
Eve, who is only in charge for the upcoming two matches, hopes to get the job on a permanent basis thereafter and lead a rebuild of the island’s team.
(via Concacaf.)
Ironically, Eve’s first game in charge of the Trinidad and Tobago senior team came against Montserrat in the 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup Preliminary stage, which the Warriors won 6-1. He has not forgotten.
“This is a real treat and an honour for me to represent [Montserrat], because Montserrat was my first game as Trinidad and Tobago coach,” said Eve, during an interview with the Montserrat media. “I wouldn’t tell you the score…”
Once the lowest ranked team in the world, Montserrat’s appearance in the 2021 Gold Cup playoffs, under Scottish coach Willie Donachie, represents the peak of their football history so far.
However, their attempts to maintain that level have failed under former coach Lee Bowyer, an ex-England international and Leeds United midfielder.
Montserrat were relegated from the Concacaf Nations League B and dumped out of the 2026 World Cup qualifying series before they turned to Eve.
Photo: Daniel Prentice/ Wired868.
“When [the Montserrat FA] reached out to me, they said that they were rebuilding; because when we played a few years ago in the Gold Cup, it was an aging team,” said Eve. “Now you realise there are a lot of young kids in the squad: 21, 22 years old and some even younger.
“I am known for building young teams and developing young players to be something, so that was very attractive for me—knowing that I have this opportunity to do a rebuild.”
As Soca Warriors head coach, Eve led Trinidad and Tobago to the Concacaf Gold Cup group stage in 2021 and 2023 as well as returned the two-island republic to the Nations League A.
Photo: Daniel Prentice/ Wired868.
However, he fell out with several senior players—most notably, Kevin Molino—and eventually lost the faith of new Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) president Kieron Edwards after a 2-2 World Cup qualifying draw at home to Grenada on 5 June 2024.
Eve, who coached Club Sando in the TTPFL Tier One this season, said he is excited to return to the international game with Montserrat and already considers him to be Montserratian.
“I am a disciplinarian; that is first,” said Eve, as he described his coaching style. “[I am] hard working, dedicated. I am Montserratian! I hope I pronounced that right.
“I know there are about 4,000 people over there—add one more, because I am going to put everything I have into the job. I am really enthusiastic about working with the group.”
Eve joins a list of Trinidad and Tobago coaches working at the international level in the Caribbean.
At present, former Trinidad and Tobago Men’s National Under-17 Team coach Stern John is head coach at Saint Lucia while Paul Decle, the former TTFA High Performance director, is technical director at the British Virgin Islands and Keith Jeffrey, former Trinidad and Tobago Men’s National Under-15 Team coach, is head coach at Anguilla.
Editor’s Note: Montserrat defeated Belize 1-0.
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