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“[…] As coach Dwight Yorke noted following the Unity Cup, many of our local-based players are not yet ready for international-level competition. But this isn’t their fault. It is the result of a system that no longer provides the structure or support to develop top-level players here at home.
“The answer is not to rely solely on foreign-based players. Nor is it to place the burden entirely on local-based ones.
“The answer lies in rebuilding the domestic game to at least the level of 1989—and blending it wisely with foreign-based professionals who bring back the tactical sharpness, discipline, and high-performance habits they gain abroad…”
(via TTFA Media.)
The following Letter to the Editor on how Trinidad and Tobago can successfully rebuild its football programme was submitted to Wired868 by ‘Betterment’:
As a lifelong supporter of Trinidad and Tobago football, I write this letter with a mix of concern, reflection, and unshaken belief in our national potential.
In the wake of our recent participation in the 2025 Unity Cup under the guidance of Dwight Yorke, one of our greatest footballing sons, we are once again forced to confront a sobering truth: the standard of our football has fallen far below where it once stood.
(via TTFA Media.)
To understand how we rebuild, we must first remind ourselves where we came from—and how we once came so close to greatness.
In 1989, the legendary ‘Strike Squad’ captured the imagination of an entire nation. That team, composed almost entirely of locally based players, came within one point of qualifying for the Fifa World Cup.
Among them was a teenage Dwight Yorke, representing a local system that had developed him into an international-level player—right here at home.
Nearly every member of that squad played for clubs like United Petrotrin, with no professional experience abroad. And yet, they came within 90 minutes of the world’s biggest stage.
Contrast that with the squad that made history in 2006. That team succeeded because it was built on a smarter, stronger blend of local talent and international experience.
Players like Shaka Hislop (West Ham), Dwight Yorke (Sunderland), Russell Latapy (Falkirk), Dennis Lawrence (Wrexham), and Carlos Edwards (Luton Town) had honed their craft abroad, while players from clubs like San Juan Jabloteh, W Connection, and Caledonia AIA carried the domestic banner with pride.
The 2006 squad had over a dozen players competing in overseas leagues, complemented by a core of local-based players who were well-prepared and battle-tested in a professional league that still had credibility and structure.
That combination worked. It brought us to the World Cup. It put Trinidad and Tobago on the global football map. It proved that success is not built on one side or the other but on balance.
Since then, however, our footballing trajectory has veered off course. Years of administrative mismanagement, mounting debt within the TTFA, deteriorating facilities, and a neglected youth development system have left our domestic game in tatters.
Many of our most recent national players—talented and committed as they are—are simply not being prepared at the standard needed to face the modern football world.
Photo: Nicholas Bhajan/ Wired868.
As coach Yorke noted following the Unity Cup, many of our local-based players are not yet ready for international-level competition. But this isn’t their fault. It is the result of a system that no longer provides the structure or support to develop top-level players here at home.
The answer is not to rely solely on foreign-based players. Nor is it to place the burden entirely on local-based ones.
The answer lies in rebuilding the domestic game to at least the level of 1989—and blending it wisely with foreign-based professionals who bring back the tactical sharpness, discipline, and high-performance habits they gain abroad.
The match ended 1-1 with Chris Birchall bagging a second half equaliser for the hosts.
Whitley was a San Juan Jabloteh player at the time.
(Copyright AP Photo/ Andres Leighton.)
If we are truly serious about qualifying for another World Cup, or even reclaiming our place as regional contenders, we must act decisively. This means:
- Reinvesting in local leagues and clubs, ensuring proper coaching, fitness, and competition.
- Creating real youth development pathways, from schoolboy football to the national team.
- Maintaining strong scouting and relationships with the diaspora, especially in the UK, US, and Europe.
- Committing to a football philosophy that values both our local identity and global opportunity.
Photo: Dirk Allahar/ BCreative Designs/ Wired868.
Let 1989 remind us that greatness can be born here. Let 2006 remind us that greatness can be sharpened abroad. And let 2025 be the year we stop talking about the past—and start building the future.
We owe it to the next Dwight Yorke, the next Russell Latapy, the next Strike Squad.
Editor’s Note: Coach Leo Beenhakker selected four local-based players in his 23-man squad for the 2006 World Cup. Those players were Aurtis Whitley, Cyd Gray, Anthony Wolfe (all San Juan Jabloteh), and David Atiba Charles (W Connection).
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Brandon thank you for your thoughtful and well-articulated response. I fully agree that the modern football landscape has evolved far beyond what existed in 1989, and that any nation serious about competing at the highest levels must now invest in data-driven development, professional academies, sports science, and sustainable infrastructure. Your points on modernization are not only valid — they are essential.
However, I would like to emphasize the key point of my original letter: the 1989 standard is significant not only for its emotional weight or historical value, but because it marked a time when our local players were ready — genuinely prepared — to compete at the international level. Almost the entire Strike Squad was composed of homegrown talent, developed right here in Trinidad & Tobago, and they proved themselves capable against regional and global opponents.
That’s the real takeaway. Not that we should recreate the exact model of 1989, but that we must once again reach a point where our local-based players are capable of meeting international standards. It’s been 36 years, and yes, the game has changed — but the goal remains the same: to field a national team where locally developed players are not just included, but competitive and impactful.
So, whether it’s through professional academies, modern scouting systems, enhanced coaching, or advanced sports science, the path we take must ultimately lead us back to that critical benchmark — producing players here at home who are good enough, strong enough, and sharp enough to represent us on the world stage. That’s the legacy of 1989 we must carry forward — not just the passion, but the preparedness.
Let’s honor the past not by copying it, but by building something even stronger — with local readiness at its core.
I understand the 1989 moment in Trinidad and Tobago football holds deep significance as a reference point, not only for its emotional resonance and national unity but also for the way it showcased the potential of local talent and community support. The “Strike Squad” era, culminating in the near-qualification for the 1990 World Cup, demonstrated what is possible when a nation rallies behind its footballers and highlighted the importance of strong team identity and grassroots passion. This moment remains a powerful reminder of the heights that can be achieved with belief and collective effort.
However, building toward the standards of 1989 is not enough for Trinidad and Tobago because, while that era represented a high point of local talent, community pride, and national team success, the underlying structure was amateur and lacked the systematic, long-term investment in youth development and infrastructure that international competitors already had in place by the late 1980s and have since expanded dramatically. Today’s global football environment is defined by professional academies, data-driven scouting, advanced sports science, and highly organized youth pathways—features absent from the 1989 model. Simply restoring the passion and local organization of the Strike Squad era would not equip Trinidad and Tobago to compete with nations that have since professionalized and modernized their football development systems.
To compete successfully internationally today, Trinidad and Tobago must implement a comprehensive modernization of its football structure, including the establishment of professionalized youth academies, sustainable league infrastructure with stable clubs and robust youth teams, investment in coaching education and sports science, upgraded facilities and medical resources, integration of technology such as match analysis and digital scouting, and regular international exposure for both youth and senior teams. By blending the integration of foreign-based professionals with a strong domestic system, Trinidad and Tobago can create a modern, sustainable football ecosystem capable of producing top-level talent and competing at the highest international levels.
While this approach honors the legacy of 1989 while recognizing that the future requires not just inspiration from the past, but also the adoption of contemporary best practices and a commitment to long-term, professionalized development.
For Trinidad and Tobago—or any nation—the most effective approach is to connect the present with the future: using current resources, knowledge, and momentum to build a football system that is modern, professional, and capable of competing on the world stage. Past successes are important for identity and pride, but future-focused strategies are essential for real and lasting progress.