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Trinidad and Tobago Men’s National Senior Team interim head coach Derek King praised the effort of his players in today’s Fifa Series contest against Gabon, despite losing 3-2 on penalties to the 10-man African team in Uzbekistan.
The Soca Warriors twice rebounded from a goal down, with their second equaliser coming after Gabon had a player sent off.
(via TTFA Media.)
King’s troops took over the contest after midfielder Samaké Nzé Bagnama’s ejection in the 56th minute and created six good scoring opportunities, excluding two unsuccessful penalty shouts.
However, they had to settle for a 2-2 tie, with both goals coming from captain Levi Garcia. And, in the subsequent shoot-out, John-Paul Rochford and Reon Moore converted their efforts—but Garcia, Rio Cardines and Noah Powder all missed as Trinidad and Tobago succumbed to Gabon.
Still, it was King’s best result since replacing Dwight Yorke at the helm of the Warriors. And the coach gave his team a high grade.
(via TTFA Media.)
“I’m very pleased with the performance from the team today,” King told the TTFA Media. “I thought we played with good intensity, moved the ball well and most importantly, the players showed real pride and commitment throughout the game.
“We created good moments, we were organized for long periods, and there was a clear improvement in our overall play. First of all, I thought we did enough in the second half to win the game.
“We created some very good chances, and at this level, we have to be more clinical and take those opportunities when they come. That’s something we’ve been working towards.”
King has assisted five of Trinidad and Tobago’s last seven head coaches (Hutson Charles, Stephen Hart, Terry Fenwick, Angus Eve and Yorke), with a brief previous stint as interim boss before Yorke’s appointment.
Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) president Kieron Edwards has not committed to King beyond this match window. But the Arima alderman said the Warriors showed signs of improvement today, following a 3-0 friendly loss to Bolivia and a 4-1 defeat to Venezuela in their opening Fifa Series contest.
Photo: TTFA Media.
“Of course, we know we are still a work in progress,” said King. “There are areas we need to continue improving in, particularly in managing certain moments of the game—but that’s part of the development of this group.
“When you look at the two games overall, there are a lot of positives to take. In many ways, the results don’t fully reflect the progress and the quality we’ve shown on the pitch.”
Trinidad and Tobago start their Concacaf Champions League A campaign in September. At this stage, it is uncertain if they will also see action in the June match window, as sparring partners for 2026 World Cup bound teams.
(via TTFA Media.)
King suggested that there have been encouraging signs from the Warriors in Uzbekistan.
“The important thing now is that we build from this,” said King. “We continue to grow, stay consistent, and keep pushing the standards of the team forward.
“I’m proud of the players’ effort, their attitude, and the way they represented the country.”
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We don’t want Derek King to keep coaching T&T ahead of the Concacaf Nations League 2026-27!!! He is a failure, he just think that he is pleased with the effort of these players, but they didn’t do well because of him!! If the TTFA keeping him as the head coach, we will be relegated from the Concacaf Nations League A to League B!!! All we wanted is a foreign-based coach and staff who are on a competitive level, so the TTFA must do what they have to do before it’s too late!!!
Bringing a foreign coach just to get us through the Concacaf Nations League is a short term patch that will help us, just barely, remain in the Nations League A. This will then lead us to seek subsequent patch work repeatedly. When are we going to think about getting a knowledgeable Technical Director (local or foreign) to help us draw out a long term plan to develop local coaches that we can rely on for decades to come. We need to stop automatically thinking anything with a foreign stamp is better. Jamaica tried with Steve McClaren and we saw how that went. We need to stop the short term thinking. Who cares if we get relegated to League B. If a proper long term plan is in place, the main goal would be getting the youth system up to par, have them competitive regionally and qualifying for youth World Cups and have a solid batch of players graduating to the Senior Level, who can serve the country over the span of their careers. Who coaches the team in the short term is the least important concern of T&T Football.
What about the 2030 World Cup Qualifiers for our Senior Men’s team? Since Yorke left us, we dropped to 102nd place in FIFA rankings because Derek King is to blame! He lost 3 matches in a row, so he TTFA must fired him to find a foreign coach to coach not only Trinidad Senior Men’s National football team, but for our youths who also failed to qualify for the World cup!