Trinidad and Tobago manager and staff resign

[jasonm]

http://www.tsn.ca/soccer/story/?id=274278

Trinidad and Tobago manager Francisco Maturana and his staff resigned Wednesday with the Soca Warriors still in contention for next year's World Cup.

Maturana stepped down because of "differences in opinion" over the qualifying campaign with the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation's executive committee, the federation said.

Midfielder and former assistant coach Russell Latapy will take over as a player-coach, assisted by under-20 coach Zoran Vanes.

"I'm absolutely delighted with being given the opportunity to be coach of my country's national team. It's something I've always wanted to do," Latapy said.

"The task ahead of us is by no means an easy one but I think once we can get everything together, and with the support of the nation, we can achieve our goal."

Trinidad is last in the six-team CONCACAF finals, but has played only three of 10 games. The top three automatically qualify and the fourth goes to a playoff. The Soca Warriors trailed second-placed Costa Rica by only four points.

Trinidad's next qualifier will be at home against Costa Rica on June 6, followed by a visit to Mexico on June 10.

In a terse statement, the federation thanked Maturana and his staff "for their service to our nation's football these past months."

Maturana, who coached Colombia in the 1990 and 1994 World Cups, could not immediately be contacted.

He was criticized by local media for some of his selections, especially after the 3-0 loss in the United States last week.

In 2006, Trinidad and Tobago became the smallest country in size and population to ever qualify for the World Cup.

Maturana replaced Wim Rijsbergen as manager in February 2008. He coached Medellin's Atletico Nacional to the 1989 Copa Libertadores title. He also coached Valladolid and Atletico Madrid in Spain, and Colon of Argentina, as well as the national teams of Ecuador, Peru and Costa Rica.

[nolando]

I dunno...I kind of see T&T as punching above their weight in recent years, going back to their WC run. Is Maturana doing that bad of a job or it just that somebody has to finish last in the group of six - many would have picked them or El Salvador to be the punching bags of the group at the start of this round, no?

On the other hand, maybe a motivational change in manager mid-qualifying is exactly what a team like this (or Canada before) needs to turn things around.

In any case, I bet they still finish last and end up in their usual post-WCQ shambles in management and administration.

[Keegan]

T and T definitely punches above their weight as does El Salvador BIG TIME. Canada could put out a few teams which could match those teams talent wise. But both of those nations have expectations and pressure on them that we can only envy. Can you imagine us qualifying for a World Cup with players of T and T's caliber? Imagine us fielding a team with Wagenaar in goal, Dunfield and Harmse starting in central mid. Props to Trinidad they get the job done, but then again maybe calling players of that caliber is what we need? Maybe they want it more and mesh better with the region? Who knows.

[jpg75]

Let's be clear, T&T are from fielding players of the calibre of Harmse and Dunfield. Kenwyne Jones has 8 goals for Sunderland in the Premiership, he's one of the top forwards in CONCACAF. Carlos Edwards and greybeard Dwight Yorke also play at Sunderland, Edwards sees the field for them regularly. Scotland and Lawrence at Swansea, Stern John also plays in the Championship at Bristol. They have some decent talent...

[gator]

It just makes Mitchell staying on, or not being fired with worse results just look that much worse! As many people on here have stated, there aren't many countries in the world where he would have survived as long as he did! At least these dudes got to the Hex for god's sake!

[CanadianSoccerFan]

quote:Let's be clear, T&T are from fielding players of the calibre of Harmse and Dunfield. Kenwyne Jones has 8 goals for Sunderland in the Premiership, he's one of the top forwards in CONCACAF. Carlos Edwards and greybeard Dwight Yorke also play at Sunderland, Edwards sees the field for them regularly. Scotland and Lawrence at Swansea, Stern John also plays in the Championship at Bristol. They have some decent talent...

^^^ They fielded 9 domestic players for their last round of games. On top of that, most of their best players are all on the downside of their careers. Scotland and Edwards are only 30 but Stern John is 32, Yorke 37, Lawrence 35, Ince 36 and Latapy 40. They had their time in the sun but aside from Kenwyne Jones this team is past it and has no business humiliating CONCACAF in the world cup next year.

[BrennanFan]

Maturana is GARBAGE. I'd rather have Dale freakin Mitchell coaching my team. TnT is better off.

[villus]

quote:Originally posted by BrennanFan

Maturana is GARBAGE. I'd rather have Dale freakin Mitchell coaching my team. TnT is better off.

LOL @ comparing Maturana to Mitchell. Are you on crack?

[jpg75]

quote:Originally posted by CanadianSoccerFan

^^^ They fielded 9 domestic players for their last round of games. On top of that, most of their best players are all on the downside of their careers. Scotland and Edwards are only 30 but Stern John is 32, Yorke 37, Lawrence 35, Ince 36 and Latapy 40. They had their time in the sun but aside from Kenwyne Jones this team is past it and has no business humiliating CONCACAF in the world cup next year.

Whether they're on their downside of their careers or not, the players i listed are still alot better than Harmse and Dunfield - which was the only point i was making. Whether T&T have enough talent to make the World Cup is inconsequential...

[Keegan]

quote:Originally posted by CanadianSoccerFan

^^^ They fielded 9 domestic players for their last round of games. On top of that, most of their best players are all on the downside of their careers. Scotland and Edwards are only 30 but Stern John is 32, Yorke 37, Lawrence 35, Ince 36 and Latapy 40. They had their time in the sun but aside from Kenwyne Jones this team is past it and has no business humiliating CONCACAF in the world cup next year.

Thank you exactly. I know they have players better than Dunfield and Harmse obviously. But they do have a lot of lower league players on their team. Birchall, Ince and all Trinidad league players. A 35 year old Crewe Alexandria player and a bunch of local league players on their backline? Makes Canada's backline look like Italy.

Like realize this people! Joe Public was crushed in the CCL by the Impact twice! And no impact players can make a full strength Canada side.

I count 5 players on their most recent squad that I would take on Canada and that is maybe being generous. 3 of those players are strikers and none of them is better than Rob Friend so they would all probably be on the bench anyways. The other two are midfielders, I wouldn't let Yorke touch any of our midfielders not that he could at his age. But Carlos Edwards would probably start on the opposite wing to De Rosario.

Maybe calling local league players is what Canada is missing though? Maybe if we called more north american based players we would be better off? El Salvador and Trinidad do. Mexico and the USA call a lot of FMF and MLS players. Honduras calls a lot of Honduran league players. Heck Jamaica called local players. Costa Rica calls tons of local league players.

We are the only nation that doesn't really. Sure we aren't going to drop De Guzman for Kevin Harmse now but maybe dropping say Iain Hume for Will Johnson or Kevin McKenna for Dejan Jakovic wouldn't be so crazy after all? Or Bernier for Grande? The level isn't too far of a drop.

Edit:

On our Gold Cup run we called an above usual amount of local players. Onstad, Jazic, De Rosario and Nash were all starters through the tournament....

and just to talk about the quality of trinidad a bit more... a guy playing for Raith Rovers almost his whole career has 99 caps for them. And Collin Samuel and Julius James have been capped by them. Enough said? I think so.

Granted I would take their forward crop over ours (maybe). They are a bit long in the tooth though. And if Hoillet chooses Canada I change that maybe to a definitely not.

[prizby]

How is Hume doing...is he fully recovered yet?

[jpg75]

I hate getting into an argument defending T&T, but i think that alot of us underestimate the talent level of our competition in CONCACAF almost to the point of disrespect. At the same time we seem to be overrating our own players. These points:

"Canada could put out a few teams which could match those teams talent wise."

"Can you imagine us qualifying for a World Cup with players of T and T's caliber? Imagine us fielding a team with Wagenaar in goal, Dunfield and Harmse starting in central mid."

Both of those statements are wild exagerrations. We do not have 2nd and 3rd stringers who could match up talent wise with the T&T first team. Our first-stringers have a tough time beating their first team! They may lack depth, but they do have some good front line talent. I would take Kenwyne Jones over any forward we have today and I would take Carlos Edwards over any midfielder not named De Guzman.

BTW, between Marvin Andrews multiple stints with Raith Rovers he spent the prime of his career playing in the SPL for Livingston and Rangers. He was a very good defender for T&T. As for Samuel and Jones, yeah they're crap, but it's not like we've never called up crap players before. It wasn't that long ago that Canada were forced to call on Elvis Thomas from Toronto Olympians of the CPSL. And we still rely on Adam Braz sometimes, now that's embarassing! []

[Keegan]

quote:Originally posted by jpg75

I hate getting into an argument defending T&T, but i think that alot of us underestimate the talent level of our competition in CONCACAF almost to the point of disrespect. At the same time we seem to be overrating our own players. These points:

"Canada could put out a few teams which could match those teams talent wise."

"Can you imagine us qualifying for a World Cup with players of T and T's caliber? Imagine us fielding a team with Wagenaar in goal, Dunfield and Harmse starting in central mid."

Both of those statements are wild exagerrations. We do not have 2nd and 3rd stringers who could match up talent wise with the T&T first team. Our first-stringers have a tough time beating their first team! They may lack depth, but they do have some good front line talent. I would take Kenwyne Jones over any forward we have today and I would take Carlos Edwards over any midfielder not named De Guzman.

BTW, between Marvin Andrews multiple stints with Raith Rovers he spent the prime of his career playing in the SPL for Livingston and Rangers. He was a very good defender for T&T. As for Samuel and Jones, yeah they're crap, but it's not like we've never called up crap players before. It wasn't that long ago that Canada were forced to call on Elvis Thomas from Toronto Olympians of the CPSL. And we still rely on Adam Braz sometimes, now that's embarassing! []

Yes we actually do. Just make a couple Canada XIs and you can see that we do. For example my second XI would have Sutton in goal, De Jong at left back, Hainault and Jakovic in Central D, Ledgerwood at right back. My third XI has Brennan at left back, Edgar and Hastings in central D and Attakora at right back. With Onstad in goal.

You could definitely make an argument that 3rd XI backline/goaltender is better than any T and T can put out. Then we aren't too shabby in the midfield as everyone knows we could probably put out at least 2 midfields of their calibre. At forward is where we have a problem but even then matching Scotland, Jones, John vs. Friend, Radzinski, Occean/Gerba/Hume? Its tight.

[youllneverwalkalone]

^So how come T&T are in the Hex and we got 2 points in our qualifying group?

[Guest Ed]

As usual, many here highly overrate our team, scorning the FIFA rankings and generally refusing to face facts. Only the dreadful Suriname kept us from finishing DEAD LAST in qualifying in the semis, behind such powerhouses as Guatemala, Cuba and Haiti. We choke completely when it comes to WC qualifying yet some fans are suggesting that our team is BETTER than a team that legitimately qualified for the hex and already has 2 points from 3 games against 5 top teams in CONCACAF.

[Keegan]

quote:Originally posted by youllneverwalkalone

^So how come T&T are in the Hex and we got 2 points in our qualifying group?

Thats why the games are played on the pitch and not on paper.

I am not saying Canada is better. I am saying we have better talent. Croatia and Russia beat out England in Euro qualifying. It happens. Bolivia beat Argentina 6-1.

In no way did I ever say we were a better team, I said we have better talent.

[Keegan]

quote:Originally posted by Ed

As usual, many here highly overrate our team, scorning the FIFA rankings and generally refusing to face facts. Only the dreadful Suriname kept us from finishing DEAD LAST in qualifying in the semis, behind such powerhouses as Guatemala, Cuba and Haiti. We choke completely when it comes to WC qualifying yet some fans are suggesting that our team is BETTER than a team that legitimately qualified for the hex and already has 2 points from 3 games against 5 top teams in CONCACAF.

Saying we are better on paper than Trinidad is far from overrating our team. It's not saying much at all really.

Now saying we are better on paper than Honduras, Mexico and the US that is overrating the team. But Trinidad? No not at all.

[jpg75]

quote:Originally posted by Keegan

Yes we actually do. Just make a couple Canada XIs and you can see that we do. For example my second XI would have Sutton in goal, De Jong at left back, Hainault and Jakovic in Central D, Ledgerwood at right back. My third XI has Brennan at left back, Edgar and Hastings in central D and Attakora at right back. With Onstad in goal. You could definitely make an argument that 3rd XI backline/goaltender is better than any T and T can put out.

Then we aren't too shabby in the midfield as everyone knows we could probably put out at least 2 midfields of their calibre.

At forward is where we have a problem but even then matching Scotland, Jones, John vs. Friend, Radzinski, Occean/Gerba/Hume? Its tight.

My first impression as you write those backlines is "Weren't these the guys we trotted out to get killed in Kingston, Jamaica?

But to play the game you propose i'd switch Edgar onto the 2nd stringers, IMO he's alot better then Hainault. De Jong, Edgar, Jakovic, Ledgerwood as 2nd stringers, then Brennan, Hastings, Hainault and Nana as 3rd string. Talent wise that 2nd line is better than T&T, but those 3rd stringers are no better than T&T's.

In goal, neither Sutton nor Onstad are better than Clayton Ince. I can't recall ever seeing either of those goalies steal a game for us, but i have seen Ince do it for T&T. I've also never seen Ince botch 2 games in WCQ for T&T.

Then in midfield, going 4-4-2 for comparisons sake our mids are this(L-R):

DeRo, De Guzman, Hutchinson, Issey

Simpson, Bernier, Imhof, Johnson

Pozniak, Grande, Nash, Harmse

Sorry, but Edwards, Yorke, Daniel and Birchall are probably more comparable to our first stringers than our backups.

Forwards:

Friend, Radzinski, Occean, Hume, Gerba, Hoillet. That's pretty much interchangeable with: Kenwyne Jones, Stern John, Jason Scotland, Darryl Roberts and Scott Sealy.

[Keegan]

quote:Originally posted by jpg75

My first impression as you write those backlines is "Weren't these the guys we trotted out to get killed in Kingston, Jamaica?

But to play the game you propose i'd switch Edgar onto the 2nd stringers, IMO he's alot better then Hainault. De Jong, Edgar, Jakovic, Ledgerwood as 2nd stringers, then Brennan, Hastings, Hainault and Nana as 3rd string. Talent wise that 2nd line is better than T&T, but those 3rd stringers are no better than T&T's.

In goal, neither Sutton nor Onstad are better than Clayton Ince. I can't recall ever seeing either of those goalies steal a game for us, but i have seen Ince do it for T&T. I've also never seen Ince botch 2 games in WCQ for T&T.

Then in midfield, going 4-4-2 for comparisons sake our mids are this(L-R):

DeRo, De Guzman, Hutchinson, Issey

Simpson, Bernier, Imhof, Johnson

Pozniak, Grande, Nash, Harmse

Sorry, but Edwards, Yorke, Daniel and Birchall are probably more comparable to our first stringers than our backups.

Forwards:

Friend, Radzinski, Occean, Hume, Gerba, Hoillet. That's pretty much interchangeable with: Kenwyne Jones, Stern John, Jason Scotland, Darryl Roberts and Scott Sealy.

Second string I'd say. None of those players can touch De Rosario, De Guzman or Hutchinson. Birchall is a career lower league english player more comparable to Bernier but I'd give Bernier the edge, Daniel is a local player young comparable to Johnson but again Johnson has the edge. Imhof is a consistent starter in a top league, none of those trinidad players are although for comparison I'd say Carlos Edwards is probably more valuable. Simpson is a good winger who when healthy is a starter for a top B2 team.

I don't think you can put up an arguement comparing Yorke to De Guzman or Birchall to Hutchinson. Maybe Edwards to De Rosario but then again De Rosario wins out there Edwards has never impressed me at all. Issey to Daniel? Meh Issey is a lot more travelled and experienced

[jpg75]

I stand by my comment that i'd take Carlos Edwards over any mid on our team with the exception of De Guzman. Yorke is still an effective player now that he's moved into an attacking mid position, while Daniel is young, athletic and skilled - he's trialed with ManU and West Ham. Birchall is a gritty player, kind of like a Marc Bircham, but with more skill. These guys aren't a second string outfit compared to our guys. I'd argue that only Imhof is clearly better than any of them.

Let's say Canada were to play T&T in a a two-leg playoff for a chance to replace them in the Hex, but we're not allowed to play with our top players while they are. With Stephen Hart as our coach, who do you think would win?

-------------Onstad--------------

Nana---Hainault-Hastings--Brennan

---------Bernier--Imhof----------

Johnson-------------------Simpson

----------Gerba---Hume-----------

vs.

----------Jones----John----------

C.Edwards-----Yorke--------Daniel

-------------Birchall------------

A. Edwards-Thomas-Lawrence---Leon

--------------Ince---------------

[Keegan]

quote:Originally posted by jpg75

I stand by my comment that i'd take Carlos Edwards over any mid on our team with the exception of De Guzman. Yorke is still an effective player now that he's moved into an attacking mid position, while Daniel is young, athletic and skilled - he's trialed with ManU and West Ham. Birchall is a gritty player, kind of like a Marc Bircham, but with more skill. These guys aren't a second string outfit compared to our guys. I'd argue that only Imhof is clearly better than any of them.

Let's say Canada were to play T&T in a a two-leg playoff for a chance to replace them in the Hex, but we're not allowed to play with our top players while they are. With Stephen Hart as our coach, who do you think would win?

-------------Onstad--------------

Nana---Hainault-Hastings--Brennan

---------Bernier--Imhof----------

Johnson-------------------Simpson

----------Gerba---Hume-----------

vs.

----------Jones----John----------

C.Edwards-----Yorke--------Daniel

-------------Birchall------------

A. Edwards-Thomas-Lawrence---Leon

--------------Ince---------------

You said without any of our top players. So a second XI? That isn't my second XI. That is my 3rd string backline/keeper that you put out there. That would probably be my 2nd string midfield and for strikers I'd take Occean and Hume for 2nd string strikers.

T and T would win because they are a better team. But if it is based purely on talent I think Canada would stand a very good chance of coming out on top. I see their midfield being good but our backline and keeper are better and the strikers are a toss up.

[jpg75]

^ No problem, use the 2nd string backline, with Sutton in net and Occean instead of Gerba up top. I still have a hard time thinking we'd win with backups against a T&T first-team with all the chips on the table. And i have to disagree with you on the forwards, Jones and John are superior to Occean and Hume.

[Keegan]

quote:Originally posted by jpg75

^ No problem, use the 2nd string backline, with Sutton in net and Occean instead of Gerba up top. I still have a hard time thinking we'd win with backups against a T&T first-team with all the chips on the table. And i have to disagree with you on the forwards, Jones and John are superior to Occean and Hume.

I think T and T would beat our 1st XI personally. I was just comparing talent levels. My initial point was that we are more talented but because of their associations (ES and T and T) they win matches. Just sort of a what if on my part.

As for Hume and Occean yes they are definitely worse than Jones and John but Hume and Occean are still pretty damn good one is a CCC star and the other has scored a lot of goals in the past year in Norway.