April 9, D-day for Maturana
The fate of Soca Warriors coach, Colombian Francisco Maturana and his technical staff which includes assistant coach/player Russell Latapy, is to be the main topic of discussion at a T&T Football Federation (TTFF) emergency technical meeting on April 9. The meeting is expected to take place at Concacaf’s Port-of-Spain office and will be chaired by T&TFF special advisor and Concacaf president, Jack Warner.
Those expected to be in attendance are members of the Soca Warriors technical staff and other executive members of the local Federation, as Maturana’s tenure as coach comes under scrutiny.
This has been occasioned by the Warriors’ embarrassing 3-0 defeat by the United States of America in their Concacaf Final Round Qualifier in Nashville, Tennessee on Wednesday night, leaving this country at the bottom of the six-team group on two points, the same as El Salvador. The USA tops the table with seven points followed by Costa Rica (6) Honduras (4) and Mexico (3) with seven matches still to be played by each team.
The Special Adviser when asked to comment on Wednesday night display replied : “I think it was way below expectations of a team that is aspiring to be among the qualifiers for the World Cup Finals in South Africa next year.” “My concern is that we are not getting the required results. Results are all that matter at the moment and we have to start getting the right ones from the next match”, he said.
Maturana, who has come in for earlier criticism from the local media and coaches alike, has twice taken his homeland to the World Cup Finals and will be buoyed by the fact that T&T also had one point after three matches in 2005 when Dutchman Leo Beenhakker took over the reigns from Bertille St Clair and led T&T to Germany in 2006.One local club manager who prefers to remain anonymous said that the only good thing with the team’s situation is that there are two full months before the next match against Costa Rica at home June 6. T&T is also ‘away’ to Mexico on June 10.
“Whether it’s a coaching change or wholesale changes in the team, it’s clear that something has to be done.” The local club manager who has led his club to a host of local and regional triumphs was adamant that the national coach had no idea which was his best team. He added : “I can’t imagine we are three matches into the final phase of qualification and our coaching staff still does not know their best squad yet.”
By: NIGEL SIMONN of Guardian
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