TWO weeks before Trinidad and Tobago's men's football team meet Curacao in a Concacaf Nations League match, the FIFA-appointed normalisation committee, headed by chairman Robert Hadad, has finally named a coach.
In a press release on Tuesday, the TTFA said Angus Eve's contract was extended to March 2024. Eve's contract ended when TT exited the Concacaf Gold Cup on July 2. He has been the TT coach since June 2021.
Hadad said, 'Angus has come into the role bringing stability, quality and belief to the team. We have navigated challenges together along the way and believe that he is the right individual and character to take us into League A.'
TT advanced to League A of the Concacaf Nations League after Nicaragua was demoted for fielding an ineligible player in League B competititon. TT had initially finished as runner-up to Nicaragua.
Eve said, 'This is a great honour to continue to serve my country and serve in a positive manner.'
TTFA also said it has commissioned a technical advisory panel that will be available to assist Eve. The names of the members of this panel are expected to be finalised and announced within the next few days.
Prior to the TTFA's release, former Soca Warriors defender Brent Sancho condemned the silence of the TTFA in naming the head coach.
On Monday night, the TTFA started advertising the match against Curacao scheduled for September 7 at Hasely Crawford Stadium in Mucurapo at 6 pm. The ad gave fans details, saying the covered section will cost $100 and the uncovered section will cost $50. Children under 12 are free.
Sancho said, "I think the challenge in all of this has been the lack of transparency in everything, which is really sad. There is and has been high expectations with the normalisation committee to operate on those sorts of levels, but particularly over the last year it has gotten worse in terms of transparency when it comes to decision making and giving a full account of how things work particularly in these departments: coaching, selection process, the understanding of the evaluation of coaches and how they come up with these decisions."
The former defender said hiring a new coach so late would be like shooting one's self in the foot.
"A new coach can come in, but I think from where we are and our current situation here in TT - I think it will be a very foolish decision if that is the case. We are basically asking someone to come in under a veil of secrecy to work with what I would consider a group of players that are possibly in a transition phase."
TT had a disappointing Gold Cup campaign with defeats to Jamaica (4-1) and a second-string USA (6-0) erasing the euphoria of a 3-0 opening win vs St Kitts. TT bowed out at the group stage.
Prior to the Gold Cup, Eve boasted that his "pragmatic" approach had been working. However, he was heavily criticised for sidelining local-based players in favour of their foreign counterparts for the Gold Cup.
Sancho lamented that there has been no post-mortem about that campaign.
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