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Pick up Side Mentality
February 28, 2001
Sir/Madam,
"Go, TnT, Go!". We keep shouting ourselves hoarse. The supporters of our national football team that is. But, we keep shooting ourselves in the foot, the controllers of national football that is.
It's now history. We have lost the first of 10 crucial world cup qualifying games of the last round.
Jamaica didn't beat us. We did that to ourselves.
It began from the last round. After making enough points to come to the final round, our football controllers began to lower the targets.
A pickup side went to play in Azteca mere hours before the game at altitude. The officials said they didn't know better. They didn't know that you had to spend more time there. Poor fellas.
The FIFA Vice President took time from his Carnival schedule to tell us that millions of dollars were spent on a hopeless trip to England. Of course, he hailed it as a big deal.
Imagine going to cold England to prepare to play a game in 1.00 clock heat in Kingston!!! What imagination!! The majority of the squad was to be made up of foreign based professionals who never played any of the club "fete matches" with the rest of the team in England.
The English, like the Americans did us when our team went there to prepare for a match some time back. Remember, we couldn't even get a ground to practice on! Well, the good old mother country made sure we didn't have a team to practice.
Well, that is organising skill father!!! Our officials outdo themselves every time they raise our hopes of going somewhere to play world class football with backward small-minded behaviour.
How come the Reggae boyz with lots of foreign-based players had their guys home practising days before the game in the 1.00 o'clock heat?
How come they made our players sit and watch them for 1 hour plus at the stadium yesterday, the only day our team including Mr Yorke were together. Well, Mr Yorke scored a hattrick to try and keep his place in Manchester and TT could not get our team together!
Well, I can hear Porterfield now. "Well, it was a learning experience for the lads!". That sorry excuse has become so worn out that Trinis must stop accepting that kind of rubbish instead of real explanations.
Instead of setting a goal to finish the earlier qualifying round and stamping our authority on the group, the controllers lowered the standards and end off with a 7 goal cuttail for good measure.
Instead of demanding our players from the English bosses, we humbled and humbled down to the day before the last. All we got was the perennial threats from Jackie boy about dealing with Ferguson etc. That is exactly why they have no respect for us. Who respects a windbag!!!
Even Latas started getting affected with the disease of small country-ism that keeps us from aiming for excellence.
We set the aim, according to the captain, a couple of days ago of getting a point away from home.
So, the managerial ineptitude apart, we defeated ourselves psychologically before we even got to Kingston stadium.
The people of TnT must demand better. We must demand an end to this pick-up side mentality.
Commentators like Ruskin Mark must stop trying to be polite and tell the truth.
Third rate leadership will not achieve first class goals!!!
It is time that the controllers of our football stop playing us for fools and really prepare our campaign with the professionalism that is necessary to achieve major success.
HOMEPAGE
Copyright © Clyde Weatherhead
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