T&T U-17 coach defends competence
Three parents of national Under-17 players, who participated in Trinidad and Tobago's unsuccessful showing at the CONCACAF qualifying tournament in Mexico last month, blasted coach Anton Corneal for turning their sons into "scapegoats" and criticised the motivational style of the technical staff, which included assistant coaches Michael McComie and Shawn Cooper.
The young "Soca Warriors" also lost 3-0 to Costa Rica and Guatemala and finished bottom of the group.
"My son wanted to come home after the first game," said one parent. "Imagine the coaches were throwing words for some boys and saying 'allyuh feel you are big players because you went on trials to England or Portugal'.
"Instead of talking to them and building up their confidence they came and tore them down.
"I was the one trying to lift my son and asked him how many games he felt Dwight (Yorke) and (Russell) Latapy lost."
Another parent felt the technical staff placed too much blame on the shoulders of 16-year-olds.
"After they got seven, Anton told the players 'allyuh would have to live with that for the rest of allyuh life'," said the parent. "I can understand that you have to be tough after a loss but the players were crushed and my son felt like a failure. How come it was only the players to blame and not the coaches?
"It was up to the parents to try to lift players."
The Under-17 players, according to the parents, endured sniping remarks throughout the tournament, particularly from Corneal's assistants, while they were unhappy at allegedly being denied use of their portable musical devices for relaxation and vibes.
In a televised interview after the tournament, Corneal said the young players seemed to care more about their Ipods than the football.
However, Corneal denied that any young men were picked on and suggested that they were trying to avoid personal responsibility.
"When your kids come home from school, they are always doing alright until you go to school and hear for yourself," said Corneal. "Those are young players trying to find excuses. I don't think any player was picked upon. I was saying this is the real world and this is where players your age are at now. That is a ridiculous allegation."
Team manager Christopher Gouveia echoed the head coach's view.
"I don't remember any player being singled out for any kind of treatment," said Gouveia, "but I know the technical staff was at pains to make the fellas know that not because they were stars at college level meant they were world stars. They were not going to fool the players and tell them they were superstars when they are ordinary by world standards.
"On any team, there are so-called top players who are expected to step up to the plate and we expect more from. I cannot see anything wrong with that."
Corneal said that Ipods were outlawed before practice sessions and at the airport but were allowed on the bus before games. Not that he felt his players were justified in copying their global stars by using them.
"Professional players do it, but pay attention to that word," said Corneal. "Those are seasoned players not young players who need to focus on the game. These boys are on the bench before practice with headphones on their ears. We need our priority to be the game."
Corneal, whose team qualified for the 2007 FIFA Under-17 World Championship as the fifth-placed CONCACAF team, said he wanted the players to remember their heavy defeat against Mexico as a lesson.
"They cannot go around thinking this didn't happen," he said. "It is a lesson for them to learn... We want them to look within themselves and say they can work harder.
"What hinders young players is where they are being praised to the extent that they do not think they have to improve again."
Corneal reiterated that the technical staff did everything they could for the Under-17 squad. He pointed out that they were thrashed by a Guadeloupe Under-14 side when he took them over in February 2008 and went on to qualify ahead of Haiti and a well-prepared Jamaican outfit.
"We did everything we could to bridge that gap (in Mexico)," he said. "I thought we covered good ground with them but we were not in the top four teams in CONCACAF I would have loved to get the team a little bit longer."
He claimed that his record as national youth coach, which included three appearances at CONCACAF level and one Under-17 World Cup, showed he was doing something right and dismissed 2008 T&T Pro League Coach of the Year and ex-England World Cup player, Terry Fenwick, for questioning his competence.
Fenwick, in an Express interview, criticised Corneal for supposedly trying to distance himself from their poor showing in Mexico and suggested the results said much about his ability as coach.
"Let Gally Cummings or Edgar Vidale or Bertille St Clair question (my competence) but not Terry Fenwick," said Corneal. "Those are people of integrity. Since Fenwick struck that (W. Connection) player and stopped players from training with the national youth and senior teams, I have no respect for him."
Corneal insisted that he wants the Under-17 players to continue to learn and hoped to work with most of them in the future. But, if they do meet again, he made it clear that it is the players and not the coaches who would have to change.