FORMER manager of the national football team Richard Braithwaite is calling for a complete review on what went wrong with the FIFA Brazil 2014 World Cup Qualifying campaign.
The “Soca Warriors” were knocked out of World Cup qualifying after being beaten by regional minnows Guyana 2-1 recently.
The win pushed Guyana to 13 points and assured they advanced to the new round of qualification despite their defeat to Trinidad and Tobago a couple days later at the Hasely Crawford Stadium 2-0.
Yesterday, Braithwaite described the World Cup campaign as a “huge disaster” and called for the review as a matter of priority.
“This review should be done before anything should be considered and the one responsible should be held accountable” said Braithwaite.
He lashed out at “Soca Warriors” Otto Pfister for blaming the poor structure of the Pro League for the failure of the team. According to Braithwaite, “Apart from the extremely poor planning of the campaign we now have the ridiculous statement by the German coach that the local Pro League is no good and that it should be blamed for his failure.”
He said Pfister is probably unaware that he was out-manoeuvred by a Pro League coach in Jamal Shabazz and beaten by a team that had several Pro league players on their roster. The long-serving football administrator who has had successful stints with Trintoc, Petrotrin and a number of national teams said the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation must deal with the problems at hand.
Apart from the review, Braithwaite also wants to see an overhaul of the TTFF which has been in turmoil and without leadership.
“For football to progress it cannot be a case of just brushing aside the problems and moving on with business as usual. I am reading about plans to hire a Technical Director and a new national coach but there is no word about overhauling the TTFF itself and the way it operates” he said.
He explained, “Since 2006 we have had a Dutch, a Colombian, a German and a local coach in charge and the performances went from bad to worse. Last year the team was beaten by Grenada in the Digicel Cup, a tournament that we have won on numerous occasions. It should be obvious now that the problem is not a technical one but it is a management and administrative issue.”