A generally strong performance at the T&T leg of qualifiers for the Men’s Caribbean Cup has not convinced national head coach Stephen Hart that he has had the most suitable players and he has now suggested that changes for next month’s main CFU event may be on the cards.
In a brief interview with the Guardian, Hart said his focus at this time is to see the team qualify for the Gold Cup and nothing more.
The upcoming CFU Caribbean Cup serves the purpose of qualification for next year’s Concacaf Gold Cup. All four semifinalists will qualify for the Gold Cup, while the best third-placed finisher from the two groups will enter a playoff against Honduras, the fifth-placed finisher at the Copa Centroamericana.
There is also the added incentive of the CFU Caribbean Cup champion earning a spot at the 2016 Centennial Copa America. That event will include all Comnebol teams including traditional world powerhouses in Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay, as well as host country USA, Mexico, Costa Rica and three other Concacaf teams.
But, Hart has opted to put his focus on one objective for now. “The objective is to qualify for the Gold Cup. To think about a one-off tournament (Copa America) in 2016 for me is losing sight of what is important right now for T&T. We are going to the tournament with an aim to win it...
The Copa America is just an added incentive,” Hart said. Hart was installed as head coach last year, just before the start of the biennial Gold Cup and led the team to its second ever berth into the knockout stage. Bertille St Clair first led T&T to the knockout stage of the Gold Cup in 2000.
At the recent CFU second round qualifying Group A hosted in T&T, the “Soca Warriors” secured wins over the Dominican Republic (6-1), St Lucia (2-0) and Antigua/Barbuda (1-0), respectively, earlier this month to easily advance to next month’s CFU Caribbean Cup finals in Jamaica.
And, topping the group meant T&T avoided being pitted with the host nation. On November 11, T&T will meet Curacao in the tournament opener, then French Guiana two days later and finally Cuba in the third Group A match on November 15.
Jamaica’s Group B, meanwhile, includes Haiti, Antigua/Barbuda and Martinique. The two group winners will meet in the final on November 17 at the Montego Bay Sports Complex, Montego Bay, following the third-place playoff featuring the two group runners-up.
Hart gave no indication of potential targets for the official Caribbean Cup squad but suggested that there was the potential of changes to be made as he remains unconvinced with the lack of playing time with some of the players at their clubs.
He said, “Far too many of our players in the last set of games had not played consistently enough with their clubs, for various reasons.”
Turning his attention to the initial Caribbean Cup opponents, Hart added: “The group can be a tricky one, Curacao tied with French Guiana, tied with Martnique and beat Guadeloupe, to qualify, while FG tied with Haiti (and) beat St Kitts and Barbados for their qualification...
Then of course there is Cuba, who are always well prepared and have a good young team mixed with experience. If we are not at our best all three team can take points off us.
He continued, “Tournaments are always tricky fixtures. Anything can happen. Most of the teams in our group would have time to prepare as a unit. This is an advantage for them. Any team can take points from you. With so many games and the limited rest and recovery, you need to remain healthy and stay away from card trouble.”