TRINIDAD AND Tobago football team coach Stephen Hart should focus primarily on the forthcoming FIFA World Cup CONCACAF Zone Final Round qualifiers against Costa Rica (at home on November 11) and Honduras (away on November 15), though he finds himself in a scheduling bind as the 2017 Caribbean Cup Fifth Place Playoffs will be contested from November 9-15.
On Tuesday, Martinique defeated Trinidad and Tobago 2-0 at Fort de France, Martinique to finish top of Group Four, in the Caribbean Cup Third Round Qualifiers, to seal an automatic spot in both the 2017 Caribbean Cup and the 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup.
Trinidad and Tobago will join two of these three teams (Antigua/ Barbuda, Suriname and Haiti) in the Fifth Place Playoffs, with matches carded for November 9, 12 and 15.
And, the winner of the threeteam Playoffs will play a Central American nation, in a separate playoff, for a spot in next year’s Gold Cup.
But the pair of Keith Look Loy and Sedley Joseph have commented that Hart should give priority to the World Cup qualifiers.
In a recent interview, Look Loy noted, “the Gold Cup is not a lost cause. We’re in a bad situation.
There is a way still to get to the Gold Cup, which is a very important competition.” Look Loy, the former national youth team coach continued, “at this point in time, in terms of the balance of things, if one had to choose between the two, we have to focus on the World Cup. We all want to get to the World Cup.
When you get to the Gold Cup, it’s good preparation for World Cup qualifying. In fact it normally falls within the World Cup qualifying programme.
“The chance to still qualify for the Gold Cup is not something that we could scorn,” noted the Sports and Games FC Santa Rosa owner and coach. “Now the coach has to be very careful that he chooses his best team, talent-wise and he chooses his best unit, organisation- wise. I have respect for Hart. He’s not a fool and I’m quite sure he understands that.
In other words, he needs to ensure that the people who he picks understands what the lay of the land is, what is acceptable, what is not, and that everybody is fully committed to trying to get us into the Gold Cup, and committed to fighting for a World Cup place.
“We have no more room for nonsense like what Molino has (done),” he said, referring to the dropping of midfielder Kevin Molino on Tuesday for indiscipline.
And Joseph, the former national midfielder, captain and manager, stated, “I think the coach should concentrate on the World Cup qualifying because, as it is now, we have a slim chance of qualifying for the Gold Cup. He’ll have to juggle that but, in my opinion, he should concentrate on the World Cup qualifiers.
“In the World Cup qualifiers, you’ll have some difficult teams in Mexico and Costa Rica, (and) USA. It’s not going to be easy. He needs to concentrate on getting the best players available and concentrate on the World Cup qualifiers.”