FRANCISCO MATURANA, coach of the Trinidad and Tobago football team, sees a bright future for the majority of the locally-based players he used during the qualification stage of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.
“This is a team of open doors and I’ve had the opportunity to look at over 68 local players,” he said through a translator.
“We’re giving the opportunity to each one and, at the end of it, we’re going to keep the best players,” said the Colombian-born coach. “But no-one can say that Maturana didn’t give an opportunity to any-one.”
Maturana left yesterday on Thursday for South Africa where he will witness the draw today for the matches in the CONCACAF Final Round.
The other participants in the Final Round, which starts on February 11, are the United States, Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador and Costa Rica.
Between now and February 11, the 59-year-old Maturana said he has a programme to prepare.
“Right now we have to discuss the programme with all the organising bodies,” he added. “We know that before February 11, there are no fixed dates for friendly matches.
“We know that the foreign (based) players will be at their best form, if God permits, because they are always competing (with their clubs). And the problem lies with the local players because they’re on their vacation time.
“So we’re looking for the opportunity to begin a camp where we can get the players in shape and we can have a good qualifier.”
The locally-based players will have the chance to stake a claim for selection next year when they feature in the Digicel Caribbean Championships, from December 3-14 in Jamaica.
“The thing is, whatever competition that Trinidad participates in, we’re always going to have the opportunity to win it,” said Maturana. “But we’re going to try to win it.”
English-born goalkeeper Anthony Warner and winger Josh Johnson, who were both surprisingly included in the 18-member team for Wednesday’s game, were both unused substitutes, even though Maturana stated before the match that he was willing to take a look at both players.
“Football is not like tennis,” he noted. “Football is a (team) game and to be a team, firstly you have to be a group and, to be a group, you have to live together.
“Although these players have not yet played, they are part of the group,” he ended.