Two-time Colombian World Cup coach, Francisco Maturana, is the first Trinidad and Tobago national coach who failed to get the “Soca Warriors” to the Caribbean Cup knock out stage after the weekend’s early elimination in Jamaica.
Everald “Gally” Cummings (1993)
Cummings was hastily returned to the position of head coach after the national team were eliminated by Jamaica in the Caribbean phase of the 1994 World Cup qualifiers. Aston Villa player Dwight Yorke was the sole overseas-based player and the spearhead of a young team that included the teenaged Arnold Dwarika and Dwayne Demming.
However, Yorke tore his hamstring and was ruled out as Trinidad and Tobago limped into the semi-finals only to be defeated 3-0 by hosts Jamaica. Cummings’ squad beat St Kitts and Nevis for bronze though.
Hannibal Najjar (2003)
Najjar promised to spark an influx of revenue from Trinidad and Tobago’s business sector and was promptly installed as national coach. However, just three months into his reign, 19 players—including Kelvin Jack, Brent Sancho, Cyd Gray, Cornell Glen, Keyeno Thomas, Gary Glasgow and Lyndon Andrews—walked out of a training session citing poor conditions and were promptly “blacklisted”.
The T&TFF offered a reprieve to the players for the Gold Cup qualifiers, two months later, but Najjar selected a squad of foreign-based players and soldiers instead and was eliminated by Cuba.
Francisco Maturana (2006)
The Colombian was not hampered by a blacklist while momentum seemed to be the side of the “Soca Warriors” after they booked a spot in the final phase of the 2006 World Cup qualifying campaign.
However, there were still doubts about several players selected on his squad and even more concerns about those left off it. There seemed to be uncertainty within the team’s ranks too as Maturana made six changes to his line-up after their opening defeat to Grenada and five more after their second match when they edged Barbados.
A draw to Jamaica saw the “Soca Warriors”, who were World Cup participants just two years earlier, fail to advance to the Caribbean Cup semi-final stage although Maturana had five foreign-based players and as many Germany 2006 members within his ranks.