His call comes after the recent 4-0 thrashing Trinidad and Tobago received by Costa Rica in a World Cup Qualifier at the Ricardo Saprissa Stadium in San Jose on Saturday night.
The defeat was met with dismay by local football fans and supporters as well as radio and television commentators, all of whom publicly criticised the performance of the team.
One commentator on a radio station said that while he predicted a defeat, it was no where close to the disappointing performance on Saturday night by the Soca Warriors. He described the TT team as “a group of players involved in a fete match that was only missing the beers.”
With Trinidad and Tobago playing for pride, national coach Russell Latapy opted to include four members of the unsuccessful Under-20 team which performed with credit at the current FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Egypt.
But in an interview, Mulraine expressed the view that good performances and results are of a result of proper preparations. He called for proper planning from the heart of the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF), well in advance of the next qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup which will be held in Brazil.
Mulraine, a player/coach at local football champions San Juan Jabloteh and holder of an English FA Coaching Licence lashed out at the TT team for being the only one in the CONCACAF region to play “non-possession football”.
Mulraine, who missed out on a multi-million dollar contract during his early playing days at Joe Public Football Club, also accused the players of “having no pride and heart” of their inability to play “structured football” as well as being unable to conduct a proper assessment of their game.
And he feels also that Saturday night’s embarrassing drubbing may have also been the result of some tactically poor decisions.
“The level of our ball possession was next to nil, coupled with the fact that it appears that local players have not mastered the skill of passing the ball. Yet they were only attempting to hit the ball long on Saturday,” Mulraine said.
He described planning as the key to a successful campaign, a factor that has been clearly absent in TT’s football.
Mulraine explained that while preparations should have been on its way soon after the last World Cup campaign, there were other things that did not relate to “on-the-field-football” taking place.
He pointed out that the other CONCACAF teams have all been a lot more prepared than us, noting that the last friendly match the TT team played against was St Lucia. Mulraine who is now eyeing a top coaching job in TT football bashed the players for the lack of pride shown in improving their game.
“This was the main problem with Francisco Maturana. He came here to manage players and not to coach. When Leo Beenhakker was here he had a team with a core of really good players. Now we do not have good players.
“At Jabloteh there is a serious problem with goal-scoring but not one of the offensive players would take it upon themselves and work on their goalscoring without it being advised by the technical staff,” Mulraine added.
He also wants local players to treat their bodies properly. “You cannot afford to spend more than two hours on the field during a game and then go to a party and beat up their bodies by standing for additional to four five hours. They also make it worse by consuming alcohol” Mulraine said.