German Otto Pfister is now among the leading candidates to replace Russell Latapy as Trinidad and Tobago senior football coach.
Former Portugal manager Carlos Queiroz was reported as being favourite to take the T&T job, but is officially out of the running after signing with Brazilian club Vasco de Gama.
The English Daily Mail Online reported on Sunday that Queiroz has agreed to manage the four-time Brazilian champions. Queiroz coached Portugal during the initial qualifiers for Euro 2010, but was released after a string of poor results.
Pfister is being looked at favourably by the T&T Football Federation (TTFF) following the withdrawal of Queiroz. One concern, though, is the age of the former Burkina Faso national coach, who is 73.
Damien Downey, managing director of Elite Football Management—the management company representing Pfister—does not believe age will be a problem.
"He can offer so much from day one and he is a man who knows how to qualify for tournaments," Downey told the Express yesterday. "Pfister will get T&T to Brazil in 2014."
Pfister has taken four countries--Burkina Faso, Zaire, Cameroon and Ghana--to the African Cup of Nations, the last two of whom reached the final. He also won the FIFA Under-17 World Cup with Ghana and the Under-19 African Cup of Nations with Ivory Coast. He last took Togo to the World Cup in 2006.
In all, Pfister has coached ten international teams, including Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia.
Latapy met with TTFF officials on Friday, reportedly to determine what role he will play in the national set up. It has also been speculated that he become the understudy to his successor.
He was recently sacked as T&T head coach after a string of poor performances that culminated with a first round exit from the Digicel Caribbean Cup Finals.