Dutchman Erwin Koeman arrived in Port of Spain on Tuesday and was the first of a list of international coaches to be interviewed by officials of the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation in a vie for the post of Head Coach of the National Men’s Senior Team.
According to TTFF Technical Adviser Keith Look Loy who headed the interviewing panel which met with Koeman for an extensive period on Tuesday, the TTFF has embarked on an extensive process to ensure that a decision in the best interest of the Men’s Senior Team and football in T&T is made in the final analysis.
Koeman is a former player with the Netherlands National Team and was a member of their national team that captured the 1988 European Cup title alongside his brother Ronald and former stars Ruud Gullit, Marco Van Basten and Frank Rijkaard.
Koeman also featured at the 1990 World Cup Finals under Leo Beenhakker. He appeared 33 times for the Netherlands between 1983-1994. At the club level Groningen, Mechelen, where he won the Belgian League in 1989 and 1988 Cup Winners' Cup and PSV, where they were crowned league champions in 1990–91 and 1991–92.
As a coach, he served as youth coach of PSV Eindhoven in 1998 and was promoted to assistant coach of the club’s senior team in 2001.
He is also a former head coach of Feyenoord and also ex-head coach of Hungary between 2008-2010. He guided them to a close fourth spot with 16 points in their UEFA 2010 World Cup qualifying group behind Sweden (18 pts), Portugal (19 pts) and Denmark (21 pts).
“I received an invitation from the TTFF to hold talks with them and I accepted the offer because of course like everyone who knows the 2006 World Cup with Leo Beenhakker and after that Trinidad and Tobago were very famous, also in Holland.
It’s a challenge and I think it’s also important to see more of the world. I got my first impression as the TTTF showed me some parts of the country and some of the stadiums and it’s been good so far,” Koeman told TTFF Media on Wednesday.
“I live by football and I think it’s good for a human being to see more than just Holland or Hungary. This is an adventure and a challenge also to come here. I am encouraged by what the Federation wants to achieve with the international team and if you are working, then you always want to be the best and that is my goal.
“I know that Trinidad and Tobago will build a new team for 2014 and you have some players who play in Europe and America and there are the locals as well.
And it’s important to give them a lot of attention and for the talented players to give them the chance to put them into the team if they show that they are willing to work. I like to work with young players and if they are good enough then they should be given a chance.”
Koeman is aware of the challenge that lies within CONCACAF with the likes of United States, Mexico, Costa Rica and most recently Honduras grabbing the World Cup berths. He believes that T&T can pose a strong enough challenge for Brazil 2014 and other future World Cups.
“If you want to go to a World Cup you have to face those kind of teams for the moment they are better than Trinidad and Tobago but you have to work and you have some time to get there.
That’s the challenge. I’m from Holland and an important part of our game is that we like to have the ball and play a possession game but finally the most important thing is the result. It’s important to play good football but finally you have to win.”
Koeman also spoke on the influence of players who constantly play at high domestic level similar to the Holland National Team as compared to players from T&T are based mostly in the lower Leagues.
“If you look at the Holland team, you will see almost all the players play abroad every week at a high level and that’s a very big advantage for them.
On the T&T team you have players who play at a lesser level and that is more difficult but I think if you work with the strengths of the individual player then you can get the best of out of them and generally for the team and I like that challenge,” Koeman added.
“It’s very important that you start at the youth level and sometimes it takes time. It’s better to put younger players in the national team also at a younger level as then they have more possibilities to go into the first team and play I think the T&T Federation is working towards that and they have seen what has happened in recent years with that kind of approach,” Koeman ended.
Look Loy reveals selection process for Men’s Senior team head coach
Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation Technical Adviser Keith Look Loy revealed on Wednesday that Erwin Koeman is not the only coach that is being looked at by the TTFF for the position of National Team head coach as the Federation expects to make a final decision by this month end following interviews with another four-five coaches.
Included in that shortlist is Johan Neeskens, Carlos Queiros, Otto Pfister and Ruud Krol who are all scheduled to visit Port of Spain during this month to hold talks with the TTFF.
“The process of defining who the next coach has begun. We have here in the country Erwin Koeman who has had an extensive career. Most recently he was head coach of Hungary who barely missed out on qualifying for 2010 South Africa and has coached in Europe. He is the first of several coaches who will visit in the coming weeks and we will speak to.
We want to establish what is the personality we are dealing with. Coaching is very much also about personality and relationships and not only about pedigree or a resume,” Look Loy told TTFF Media on Wednesday.
“We need to talk to people first hand and get a feel for them and see if we think that on a human level they will be a fit with our players and our culture and what the difficulties no doubt will be in our setting like ours.
We are pretty much satisfied with the way it has gone so far and we now have to discuss the hardcore details of what any contract will be like, how long, how much responsibilities will be given to the coach and we will do that over the next 24 hours and then we will receive the next candidate and then at the end of the process we will then make a decision on who we want to recommend to the Executive Committee of the TTFF in order of priority.”
Look Loy relayed further information on the other coaches being considered by the TTFF for the position of head coach.
“We also have to speak to Otto Pfister who has also achieved a lot in the game. Then we also have to speak to Carlos Queiroz, Johan Neekens and also another famous Dutch name in Ruud Kroll and by the end of that we would have spoken to five coaches all with good pedigree and we should be able to arrive at a good recommendation for the TTFF to take our football forward and qualify for Brazil 2014. Our ambition is to have this process completed by the end of this month,” Look Loy added.
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