Magic needed from Latapy
Assistant Coach Russell Latapy, affectionately known as the “The Little Magician”, was elevated to the position of national coach on Wednesday after Colombian Francisco Maturana resigned and whether he can bring any improvement to the Soca Warriors’ performances is now a matter of speculation.
Maturana appeared to be little more than a high school coach as the team, save the efforts of a couple of players, performed amateurishly in the current CONCACAF campaign for one of the three qualifying places for the South Africa 2010 World Cup finals.
He was the subject of widespread criticism and it was no surprise that he and his technical staff yesterday offered their resignations to the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF) at a committee meeting chaired by Jack Warner.
The committee accepted their resignations.
Maturana and the TTFF were said to have had different opinions about the way forward for the team.
As an interim measure, celebrated midfielder Russell Latapy, who has little coaching experience, has been handed Maturana’s job. His assistant will be former national coach and present under- 20 coach Zoran Vranes.
Maturana’s campaign included a 2-2 draw with El Salvador which came after the Warriors were leading 2-0 with 10 minutes remaining in the match; a 1-1 last minute at home draw with Honduras and being embarrassed 3-0 by the USA.
This means the national side has two points from three games.
It’s almost a mirror image of the last World Cup campaign when the then national coach Bertil St Clair was dismissed after three matches with the team securing only one point.
Leo Beenhakker was appointed head coach and he led Trinidad and Tobago to its first ever place in a World Cup finals.
Maturana, 60, was in charge of the national team for 14 months. This involved some 32 matches. His record was 18 wins, eight losses and eight draws.
Some 10 of the 18 victories were in friendly matches.
Three victories were against Caribbean teams in the Digicel Cup and four in World Cup qualifying matches (one against Bermuda, two against Cuba and one against the USA).
Another blemish on Maturana’s resume is that he did not lead the team qualifying for the Gold Cup and it was the first time also that Trinidad and Tobago did not qualify for the Copa Caribe.
The Soca Warriors’ next match is against Costa Rica on June 6 at the Hasely Crawford Stadium.
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2 Responses to “Magic needed from Latapy”
Maturana’s resignation was tendered to the TTFF “at a committee meeting chaired by Jack Warner”…
The TTFF website names the following officials:
President : CAMPS Oliver
Vice President : TIM KEE Raymond
General Secretary : GRODEN Richard
Treasurer : RUDOLPH Thomas
With Mr. Warner’s name nowhere in sight, why is he the chair of a committee dealing with such a crucial and integral activity as determining the national team’s coach?
Does this signal Latapy’s retirement as a player from international football or will he continue on in a player/coach role?
And, assuming he remains a player/coach, is not relieved of his coaching duties and T&T qualify for the world cup, will he be the first player/coach to appear at a world cup?