FORT DE FRANCE, Martinique (CMC) – Beleaguered Trinidad and Tobago coach Russell Latapy has appealed for time for his young national squad to develop and stands by his decision to opt for youth, despite crashing out of the Digicel Caribbean Cup in embarrassing fashion.
The Soca Warriors suffered losses to Cuba and Grenada respectively last week, to bow out of contention for the semi-finals of the Caribbean’s premier football tournament after starting as one of the favourites to win the title.
Following the disappointing campaign, Latapy’s position has come under the microscope but the former national player reminded that the side was in a transition phase at a time when other regional teams were improving.
“The Caribbean teams have improved for reasons such as the way the game has changed and the coaching methods. Everyone is playing to a better level and the physical fitness of most teams is on par which closes the gap even further,” Latapy pointed out.
“As far as Trinidad is concerned, we are in a transitional period. If you look at the team who went to the World Cup in 2006, they were older even then. Most of them played in the 2010 World Cup campaign and were all in their 30s.
“What I try to do is bring on the young players and that takes time. The older players whom I could have chosen may have been too old or too slow. So, it is a case of giving these young guys a chance to play at international level, giving them the chance to see what it’s like.
“Like anything, it’s a learning experience – and that’s what we did, we learned. We have five or six guys under the age of 22 who all played. The thing is, little by little, you have to bring them in but for us there was not a gradual adjustment unfortunately.”
He added: “One way or another, it is my responsibility. I stand by my decision and I believe these guys all have a bright career ahead of them in football.”
Prior to the tournament, Latapy had said he expected his side to reach the championship final and clash for the title with regional powerhouses Jamaica.
However, they were easily beaten 2-0 by Cuba in their opening game last Friday and needing a draw to keep their semi-finals hopes alive, went down 1-0 to Grenada on Sunday.
T&T played unbeaten in the group stage round at home last month but Latapy said the team may have been affected by the lack of match competition since then.
“Firstly, I’m very disappointed. I thought that we had a squad of players that would go further in this tournament. As the coach I can speak for them and we are all disappointed,” Latapy said.
“Firstly, we are disappointed by our performance in our first game and, secondly, by the results of the second game. It is easy to point fingers but the reality is we were much more prepared for the Group stages compared to these games.
“We never had an opportunity to play a friendly game which would have helped and we only had four training sessions together as a team and I suppose that showed.
“However, that’s only one aspect, and then there’s the other aspect – if you don’t score goals, you don’t win matches. We created enough opportunities – but finishing them is another story.”