PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, (CMC) – Trinidad & Tobago have axed German Otto Pfister and appointed his assistant Anton Corneal as technical director. The embattled T&T Football Federation on Friday announced that it had decided not to renew the contract of Pfister at an executive committee meeting on Thursday.
The T&TFF have also appointed Hutson Charles and Angus Eve, two former internationals, to coach the Soca Warriors in an upcoming friendly international against Finland on January 22 at the Hasely Crawford Stadium.
Interim T&TFF President Lennox Watson said in a media release that Corneal’s selection to chart the way forward for T&T from a technical standpoint was a fitting one, considering his vast background as a player, coach and coaching instructor.
Corneal, who played five internationals in the 1980s for the Warriors, coached the national Under-17 boys’ team to the 2007 FIFA Under-17 World Cup in South Korea, and was deputy to Zoran Vranes at the 2009 FIFA Under-20 boys’ World Cup in Egypt.
He was also the assistant coach to Leo Beenhakker at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany and also served as deputy to past T&T coaches Joachim Figge (1995), Wim Rijsbergen (2006- 2007), Francisco Maturana (2008-2009) and Pfister.
From 2004, he was the T&TFF Youth Development Officer and he was also a FIFA Grassroots Instructor.
“I feel honoured to help with the development of football in T&T,” said Corneal.
“I have been the assistant Technical Director for several years with Lincoln Phillips in which a development programme was implemented, but due to of lack a funding many areas of the programme could not be realised.”
He added: “I believe our coaching education programme will be a key area to developing coaches at all levels of the game.
“A conscious effort must be made to synchronise our club football, colleges’ league and the Pro league with an emphasis on proper development.”
Corneal said: “Coaching schools, community teams, primary schools and zonal teams will help form the foundation of our football.
“These programmes are only possible with the support of the Government and the business community, I know with planning, implementation and patience we will see a better product in our national teams.”
Pfister replaced former national star midfielder Russell Latapy last April, but his job was always going to be on the line, once he failed to get the Warriors into the semi-final round of CONCACACF qualification for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, to be staged in Brazil.