PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad,  (CMC) – Former football strongman Jack Warner has lauded Trinidad and Tobago on their qualification for next year’s CONCACAF Gold Cup in the United States.

T&T rebounded from a shaky start to the CFU Caribbean Cup to reach the final of the region’s premier football competition. They clinched their Gold Cup spot by reaching the final four of the competition.
Warner, the acting Sports Minister, also praised the new Raymond Tim Kee-led administration on the team’s success.
“On behalf of the Government of Trinidad and Tobago, on behalf of the Ministry of Sport and on my own behalf in my capacity as Acting Minister of Sport, let me take this opportunity to congratulate the Federation and in particular the senior men’s national football team on their qualification for the CONCACAF Gold Cup 2013, the first since 2007,” Warner said in a statement.
“This qualification is also of particular significance as it is your first since becoming president of the Federation and if this could be viewed as being fortuitous, I do believe it augurs well for the future of the football in Trinidad and Tobago under your stewardship.”
Warner, a government minister, served as a special advisor to the T&T Football Federation in the past but has been recently embroiled in a controversial battle with the TTFF and the 2006 national team, over monies from the FIFA World Cup.
Once one of the most powerful men in world football, he was forced to resign as FIFA vice-president, and as president of the Caribbean Football Union and CONCACAF, amidst the cash-for-votes scandal that rocked the region last year.
T&T have not qualified for the Gold Cup since 2007 after missing out in 2009 and 2011. The top four teams from the Caribbean Cup are guaranteed of automatic spots at the biennial confederation championship.