Where is the passion?
Stephen Hart sounds like he’s had enough. This is a man who had, until last Tuesday night, made it his business to shy away from openly criticising the national football team he took charge of two years ago ahead of the 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament in the United States.
Since that surprise appointment as head coach, Hart had earned the respect of even his sternest critics by the manner in which the side performed almost immediately under his stewardship in reaching the knockout stages of the Gold Cup before being eliminated by Mexico.
But there were problems. There are always problems when it comes to football in Trinidad and Tobago and there probably always will be for the foreseeable future given the crisis of credibility in the administration of the game and the consistent inability of the vast majority of players from this country to complement natural talent with discipline and hard work.
And it appears the latter issue has brought the Trini-born Canadian close to breaking point. As reported by TTFA Media, Hart didn’t put water in his mouth in the aftermath of what was clearly a dispiriting 3-0 loss to Jordan in Amman.
Here’s part of what he’s quoted as saying: “It was extremely disappointing today. We were second best, even third best today. We were awful. I think what hurt most is that there were a number of players out there playing for selection for a national team and quite frankly they didn’t deserve to wear a national shirt today. They showed no fight, no desire, no passion and it makes me think what the selection should be for the Gold Cup.
“I don’t want to make any excuses, long flight and some of the players felt a bit legless in the opening minutes but at the end of the day you still have to play the game. Both individually and collectively, we were poor.”
Imagine your coach saying publicly that the team of which you were a part weren’t even third best in a contest involving just two sides. And coming from Hart of all people, someone who would have previously pushed direct critical shots from the media over the crossbar game after game.
Like so many other coaches before him, the native of the southland has endured a lot of nonsense, from going months without pay to a playing schedule that makes it almost impossible to develop any sort of team cohesion and momentum ahead of next month’s edition of the Gold Cup and then leading into the start of qualification for the 2018 World Cup finals.
Unless something can be arranged in the 17 days before Trinidad and Tobago play their opening Gold Cup fixture against Guatemala in Chicago, which seems highly unlikely, the national team’s playing experience for the year is a grand total of three games. Yes, three games. Narrow losses at home to Panama and away to Curacao before last week’s humiliation in the Middle East.
Yet for all that clearly unsatisfactory preparation, it’s the attitude of his players that prompted the outburst following the game in the Jordanian capital. His reference to being hurt at the sight of players who should be competing for a spot in the Gold Cup squad but whose performances made them undeserving of wearing the national colours speaks volumes.
But should we really be surprised? So many others before Hart have said essentially the same thing. Some have been very forthright from the outset, others were more measured in their outlook even if the message was still essentially the same: that there is a culture of laziness and lethargy in Trinidad and Tobago football that prevents the country achieving its fullest potential through the national team even if there are individuals who excel in foreign environments where excellence and commitment are incessantly demanded.
It will be interesting to see how the players respond to such an open rebuke. Will they swell-up their complacent tails and grumble about Hart embarrassing them, as has often been the reaction of many a pouting prima donna over the years in West Indies cricket, or will those well-aimed shots across the bows spark some life and energy from footballers who generally lack the desire to move out of cruise control?
Representing your country is not an entitlement but a privilege, even if the circumstances and remuneration are far from ideal. To be told by the coach that a performance was unworthy of wearing the uniform is a damning indictment.
Depending on who’s picked though, they’ll have the chance to present a strident rebuttal of Hart’s condemnation at the Gold Cup, which may well have been the intention of his totally unexpected broadside against the players.
For all that, it still feels like someone who is fed-up.