Despite the disappointing performance of the Trinidad and Tobago football team in their 2-1 win over St Vincent and the Grenadines on Wednesday, FIFA vice-president and T&T Football Federation special adviser Austin Jack Warner is urging the national squad to play for first place in the final round of CONCACAF qualifying matches for the 2006 World Cup.
Speaking at a luncheon for the team at the Emerald Plaza in St Augustine yesterday, Warner admonished the players' unsatisfactory level of play in their last semi-final qualifying match against St Vincent. But he also thanked them for taking T&T to the final round of six, where they will line up from next February against Mexico, United States, Costa Rica, Guatemala and Panama for the three automatic qualifying spots, while the fourth-placed country will tacke an Asian qualifier in a playoff.
"I want to especially thank all of you for where we have reached today. I will reach so far as to say that we have reached where we are today with the help of none," Warner said, naming the few exceptions as sponsors KFC, Finta and Blue Waters.
Warner encouraged them, though, to strive for first place and not aim for the last qualifying spot.
"Nothing in my life I have ever done aiming for second place. It would be foolish to aim for second place. We have to aim for first place, and win."
But Warner was adamant that changes have got to be made if the team is to have any chance of making the World Cup finals.
"We are fully aware of the fact that we cannot reach Germany with the current way we are playing," Warner said. "We have been lucky so far in the draw. In a real sense we have played nobody. The team that we played last night is (ranked) 114 in the world, and we are (ranked) 63."
Warner disclosed that the T&T Football Federation's "technical minds", including Anton Corneal, former T&T captain Sedley Joseph, and other T&TFF officials, will be holding a symposium tomorrow to discuss the current state of the national team, and what can be done to assist them to improve their play.
Describing T&T as the "last hope for the Caribbean" for World Cup qualification, Jamaica having been knocked out, Warner felt that local success in the World Cup campaign "must be gained from the collective efforts of our Caribbean colleagues".
With that in mind, there will be a meeting of regional coaches, scheduled for December 2.
T&T's narrow 2-1 defeat of St Vincent and the Grenadines on Wednesday, along with Jamaica's failure to win away to the US means that T&T are the only regional team in the final phase of qualifying.
Warner also announced that should Trinidad and Tobago receive a favourable draw and play their first match in the final round of qualifying on February 9 next year, Ash Wednesday, all the members of the team will stay in Barbados and fly into Trinidad on the morning of the game, in order to avoid any distraction during the Carnival season.