With three matches left in the semi-final round of the 2006 World Cup qualifiers for Trinidad and Tobago, national coach Bertille St Clair says he will be maintaining his policy of including any player with a T&T passport once he can add something to the qualifying effort.
St Clair will conduct training as usual at the Hasely Crawford Stadium on Thursday afternoon with a squad of locally-based professionals but said he will have nothing to do with arguments over local versus overseas pros, adding that players from either end must earn their selection on merit.
“I have also said that anyone with a T&T passport is eligible for selection and I will maintain that policy. The argument about overseas players versus local players does not make sense. When I started the job Cornell Glen, Kenwyne Jones and Kelvin Jack were all locally based. Should I drop them because they get an overseas contract. Young Silvio Spann and others may be going overseas soon. Should we drop them when they become overseas players? If you start today with a locally-based squad and by next year all of them are overseas-based, what do you do? Start all over again,” St Clair told TTFF Media. He hinted that adjustments will be made to the team and even style of play following the 3-1 defeat to Mexico, as T&T prepares for their next qualifier against St Kitts/Nevis at the Manny Ramjohn Stadium, Marabella on Sunday October 10. “After the performance against Mexico we definitely have to make some adjustments. I am looking at some changes and it is a good thing that we have such large pool of players to choose from. We must have a more disciplined approach during the game and players must carry out instructions otherwise everything will break down. In modern football the team attacks and the team defends so everyone must be a ball winner.
“When we lose the ball it is not the job of one or two people to win it back, it is the whole team that has to defend. There is no room for ball-watching and failing to track opponents. And when we attack we have to push people forward . That is the modern game and it makes no sense going back to the old backs and forwards style of play,” St Clair said. The overseas pros are expected to begin arriving here the week leading up to the St Kitts clash and the team will then depart for Puebla, Mexico to meet that country on October 13.