TRINIDAD and Tobago Football Federation special adviser Jack Warner is still paying for his belief in the senior national football team.
According to Warner, he has taken out another mortgage on an undisclosed property to cover payment to FIFA on outstanding bills for the T&T "Soca Warriors" in the lead-up to the 2006 World Cup.
Warner again lamented the lack of support from the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs and, by extension, the Government, apart from contributions of $1.6 million, as well as $6 million for the charter flight to Bahrain for last November's return World Cup Finals qualifying playoff leg.
"No country ever qualified for the World Cup on that kind of budget," Warner said yesterday when he was one of the feature speakers at a bmobile-sponsored symposium for senior regional sports journalists and editors at the Cascadia Hotel in St Ann's.
"Just yesterday (Wednesday), I took out another mortgage on my property to pay some bills for the team and to pay the officials by April 30."
The FIFA vice-president and CONCACAF president added that he was still covering the Soca Warriors' costs, stating he had recently paid 104,000 euros as initial payment to FIFA for the team's hotel fee and had been asked yesterday to make a second payment to the tune of 156,000 euros, which he also met.
Warner also criticised those who complained about prices for the upcoming international friendly against Peru on May 10 at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, T&T's last home encounter before the World Cup Finals, which kicks off on June 9.
"When we hear about ticket prices...it is very easy to talk about ticket prices, but at the end of the day, somebody has to pay," he declared.
Warner also continued to express his firm confidence T&T would fare well their first time out at the World Cup Finals, even against their tough Group B opposition.
"...Expect them (bigger teams) to make the occasional mistake, to help us to beat them. And that is why we will beat England, that is why we will beat Sweden, that is why we will beat Paraguay, that is why we will make it to the next round."
He added there will be people who will be doubtful of T&T's ability, but he maintained faith in the team's performance at the tournament.
Other speakers on the opening day of the three-day event included sports analyst and commentator Simon Crosskill of Jamaica; former T&T cricketer and footballer and FIFA technical adviser Alvin Corneal; and veteran journalist and editor, Lennox Grant.
Crosskill gave the audience an overview of what T&T are to expect when they make their maiden appearance at the World Cup Finals in less than two months time, based on the Jamaican experience with the "Reggae Boyz" eight years ago at France '98.
Crosskill said the event had a great economic and social impact on Jamaica and the day they qualified was a "fantastic day to be a Jamaican", resulting in "one heaping mass of nationalism".
So much so, he related, that the three days after Jamaica had qualified, there was not a single murder, despite their current "embarrassing murder statistics".
He pointed out that it bore financial fruit as there was a huge part of the private sector contributing to sports associations and "everybody wanted to be seen as a major contributor to nation-building through sport".
But Crosskill bemoaned the fact there was no unified approach to building sport in the region.