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Thu, Mar

Eve: Football administration let us down.
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Impossible to coach more than one team at one time

The T&T Football Association is being blamed for the series of win-less results at the CONCACAF Under-20 Women's Championship, which is now into the final round.

The final and third-place play-offs will take place tomorrow at the Ato Boldon Stadium in Couva, and the T&T team, being coached Jamaal Shabazz will be seated in the stands watching, having lost all its matches in the preliminary rounds of the tournament. Shabazz's coaching techniques came in for harsh criticisms at the end of the preliminary rounds, and yesterday Angus Eve, a former national player and coach said the Morvant Caledonia United coach was put in a situation where he just could not win.

Eve took a swipe at the administrators of the sport for handing Shabazz the coaching job, while he already had the responsibility of coaching the country's under-17 and senior national women's teams.

According to Eve, "In no other country in the world do you have one coach in charge of multiple teams. I saw Shabazz abroad with the under-17 team and when he was back, he was given the responsibility of the coaching the under-20 team. In addition, he also had the senior women's team to deal with, so, he just could not win in that under-20 tournament."

"I think the administrators of the sport here have let down the team, and by extension the country" Eve said.

He called for the myth that local coaches are incapable of coaching at an international level to be dismissed totally, saying the time has come for the T&TFA to stop reverting to the same women's-team coaches year after year. "We all know that Shabazz is an excellent coach, but he cannot do it all. Therefore, it's time the administrators of the sport give other coaches, other than those who have been in charge of the women's teams in the past, the opportunity to coach also," said Eve.

The Soca Princesses scored first but lost to Haiti 2-3, to Canada 1-4 and 1-2 to Costa Rica to finish the tournament with no points. And there was no disguise to the lack of organization in defence and attack that may have been contributing factors to the team's demise.

Eve however made it clear the administration was purely to blame for this one and not the coaching, and stressed on the numerous responsibilities coaches have while carrying out their duties.

"I saw a team filled with talent. I saw Dennecia Prince take down a ball while in full flight and scored. I also saw the T&T team take the lead on three occasions which were clear indications that they can play, but the administration let them down badly and also let the country down in the process" Eve said.