Congratulations are definitely in order to the coach and players of the T&T senior national men's football team for having risen high enough in the FIFA rankings to be once again seeded in the Concacaf play-offs for the 2018 World Cup.While it is only the first step, it represents an accomplishment given that in the last two World Cups, not only were we not seeded, but we were eliminated in the preliminary stages by falling victims to football minnows Guyana and Bermuda.
The seeding of the T&T team, among the six powerhouses in the Concacaf zone, follows our qualification for the Concacaf Gold Cup and our narrow penalty-kick loss to Jamaica in the finals of the Caribbean Football Union competition.
Being seeded means that we will miss out on the preliminary games in the Concacaf zone and begin our competition in the Fourth Round of qualification. Congratulations should also be in order to the new management of the T&T Football Association and president Raymond Tim Kee, under whose tenure the country has begun to return football to its former glory with the women's and junior men's teams both also competing at the top levels of Concacaf once again.
Still, there is need to be guarded in the appreciation of Tim Kee's tenure given the embarrassment which attended the women's team preparation for travel to Texas for the World Cup qualifiers last year.It should not forget the fact that the senior men's team went on strike on the day of the CFU final in order to get long outstanding monies paid to both players and coaches.
All of this was happening while word was leaking out about the alleged payment of $400,000 to a TTFA official under circumstances that have still not been fully explained.The issues are important since natural talent, which this country has always had in abundance in football, can only get you so far.
Coach Stephen Hart has noted that while the seeding which takes us to the fourth round is a blessing, it means that the other teams playing in the competition will be sharpened by having more match time exposure.
He has called for greater resources for his squad including the ability to assemble a team and have them play games against high level competition. Hopefully the TTFA, which has so far failed the team at the final hurdle, including the women and the CFU competitions, can rise to the occasion to ensure the team has all it requires.The government also needs to play its part.
Despite the falling oil prices, memories of the hundreds of millions wasted in LIfeSport and other lost causes of the Sport Company suggest that a shortage of money was never the problem.T&T still has a long way to go before we can qualify once again for the World Cup as we did in 2006, but our recent successes suggest that, at least, we are back in the game.