TTFF News - Canadian coach expects tough outing from T&T U17s on Friday

Photos show the T&T U17 team in Jamaica. Courtesy TTFF Media.

Canadian coach expects tough outing from T&T on Friday

Issued by Shaun Fuentes, TTFF Media Officer in Kingston, May 2, 2007

Trinidadian head coach of the Canada National Under 17 team Stephen Hart says he expects a tough outing on Friday when his team faces Trinidad and Tobago in their final round CONCACAF World qualifying encounter in Kingston, Jamaica.

Hart, who is also interim head coach of the Canadian Senior Team, has led his team to a 3-0 win over Jamaica and a 0-0 draw with Costa Rica and was preparing his team to take on the USA on Wednesday.

Friday’s game is of huge significance for T&T as a win will keep their qualifying chances alive, of course if the Americans stay unbeaten. Anything other than a win for the Canadians versus USA would keep T&T in the tournament.

In an interview at his Knutsford Court Hotel room mere hours before departing with his team for the game versus United States, Hart gave his impressions of Friday’s game as well as T&T’s football on a whole.

“I think its going to be difficult,” Hart said frankly. “The result versus the USA is no reflection to how the team (T&T) played. Anyone who looks at them and thinks that the points are guaranteed will be a fool. We have seen them play and that definitely will not be the case for us. We have some ideas as to how we will approach the game but at this point all our energies are going into the USA game,” Hart told TTFF Media.

Hart left Trinidad in 1980 for Canada but returned a year later to play for San Fernando Strikers. He subsequently returned to Canada, taking a further interest in coaching and that eventually led to him assisting with the Canada Under 17s before former Canadian technical director Holger Osieck asked him to take up the full time coaching job with the National Under 17 team. Hart has also been interim head coach of the Canadian Senior team since September.

“Some of the advice you get from the top coaches is that if you want to learn about football and coaching, it’s advisable to work with those who work with the youth and that’s where I started,” Hart said.

About whether he would ever consider returning home to help the development of the game, Hart commented: “The situation is one with whether Trinidad and Tobago football will want myself working there. I have a contract with Canada and in this we all know there is no job security. If the right opportunity comes that’s challenging whether Trinidad and Tobago or anywhere else in the world, I would look at it very carefully.”

And his overall view on the game in his homeland, Hart added: “I think everybody that is Trinidadian and knows about Trinidad and Tobago football will say almost the same thing. Trinidad has a natural passion for football. We create a certain type of footballer and we and we all know what is missing in our football. What anyone will like to see is some sort of program that is designed to direct the energies, talent and qualities of Trinidad football is some sort of consistency program. The longer Trinidad stays for lack of a better word, disorganized in some of their approach, the more the other countries will go ahead and dominate. And it’s parallel to Canada. We in Canada do what was done before and we need to develop something a bit different to go forward,” Hart concluded.

Meantime, the T&T team, who got a chance to catch a glimpse of World champion sprinter Asafa Powell and Trinidadian Darryl Browne train in Kingston, had one morning session on Thursday at Harbour View and had the rest of the day off. The entire team got together to view the Euro Champions’ League affair between Manchester United and Inter Milan. And there was loud buzz in the dining room, grabbing the attention of other hotel guests as well when Dwight Yorke was featured in the pre-game build up for his game winning performances against Inter Milan and Juventus during Manchester United’s reign in 1999. That simple moment,who knows, could inspire the young Soca Warrior hopefuls.