TTFF News - As young Warriors shift location... head coach already looking beyond Korean experience

Photos show Anton Corneal and his bench at the Colombia game. The T&T fans, parents of the players, in the stands. A T&T big flag in the stands and the T&T team in prayer before kick off. Photos courtesy TTFF Media.

As Warriors shift location… head coach already looking beyond Korea experience

Issued by Shaun Fuentes, TTFF Media Officer in Changwon, August 24, 2007

With just over a day left before this country’s game against Germany, which could yet turn out to be the toughest of the matches thus far, head coach Anton Corneal and his team arrived in Changwon on Friday night after being on the road for just around six hours on their way out of Cheonan.

Both T&T and Germany are staying at the Changwon Hotel. And what should have been a routine three hr bus journey for the young “Soca Warriors”, turned out to be six hours on the move as the bus’ air condition supply shut down midway through the journey which forced T&T to delay some time before the German team bus arrived to pick the contingent up. The temperature was already around 34 degrees Celsius and there was still some distance to the Hotel before the German bus arrived to assist. With that aside though, T&T settled at the hotel and was scheduled to head off for morning session at the nearby Volvo training pitch before a 45 minute session at the Changwon Main Stadium.

Changwon itself is located on the south east coast of South Korea and has a population of 500,000 It is said here that when it comes to development, this city is second to none in terms of speed and size. The Stadium has capacity of 27,000 fans. T&T Honorary Consulate in Korea Seung Choi has also confirmed to FIFA Vice President and tournament chairman Jack Warner that all is in place to accommodate a T&T delegation of 200 supporters at the game which kicks off at 7pm, 6am T&T time on Sunday.

With the 5-0 defeat still very much fresh on the minds of those here in the T&T camp, Corneal insisted that it follow through to some deep thinking among the players as he met with the players and staff members at the hotel in Cheonan, shortly after dinner following the loss. The meeting was really a post mortem of the experience where several interesting matters were raised and discussed as it related to the lessons learnt and the movements towards producing better players and teams for future tournaments. Players also spoke of the false sense of security they had been getting playing back home and called for players at the national youth level to resist from playing in the Colleges League once it interfered with preparations at the national level for international competition. For some though the views expressed, particularly by Corneal could be looked at as being a typical story being repeated but definitely the foundation is there with the participation at this World Championship and the assurance that efforts will be made to take T&T’s preparation and participation to a next level. The question asked was whether T&T was ready to make the commitment that it takes to be competitors at the world level or are we as a people simply satisfied with reaching the world stage and it could relate to football, cricket and other sports or related matters which allows the world to take note of the twin-island Republic. The question lies as to how many actually care about whether T&T is bullied or rather boosted on the world stage.

“That meeting was really about a reflection on where we are realistically. I gave the players the opportunity to say what aspects of the game we need to work on now because we were beaten in all aspects. They said it themselves then we had to figure out what can we do differently to make a change and its not just initial preparations,” Corneal told TTFF Media.

“ They are saying it now that they played many times before when they were never really challenged and this is the first time they saw the game at a different speed, tactically it was different and physically as well. And there was a different level of passion to get things done.

“It’s clear to them because we have been preaching it all the time but you know you can say it but to experience it is what they have done now and you realize it takes more than what we have done and then there is an off season where we don’t get to use them or have them play as much. I’m glad the meeting was not just about the defeat but we also that we had to learn lessons from the defeat. The change must come from a little bit younger and we must prioriterize what is best for our development all of the time. Yes we were beaten but we had to learn lessons from it.”

There is the fact too that too much players at this age group in T&T have been babied but Corneal said he was glad to see them take on the responsibility and be willing to make adjustments as they also have an Under 20 World Championship qualifying campaign to look forward to

“But they are thinking ahead now and they realize we must do a lot more individually and as a team. It they have to compete against teams of this caliber it will take more from players and even us as those who prepare the them, the players admitted they were fooled into a false sense of security at the local level and now they came into the real world. If a team beats us in certain areas of the game then it’s not only tactically and players saw this too,” added the TTFF development officer.

“The only way to make possible change to be at this level is being able to meet the call for a lot of sacrifice. We are a small country with a limited pool. It means we may have to change some parts of our development programme at our clubs and how we handle our high school and Primary School leagues. A lot of people on the outside talk the talk but we are afraid to walk it yet we want the results.

“It must be everyone on the same page doing it for the same reason. It means being bold and making change and you need that to make progress. It’s a matter of time and it’s similar for other sports as well. Some of the clubs will like to get their players at a higher level whether they have the necessary personnel, facility and finance to do it is another question. Because we are a small country its very possible if you get the backing of the government, the corporate sector and the Federation. The difference is that we must do it. We have to decide if we want to compete at this level consistently.

He did point out to some headway made by the Federation as qualifying for two World Cups in succession didn’t come overnight while coaching development programmes have come off the ground in collaboration with the Dutch Royal Academy.

“That’s correct as the Federation has a role to play and it has played that role for the past few years. Two years have shown semblance of a development programme taking place and the financial backing may not be able to come alone from the Federation for this. The TTFF has in fact put a lot into this Under 17 team and it has resulted in qualifying for the World Cup. We have something now that should be set for the development of our players from Under 13 right through to the U17s and the higher age groups,” Corneal concluded.