Dutchman replaces St Clair

WITH IMMEDIATE effect, Leo Beenhakker of the Netherlands will take over the reins as coach of the Trinidad and Tobago football team. And former national captains and midfielders, Russell “Little Magician” Latapy and David Nakhid will serve as his assistants. According to the Technical Advisory Committee of the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF), Bruce Aanensen is the new manager of the squad while two former national managers, George Joseph and Joseph “Sam” Phillip, will be the assistant managers. Shown the exit door by the committee are Bertille St Clair (coach), Richard Brathwaite (manager), Peter Rampersad (assistant manager) and Michael “Brow” Maurice (goalkeeper coach).

Former assistant coach Ron La Forest will now take over duties as the national Under-23 coach while physiotherapist Zephyrinus Nicholas, team doctor Terrence Babwah and equipment manager Ikin Williams were spared the axe. The committee —  chairman Rudolph Thomas, Lincoln “Tiger” Phillips, Dr Alvin Henderson and Muhammad Isa, as well as TTFF special advisor Jack Austin Warner and general secretary Richard Groden, met with the former technical staff as well as senior players of the squad yesterday to announce the changes to the team’s hierarchy. During a radio interview on Wednesday, Warner stated that he will foot the bill of the new coach, who has been given a mandate of October 12 to ensure that Trinidad and Tobago earn one of the three automatic CONCACAF World Cup qualifying spots for the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

The 62-year-old Beenhakker, who is expected to arrive here on Monday, was the coach of the Netherlands in the 1990 World Cup in Italy; and Saudi Arabia in the 1994 World Cup in the United States. During his coaching career, which has spanned almost four decades, Beenhakker was at the helm of a number of clubs, including Feyenoord Rotterdam, Ajax Amsterdam and Vitesse Arnhem in Holland, Real Madrid and Real Zaragoza in Spain, Grasshoppers in Switzerland and Guadalajara in Mexico.  He last served as technical director of America in the Mexican First Division from 2003 until he resigned last June. The 36-year-old Latapy recently expressed his desire to return to the national fold as a coach, instead of a player, after calls were made for the Falkirk player/coach to follow in the footsteps of Nakhid, who joined the previous regime as a player/coach last November.

A former deputy manager of RBTT Bank, Aanensen currently holds the position of vice-president of the Queen’s Park Cricket Club. The Tobago-born Joseph last held the post of manager of the team under coach Hannibal Najjar from 2002-2003 while Phillip managed the squad during the stint of Stuart Charles-Fevrier from 2003-2004. The national team currently lie on the bottom of the six-team CONCACAF World Cup Final Round qualifiers with one point, following their 0-0 draw against Costa Rica on Wednesday. Among the proposed plans for the team is a clash against England in Miami on April 20, a training camp in Europe from May 17-25 and a home fixture against a Digicel Caribbean All Stars on May 29.