Goodbye St Clair: Whither the Soca Warriors

So the inevitable has finally happened. After much vacillation, the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF) and Jack Warner have belatedly relieved the national football team and the country of Bertille St Clair. It was clear that with each successive game St Clair’s position was becoming more and more untenable and the various excuses, proffered by Manager Richard Braithwaite, Warner and St Clair himself after inexcusable performances by the team, were generating little sympathies from an irate public. To make matters worse, after a recent radio interview with Andre Baptiste which was later published in the Newsday, St Clair’s own words condemned him as he spoke openly of how he perceived himself as coach of the national team.

I listened to the interview with a flush on my face and remorse in my heart as St Clair, revealed what was long suspected. That as national coach he was constrained, boorish and dull. It was clear that St Clair was aware that he should have a footballing philosophy much as Oscar Wilde was aware that he should have had a wife. For in answer to a question from Baptiste as to what kind of football style he follows, his response was: “Style? I do not know that answer.” It is a moot point that all serious coaches follow a particular style of play that becomes their signature or hallmark. Whether it is a 4-4-2, 5-3-2, or the Brazilian diamond etc but some tried and tested formula for which they become known. The interviewer, in a vain attempt to give St Clair another opportunity to repair the damage done by his earlier answer, rephrased the question.

He asked: “Are you a defence oriented coach or an attacking oriented coach?” St Clair’s response to this question may well have been the proverbial straw which broke the camel’s back. He replied: “I play the game the way it comes. The best way to defend is to attack. But I like to see good football.” Warner and the TTFF perhaps watched these signs like vultures and realised once and for all that their confidence in St Clair was misplaced and that they could no longer conceal the coach’s inefficiency from the glare of an increasingly exasperated public. It is now common knowledge that the Dutchman Leo Beenhakker has been appointed national coach along with David Nakhid as his assistant. This is a progressive and long overdue move since the combination of Nakhid, who is familiar with the local environment and who himself has fond memories of the Dutchman while at Grasshoppers FC in Switzerland.

Beenhakker ratified this treaty of friendship by offering a few complimentary remarks about Nakhid while being interviewed upon his arrival in Trinidad a few days ago. Nakhid’s presence it is hoped will smooth Beenhakker’s entry into local football in the shortest possible time. For with eight weeks to go before our next encounter against Panama, the challenge facing Beenhakker, who is a coach of unquestionable quality, being asked to take charge of the team in the middle of the World Cup campaign, will be to familiarise himself with 20 or 30 players with whom he has never worked and select a winning combination or at least a team that can withstand the assaults of the likes of Mexico and the USA.

Such a task requires much interaction and socialisation between coach, player and local environment both on and off the field of play. This is where the guidance of Nakhid will prove invaluable. Warner is to be lauded for his courage to bell the cat, albeit at the eleventh hour, and close this unfortunate chapter in the country’s footballing history, by replacing St Clair. But, as in all things, timing is of the essence, and with only seven games left and a maximum of 21 points to get, with the best will in the world, it will require a Herculean effort for Beenhakker to transform the team from their present state to a cohesive unit.

It will also be imperative to build a team based on the locally based players so that when the foreign based players arrive two or three days before a game due to their overseas commitments or if they are not released by their clubs, we have a well honed cadre of local talent upon which we can draw. The role of the assistant coach will therefore be of great importance in identifying this talent and this must be impressed upon him from the outset. I would like to see the likes of Otis Seaton, Ian Gray, Kerwyn Jemmott, among others, all players of considerable ability, but who fell out of favour under St Clair’s stewardship, return centre stage and be part of the new dispensation. In closing, I wish the Soca Warriors all the success in this new thrust towards Germany 2006.