Brazilian football honour for Warner

And after receiving the award from ex-World Cup captain Branco on Sunday, Warner, now in the Netherlands where he is tournament chief at the current FIFA World Youth Championship said he had every reason to smile.

He expressed great satisfaction at being recognised by a powerhouse in world football, for his work in ensuring that football was being developed at the youth level.

But Warner quickly set aside his personal award and centred his attention on the progress being made by Dutch-born national coach Leo Beenhakker and his assistants Theo De Jonk and Wim Rhisbergen with the Trinidad and Tobago team.

He said, their work with the Warriors which spans just over one month, has not escaped the noticed of Dutch television, with crews being sent to Port-of-Spain to televise the CONCACAF World Cup qualifying match against Panama which the Beenhakker-coached team won 2-0.

From the Netherlands yesterday, Warner said: "I have gone to over six venues over the last few days in Tilburg, Emmen, Kerkrade and people are all enthusiastic about our country’s chances of qualifying for the World Cup.

"The two presidents, Joseph Sepp Blatter (FIFA) and Dr Mathieu Sprengers (Dutch FA) said they felt we made the correct choice and generally the feeling is that Leo is the man to take us to the World Cup."

Warner said he also spoke with another ex-Dutch national coach Gus Hiddink who also agreed that the decision to hire Leo was a good one and he felt TT could go all the way.

Hiddink said, "Maybe you need to tighten up your defence but generally the team’s play was good." Warner said: "I for one felt they (Warriors) have played well in the last two games and even in defeat to Mexico I felt they had done a good job.

" I am pleased with the investment in the staff and the commitment shown by everyone and this augurs very well for our forthcoming games starting with the USA in August."

"There has been a general transition in the team and we are trying to ensure that the players are well taken care of.

"All allowances and payments are being made promptly and you will realise too that there are no more outstanding payments to any player on the team. Problems are being discussed and sorted out and this also stems from what Bruce Aanensen and his management staff have been doing since coming on board. We are going the distance to make this dream a reality," Warner said.

The Warriors are scheduled to travel to Ft Lauderdale for a training camp a week in advance to their opening CONCACAF Gold Cup match against Honduras on July 6.

Warner will have a busy tour of duty, travelling to Germany for a FIFA finance committee meeting, then off to the Confederations Cup finals before returning to Holland for the World Youth Championship final, before going on to the United States for the CONCACAF Gold Cup.