Latapy was not too old

I, like so many other Trinidadians, felt very proud of my country qualifying for the very first time for Germany World Cup 2006 when they played Bahrain last November.

What followed since then was phenomenal, I had no idea that so many Trinidadians lived in Germany, much less other European countries, but as the saying goes, you can always find a Trinidadian living in almost any country in the world.

When on June 10 2006 this country played Sweden and ended the match on a 0-0 draw, my heart almost burst with joy. I can’t remember the last time I felt that way.

Sweden boasted so much that they were going to beat us badly with six goals to none and we showed them that we are not to be taken lightly or for granted.

We may be a small country with only 1.3 million when compared to other countries in the World Cup, but we left our mark in Germany that is not too soon to be forgotten, if at all possible.

When England played Trinidad, like so many others, I was disappointed with the end result, but like everyone else, I thought that perhaps Coach Leo Beenhakker should have brought on Russell Latapy from since the beginning of the game when England was played, and not on the end of the game played with Paraguay. Maybe then we would have had a much better chance of at least drawing with Paraguay. Russell Latapy is the man to score goals and pass the ball to other players on the field including our very own Dwight Yorke. Between Russell and Dwight, I’m sure they could have scored at least two goals between themselves.

We came so close to scoring goals a couple times, but nothing, and we lost to England, but we played them good and hard, giving them a run for their money, 83 mins long.

Coach Beenhakker said that he thought Russell Latapy was too old to play a full 90 mins on the field, which I think is nonsense.

Cameroon’s own Roger Milla scored goals at age 42 and the Brazilian captain is now 36 years old. This is his fourth World Cup.

I felt lost and almost ashamed of/for the Soca Warriors when they played Paraguay on Tuesday.

It seemed to me that our guys (Soca Warriors) on the field were playing as though they did not know what to do with the ball.

They lacked confidence in themselves, they were afraid to take chances with the ball, and as we will/should all admit to ourselves, our boys played as much as they could from the very beginning but let’s face it, they didn’t play top world class football, not even the ones who played abroad in foreign clubs.

Coach Leo Beenhakker looked on while the Paraguay game was being played, as though he felt his whole career going downhill and ashamed and embarrassed of the guys on the field.

If TTFF and the whole Soca Warriors team want to keep Coach Beenhakker on, they should also be willing to bring a Brazilian coach in Trinidad and Tobago football also. Good luck for South Africa World Cup 2010.