MY SON WAS TREATED BADLY

Joy Spann, 47, mother of Trinidad and Tobago Soca Warrior midfielder Silvio Spann, is devastated that her son was dropped from the national team due to an injury suffered in a friendly against Wales in England one week ago.

Speaking from her Couva home yesterday, Joy Spann said she was deeply hurt over the treatment meted out to Silvio after a medical report deemed him unfit to play in the World Cup.

Trinidad and Tobago opens World Cup play on Saturday against Sweden in Germany.

The newly married Spann, 24, suffered a left hamstring injury during the friendly match and has been replaced by Evans Wise.

Last week, in England, doctors attached to the Warriors informed the young midfielder that he would not be going to Germany with the team because of the seriousness of his injury and that he would have to return to Trinidad immediately.

“My son was treated very badly,” Joy said. She said a friend telephoned to tell her to switch on the television for the news.

“I could not believe when I heard that Silvio had been dropped from the team, and I immediately called my son in England,” she said. “But what really affected me was when he told me that he was being sent back home. Silvio was crying on one end and I was weeping on the other.

“You have to be strong to cope with an experience like this,” she said. At the last minute while packing his bags, satellite television provider (Direct TV) came to Spann's rescue and offered to pay the extended cost of his stay, so that although Spann is not with the team, he will be in Germany for the World Cup. Joy told Newsday yesterday that after hearing the news that Silvio had been dropped she immediately called her husband, Leroy Spann who was in the USA at the time. Leroy is a former national football player who played as a midfielder on the Strike Squad in 1989.

Leroy, 52, who returned to Trinidad over the weekend, yesterday told Newsday that he could not accept the reason why his son was dropped from the team.

He said it was the second disappointment of his son's career.

“In 2001, Silvio was dropped from the Under-20 national team without any explanation,” Leroy said. “I strongly believe that Silvio was sacrificed. A hamstring could be healed with the proper medical attention.” Leroy and Silvio's wife Shivon leave today to join him in Germany.