‘Gally’ slams Leo’s no show

The Soca warriors came back to a hero’s welcome at the Piarco International Airport after making their FIFA World Cup Finals debut.

The footballers were unable to advance from Group “B” grouped with England, Sweden and Paraguay.

Cummings was speaking at the airport while the team were feted by hundreds of their adoring fans.

“My view about this whole scenario is that he should’ve been here. He’s the leader of the team.

“If the Prime Minister (Patrick Manning) invited all of us back, he should be the first man stepping off the plane,” Cummings added.

“I think it was a total disrespect to our people.”

Beenhakker left the team base in Rotenburg for home in the Netherlands after Trinidad and Tobago took their exit from the World Cup.

While in Germany he held talks with Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF) Secial Advisor Jack Warner over a new contract.

Out of the discussions, assistant coach Wim Rijsbergen will take over coaching duties for the next two years, until Beenhakker returns to guide the team during their quest for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

“I don’t know what contractual talks he was doing, but if he’s the leader of a group, I think he should be here,” Cummings said.

Cummings, along with members of the 1973 national team — who missed qualifying for the 1974 World Cup in West Germany — were in Germany for the current tournament due to an arrangement by the firm Mykon Travel Limited. “It was a special moment because of the fact that I have been always involved in trying to get the team there (in 1973 and as coach of the Strike Squad in 1989) and seeing that these youngsters do so good, to the country and representing us as good ambassadors, it was really heartfelt by me,” Cummings said.

Reflecting on Trinidad and Tobago’s debut encounter against Sweden on June 10, Cummings admitted, “It gave all of us goose-pimples.

“I was always wondering when that time would have come,” he added. “And sitting there watching that game, I wouldn’t have given it up for anything in this world. It was a special, special occasion.”

Like so many local fans and critics, the outspoken Cummings was high in praise of the team, but felt the squad was too defensive in their matches against Sweden and England five days later.

He is also concerned about the future of the team, with midfielder Russell Latapy entering his international retirement while captain Dwight Yorke and goalkeeper Shaka Hislop hinting that they will be hanging up their boots shortly.

“We have always been a country of hype and then, after that, the balloon is deflated,” Cummings pointed out.

“I think the balloon is now filled with air and keep that air in it, if we want it to fly all over the place. But if we keep punching pins into the balloon, then the air will come out.

“I think it’s a golden opportunity to keep that air in there and keep things filled, keep things organised, and if we do just that, I can’t see us having a problem,” he said.

“If we just let this hype fall apart and we go back to the old stage where we have a football association who’s not organised properly and people are just looked at in respect to, not ability but friendship, I think things wouldn’t work at all,” Cummings said.