Rijsbergen relishes new challenge

NEWLY appointed Trinidad and Tobago football team coach Wim Rijsbergen says he’s relishing the challenge of helping the Soca Warriors qualify for South Africa 2010.

Moreso the Dutchman wants the footballers to maintain the momentum they picked up following their creditable performance at the 2006 World Cup Finals in Germany.

A day after the announcement of his new posting Rijsbergen said he was already drawing up plans to assist in the development of the youth system and the senior team.

“I am delighted to be able to take up the position as head coach of Trinidad and Tobago. One of the good things about this is that while I also had to look past some of the other offers which came my way for jobs after the World Cup, the fact that I already had some involvement with Trinidad and that we had already worked towards something and I know what it’s like there now, and after discussing with Mr Warner, I said the decision to remain here was something I was looking forward to,” Rijsbergen said yesterday.

On Leo Beenhakker’s appointment in Poland and also his continued affiliation with TT as technical adviser, Rijsbergen said he was delighted. “We have worked here before. Now we have Anton and the other Dutch person who will be on board and also work with the youth teams.

“Right now there will be a lot of plans being made to start working with the senior team and looking ahead to the Gold Cup and other matches. We will also work towards forming the best team possible and we will continue to look for players as well.

“ In this way too I felt it was right to have players like Russell (Latapy) and Dwight (Yorke) as role models for the other players and we will use them in the best way possible for football in Trinidad and Tobago from the youth system come up,” Rijsbergen said.

He said he was also aware of Jamaica’s qualification for the World Cup in France in 1998 and its aftermath, having spoken to former Jamaican World Cup team manager Horace Reid, who worked as chief operations manager of the TT team in Germany.

“It’s a challenge in itself for us to continue and move forward with what we already have following the World Cup. It’s a task of keeping things going after that. For us it will be difficult too but that’s what makes the whole situation special.

“I know the people involved are very anxious to get going and we will all sit down and review our World Cup appearance and we will put the necessary structures in place to move forward.

“These are the things I spoke to Mr Warner about and when I get back with Leo next week, we will of course sit down as a group with everyone who played a role in the last World Cup and we will sit with the Minister of Sport to review all these things.

“I am pleased now to hear that the Government is also willing to assist in the development of football and we must make this work,” added the former 1974 and 1978 Dutch World Cup player.

Rijsbergen is also a former player with Feyenoord during 1971-78 as well as New York Cosmos and FC Utrecht.

The 54-year-old Rijsbergen has been a former assistant coach at Dutch teams Ajax Amsterdam, FC Volendam, FC Groningen, NAC, Roodenburg, Al-Ittifaq of Qatar and Mexican club America.

“One of the things we will work on is also developing players and getting them to the right level. We have been there now and they all know what it takes. One of the good things is I know the players and I know they are very keen to do well and to get improvement,” he said.

“I can tell you now that we have been to the World Cup, things are different. We went back to Berlin afterward the team went home and the response showed this.

“The way the people spoke to us and the way the press reacted to us, it all showed that they know now that Trinidad and Tobago is a country to take seriously and that’s something to make me and the rest of us want to work together for more success,” he said. Rijsbergen will return with Beenhakker to Trinidad and Tobago on July 22 before taking up duties later that week.