Van Deinsen upbeat about Task

The 53-year-old arrived in Trinidad on Monday evening to take up his new appointment, and was eager to give his view about the task ahead of him.

“I spoke a lot with Wim about the situation, about how they qualified and I saw the World Cup,” said Van Deinsen.

“We talked about how the Soca Warriors did very well, their performance and how the people were very enthusiastic. Also, the supporters in Germany,” he said.

“So I get an idea and an impression about how football is here, about the people and I would do my best and put all my experience to join the Soca Warriors family,” Van Deinsen said.

The soft-spoken Van Deinsen spoke also about his role in the team.

“First, I’m an assistant coach of the first team and then we’ll see,” adding that he will hold final discussions with Rijsbergen, his former teammate at Feyenoord Rotterdam, before the end of this week.

About his coaching style, he said, “I’m bringing myself and you’ll realise I’m not a talker about my work outside the field.

I’m a worker on the field so, if you want to see my experience, just come to the training and to the games,” he said.

During his playing career, Van Deinsen, born June 19, 1953, represented Dutch clubs NEC, Go Ahead Eagles and Feyenoord and also had a lone international cap for his country, noting that injuries hampered his chances of a consistent run for the Dutch team.

“I started as a left-winger and then you become a little bit older so I went into the midfield,” he said. “And then, nearing the end of my career, I played as a left-back. I had to stop my career when I was 31 (because of) an injury,” he said.

Van Deinsen made it clear that he will not be seeking to usurp Rijsbergen’s position as TT coach.

“We know each other very well,” Van Deinsen said, “and our idea about football is the same. We’re not speaking different languages on our ideas about football. So, more or less, I will follow and join his ideas.” Van Deinsen said last year he was working on a project in Nigeria with Jay-Jay Okocha who wanted to start a football school. “I was working for ten months as technical director of Kwara State Football Association. There were some problems about some financial details so I left because there were problems with my contract,” he said.

“The year before that I was working with Vitesse Arnhem in the Dutch Eredivisie and we got seventh place in that season. That was my last two years,” he said.

Van Deinsen is also philosophical about his expectations with the Trinidad and Tobago team.

“It was a tremendous result to go to the World Cup,” he said. “And to be there and to celebrate a good result against Sweden and the match against England. It’s not easy to do that again but, for sure, you must put all the effort, all the minds the right way and the next time we’ll try to get the same result and maybe even better,” he said.