CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying

[Hortical]

CONCACAF tourney set for U.S.

Associated Press
CONCACAF says its men's Olympic qualifying tournament will be held in three U.S. cities next spring.

The eight-nation tournament will determine the confederation's two representatives at the 2012 Olympic Games. There will be two four-team groups with the top two finishers from each group advancing to the semifinals.

Nashville, Tenn., will host games March 22, 24 and 26. Carson, Calif., will host matches on March 23, 25 and 27. The semifinals will be played in Kansas City, Kan., on March 31 and the final on April 2.

Six teams are in the tournament: the United States, Canada, Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and Panama. The final round of Caribbean qualifying between Trinidad & Tobago, Suriname, Cuba and St. Kitts and Nevis will be played Nov. 24-28.

[HL]

..so...so...so where is the country wid the adundance of talent...?

Thanks in advance.

[Hortical]

You must be referring to the country that has 25 Freddy Adus. Well the talent could not overcome Suriname and got left behind.

[HL]

"...could not overcome Suriname..!??

Who (or what) name suh?

[Assasin]

depend on how warm it is I might take a drive down a Tenn.

You want tell me the Altanta beat couldn't try and get it?

[Jamaica2099]

It depends on the team the Barbadian referee wanted to advance?

[Exile]

Trinindad and Tobago should top this group as this team looks good and did well at the Pam American games:

The recent performance by the Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Football Team in the Pan American Games hosted in Guadalajara, Mexico, finishing unbeaten in the group stage with three points against CONCACAF and South American giants surely wasn’t a fluke.

The team prepared and coached by head coach Angus Eve and assistants Derek King and Clint Marcelle all with coaching experience in the TT Pro League guided the Olympic squad to 1-1 draws against hosts Mexico, Ecuador and Uruguay.

Unfortunately the Olympic team didn’t muster enough points to advance into the semifinal round of the competition but matching the likes of Mexico, Ecuador and Uruguay earned the twin-island republic a lot of respect.

Eve and his assistants took over from Zoran Vranes in November 2010, ending a long-term occupancy of the Yugoslavian born coach.

“A lot of people don’t respect local coaches,” explained Eve, a former San Juan Jabloteh youth and senior team coach and Ma Pau SC coach.

“And if you watch the (TT Pro) League the majority of coaches are foreigners who have come in and have been given jobs. Also the national team because before me, Vranes had the (Olympic) team.

Take a look at Derek King (a former Joe Public coach) who has done well as a coach in the League and won titles. I myself have been there with Terry Fenwick (at Jabloteh) and we won titles and I’ve learnt a lot from him. I went over to Ma Pau SC and also won things there.

Another shining example in the League is coach Anthony Streete (of St. Ann’s Rangers) that don’t get a lot of credit. He doesn’t have a lot of resources and he seems to always put in a good shift every time in terms of coaching the youngsters and getting them playing and organized in the right way. Rangers’ teams have never easy to play against.

While (Caledonia AIA coach) Jamaal Shabazz had to leave Trinidad to get an opportunity. Maybe that’s what we have to do. Leave Trinidad to get an opportunity,” continued the T&T U23 coach.

“How are we going to get the experience when we don’t get the clubs to coach,” he questioned.

“I think that we have been going on all these courses and are fully certified and are learning the same thing that they are learning. I went to the Digicel (Kick Start Clinic) over the weekend to see what John Barnes and the international coaches are doing and they are not doing anything different from what we are doing. I think maybe some of our coaches don’t have playing experience for National Teams or abroad because I think that adds a bit of flavour to their coaching. But I do think we have a lot of talented coaches in Trinidad and Tobago who can do the job if given the opportunity.”

Eve and his staff have been in charge of the U23s for exactly one year and are currently undefeated with four draws and two wins ahead of this month’s Final stage of Caribbean Olympic qualifying in St. Kitts with two teams advancing to the CONCACAF qualifiers.

The T&T U23s will first take on Cuba on the 24th November, hosts St. Kitts on the 26th and Suriname on the 28th and Eve believes they are on the right track.

“The preparation (for the Final round of the Caribbean qualifying) is coming along very well. We just came out from the Pan American Games and I thought it was very good preparation because we wanted to go to Panama or Venezuela to play these types of games against these types of opponents of South American teams.

We have to still do a lot of defensive work, marking and tracking because we are not famous for that in Trinidad. But I thought we were excellent in Mexico. We really put in the work. We made a lot of friends and gained a lot of respect. And now we are into the final stretch going into the Olympic qualifying final stage of the Caribbean leg.

Suriname and Cuba are very difficult opponents in the sense that they are very technical and organized teams and I think we have to match that technical and organizational sense that they have. St. Kitts is going to very physical. They are also very organized and there coaches are doing a lot of good work.

It’s not going to be the easiest of tournaments, but I think we are on the right track in preparing for that coming off the tournament in Mexico,” said the former Trinidad and Tobago international.

Eve went on to add that his defensive coaching style comes from what he has seen from current Real Madrid head coach José Mourinho and from his time working under Terry Fenwick while at San Juan Jabloteh. While his attacking style comes from watching Arsenal’s Arsène Wenger, former Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard and current coach Pep Guardiola.

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