Tall Qatar challenge for coach

THE EDITOR: The national football team has gone out of World Cup Russia 2018 with a bang. I have been begging footballers to hit from outside the box for the past months. So I am feeling my advice was not in vain. Remember, I asked them to let goalkeepers “eat grass.”

The men in red, white and black deserve some kudos for a hard-won 2-1 victory against the US on Tuesday night at the Ato Boldon Stadium in Couva.

The US came with heavy artillery but was repelled by a sturdy defence and goalkeeper Adrian“Superman” Foncette.

Armchair critics have to put this victory in their pipes and smoke it. They must be holding their collective heads and wondering what hit them.

The game had me sitting on my plums, such was the excitement. The final whistle brought me some measure of relief.

However, while there is much cause for celebration, the journey to Qatar 2022 now starts for coach Dennis Lawrence and his men.

I anxiously await new players getting a “look in” as he scouts the local football leagues from country to town, looking to put together a formidable squad that could rival the 1972 team, the Strike Squad and team 2006.

The “tallest” challenge facing Lawrence is: can he produce a team that could surpass the success of the aforementioned teams or be on par with them? That will be answered on the Road to Qatar 2022.

In the meantime, football fans are savouring the so-called slaying of the ghost of a Paul Caligiuri’s spirit lash in 1989 on the Road to Italy, when the US won 1-0 at the Hasely Crawford Stadium.

KEITH ANDERSON via email