Taking a win from the loss

THE senior national men's football team may have ended its qualification campaign for the 2026 World Cup, but there's some hope to hold on to for the sport's future.

Before a large and enthusiastic crowd at the Hasely Crawford Stadium on November 13, the razor-thin chances of the team ended with a 1-1 draw against Jamaica, leaving the team with just six points and no chance of qualification. The team will play its final qualifier match on November 18 against Bermuda, but cannot finish in the top two in the group.

Jamaica scored its goal in the 53rd minute and substitute Kevin Molino equalised just four minutes before the end of the match.

A promising effort in stoppage time by debutant forward Roald Mitchell, a player with New York's Red Bulls, ended when he pulled up lame with a hamstring injury. Between the game's start and its disappointing end, the game statistics told another story, though.

TT had majority possession, controlling the ball 62 per cent of the time, made 17 shots on goal to six by the Jamaican squad, and made 411 passes to 257. The TT team was strong on the attack, moving the ball into Jamaican territory regularly but proving unable to engineer successful goal attacks.

Coach Dwight Yorke defended his strategy, which he said worked as planned despite failing to deliver goals. Armchair quarter-backing is pointless now, and the TT Football Association must embrace both the challenge of training a stronger squad for the field, while developing an effective and committed home-grown coach.

The team's first year under Yorke's coaching has also stoked fresh interest in local football capabilities, with improved fan turnout and sponsorship support, but TT is only approaching the on-ramp of the road to decisive success. The challenge of matching the capabilities of our competition in Concacaf, which must be the most immediate goal, will not only be met by the grandfather clause introduced by the government to expand the net of available, capable players.

TT football success must include the development of home-grown talent, investing in critical development arenas like the Secondary Schools Football League, and building youth football as a proving ground for future talent.

The sketchy handling of National Under-17 trials on November 9 was a poor start to the necessary process of screening available talent. That selection process continues until the end of November, and there is considerable room for improvement.

TT should be producing talent capable of leaving to pursue professional football, building careers, and sharpening skills we can recall for national duty.

It's a recipe that Yorke knows only too well, and bringing that experience to not just leading the squad but guiding the development process of the next generation of players will be critical to any competitive World Cup campaign in the future.