By David Gold
January 1 – Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF) vice-president Rudolph Thomas has said that football in the country would recover despite what he described as a “tumultuous year”.
Speaking to the under-23 men’s and under-17 women’s team at the Queen’s Park Oval Century Ballroom, he said it was a year which brought them “face to face with some harsh realities.”
Off the field their FIFA vice-president, Jack Warner, resigned in disgrace after being investigated for allegedly colluding with the former Presidential candidate Mohamed Bin Hammam to bribe Caribbean voters prior to the June election.
Thomas said: “What has transpired can almost be referred to as the end of an era.”
On the pitch the country was eliminated from the qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup after finishing behind Guyana in their group.
A bright spot is that the men’s under-23 team are through to the pre-Olympic qualifying tournament for North America, where they face Mexico, Panama and Honduras in the group stage.
They reached the tournament with a stunning 9-1 win over Suriname, a result that took them into second place behind Cuba in a group of four to qualify, having needed to win by four clear goals to have any chance of progress.
Trinidad and Tobago’s under-17 women will be going to Guatemala in May as they bid to qualify for the under-17 World Cup.
“Besides what some may view as doom and gloom for football, the fact that we are gathered here today to show our deep appreciation to our youngsters signifies that we in the TTFF recognise that all is not lost,” Thomas said.
“A bright future awaits us if we are prepared to do the hard work, if we are to achieve our desire to restore football to its potential.”
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