Tracking Sports: In the midst of glory

Tracking Sports

In the midst of glory
Lack of accountability steers TnT broke after World Cup

with KIRK PERREIRA

It would have gone down as one of the greatest upsets ever in the history of the World Cup if Cornell Glen’s stunner had breached the Sweden net last Saturday.

Sports fans, forget all those statistics, percentages of possession and how many corners those Vikings won during their opening game against the Jumpers and Wavers, the World Cup is decided by goals and by goals only, and it was Trinidad and Tobago that came closest to winning the Group B match between TnT and Sweden in Dortmund.

Glenn had a right to stay on his knees with his hands over his mouth after his bullet rebounded into play from off the goal frame late in the second half of play … Jesus, he must have thought, I just missed the goal of the 2006 World Cup by a couple of bloody centimetres.

CORNELL GLENN (No. 13)

CORNELL GLENN (No. 13) on
the go in a Soca Warriors
pre-World Cup scrimmage.

Had Glenn the luck and sliced in his right footed pile-driver, the match would probably be rated among the top five upsets ever in the World Cup, but instead, TnT will have to live with the indignity of letting Sweden off the hook and giving them a much-needed World Cup point.

Forget the draw, we should have won the game and helped those Swedes to the Frankfurt Airport for a quick flight out of Germany.

Sports fans, let me tell you something, England coach Sven Goran Ericksson must be praying that the Jumpers and Wavers don’t have a dislike for things Swedish, because he already has his work cut out trying to convince Wayne Rooney, Michael Owen and Frank Lampard on how to beat Shaka Hislop.

Liverpool and England’s Stephen Gerrard did a number on Hislop in the 2006 FA Cup Final a few weeks ago, scoring a 30-metre scorcher to send the game into extra-time and then penalty kicks, which Hislop’s West Ham United lost 3-1, but I think those English boys must now appreciate that playing for West Ham United in the English Premiership is one thing, and being a Soca Warrior in the World Cup is a completely different cup of tea.

I must confess I did consider offering to help Sven with some tactical advice on the Jumpers and Wavers, but I suspect he won’t buy into my request that he makes good on my sedition by slipping Victoria Beckham my cellphone number.

In life, anything is possible.

Shaka had no control over his destiny; the quiet goalkeeper had to play second fiddle for almost the entire qualifying campaign and he took it all in stride, but I would like to think that God reads the TnT Mirror and, sports fans, you know I have been rooting for Shaka to be given the No.1 shirt after his outstanding season in England.

I want to assure you readers that I had nothing to do with Kelvin Jack’s calf strain, I would never pray for anything like that to happen to anybody. I just hoped that somehow Jack would not take up his duty for TnT last weekend, but not due to an injury.

I was just hoping Leo would see things my way.

OLIVER CAMPS

OLIVER CAMPS

RICHARD GRODEN

RICHARD GRODEN

Jack can’t be my first choice goalkeeper, and he has to appreciate that, because I have seen much more of Shaka than I have of him, and I have an abiding faith and confidence in TnT’s giant “Zulu” warrior, but Jack has earned my respect for the way he handled his disappointment at not getting into the starting line-up, and his warm embrace of Shaka after the match.

What is for a man …

Sports fans, I told you several times that Shaka is the man, and wasn’t I right!

People say Shaka is too old at 37; others told me he should not even be in the World Cup team, but I just want to remind those detractors, there is no substitute for experience.

The issue of the national award can now be easily settled by renaming the Trinity Cross, the Hislop Ball, and the medal can be a flat football with an image of four hills (Trinidad and Tobago) on it’s face.

I am going to patent that image, and believe me, that is not half as ridiculous as Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF) president Oliver Camps and secretary Richard Groden registering the patent for Soca Warriors as their own.

Does any money-earning source of local football ever go back to football? Or, are only football administrators allowed to enrich themselves from the beautiful game?

But let’s not spoil a beautiful week with too many thoughts of football administrators, or should it be “administraitors”, given what is being levelled at FIFA president Sepp Blatter.

After a nervous start, defender Brent Sancho played the game of his life against Sweden, and sorry Peter Kelly (TV6 World Cup host), you can pray for Marvin Andrews if you wish, but I am sticking with Sancho.

Dwight Yorke may have won the Man of the Match Award, but Sancho won the hearts and minds of Caribbean football fans with his gutsy display against the likes of some of the game’s biggest names, including Juventus’ Ziatan Ibrahimovic, Barcelona’s Henrik Larsson and Arsenal’s Freddie Ljunberg.

Whatever Sancho did miss, Shaka was there to tidy up.

The England match will be little different from the Sweden match with a galaxy of football stars in the English starting XI, including Real Madrid’s David Beckham and Manchester United’s Rio Ferdinand.

Every match is going to be the same for the Jumpers and Wavers; they play as huge underdogs with players from some of the smallest clubs in the UK, like Wrexham and Luton, and unknown clubs from TnT like San Juan Jabloteh.

But there is nothing like confidence in sport, and England is going to meet the most confident underdog team ever to play in a World Cup tournament. I must confess I had to be one of the most surprised viewers watching the game on Saturday because I did not give the Jumpers and Wavers much chance; being an astute gambler, I think, my money would have been on the top 10 team to beat the team making it’s World Cup debut and one of the lowest ranked in the competition.

It’s a wager I would have gladly lost, though.

But you simply can’t bet against the home country, sports fans; if I ever did that, I would be as uncivilised as some of these hooligans who pass themselves off as football administrators.

I am just so disappointed that there is no accountability while so much money is being generated through the achievements of this team, and another great era of our football is going to be tarnished by greed and deceit, because at the end of the World Cup and this Soca Warriors frenzy, you can bet your “bottom dollar” that our football is going to be the financial loser.

I wonder if there is any direct benefit to the players from the sale of all the Soca Warriors memorabilia?

Maybe Andrew Jennings can get that information from Jack Warner.

After Brazil plays the final in July and the dust settles in Germany, I want the TTFF to publish a statement of their accounts and let the public know how the global popularity of the Jumpers and Wavers affected the coffers of the TTFF.

I have to distract people from underestimating the Jumpers and Wavers.

Forgive me, I really forgot our West Indian sense of occasion and I should have known better.

As it stands now, TnT may be the team carrying the pride of Concacaf with regional power Mexico in the World Cup, because the United States is not sure to get a point in Group E against the likes of Italy, Czech Republic, and Ghana; and Costa Rica have it all to do in Group A, having lost to Germany in the World Cup opener, with Ecuador and Poland waiting for the Central Americans.

The Jumpers and Wavers already have a World Cup point, the next step up is to get a World Cup goal … if that happens, and Shaka is in goal, then I suppose, anything can happen.

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