Trinidad & Tobago football chief lauds new coach

Trinidad & Tobago’s players (in red) challenge Saudi Arabia’s players (in white) for the ball during their friendly international football match at the King Fahad stadium in Riyadh, on September 9, 2013. (FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP/Getty Images)

Port of Spain (Trinidad), Sep 12 (IANS/CMC): Trinidad and Tobago football chief, Raymond Tim Kee, has praised new head coach Stephen Hart following the country’s performance in the just concluded OSN Cup in Saudi Arabia.

The ‘Soca Warriors’ defeated Saudi Arabia 3-1 to take third place in the OSN Cup on Monday after losing to United Arab Emirates 6-7 in a penalty shoot-out in their opening game.

Under Hart, the Warriors scored two wins in six matches, scoring 10 goals and conceding 10, while skipper Kenwyne Jones has also found the net five times in regular time play.

“I want to be as objective as I can and I will say that Hart has performed beyond what I expected in such a short space of time,” said Tim Kee.

“The way he has been able to just fall in and take the thing forward is not usual.”

Hart is a Trinidad and Tobago native who began his playing career here and built his post-playing career in Canada through the Canadian Soccer Association.

He earned praise for taking an unheralded Canada squad to the semi-final of the 2011 Gold Cup and in 45 matches as head coach of Canada, he had a record of 20 wins, 10 draws, and 15 losses.

“I must commend him for the way he has led the team and the work he has done,” said Tim Kee.

“I have not only observed his coaching sessions, but his sessions off the field with his players and I can say safely that the body language and the comments coming from the players suggest that they love him as much as he does, because I have seen a demonstration of complete respect for him and that augurs well.”