Former National Football Captain David Nakhid believes now is the best time for the Soca Warriors to qualify for the World Cup.
Despite a mediocre showing at the Concacaf Gold Cup, the former midfielder still thinks Coach Dwight Yorke has enough time to pull the team together before the qualifiers begin.
00:00Trinidad and Tobago has been grouped with Jamaica, Bermuda and Curaçao for the World Cup qualifiers.
00:06Parliament's secretary in the Ministry of Sport and former captain and midfielder of the national football team David Nackett believes it's not going to be a walk in the park.
00:15There are no easy teams in our group where I think we have Jamaica and Curaçao.
00:21We've seen how well they've done in the Gold Cup. I think Jamaica is more or less at the same kind of level that we find ourselves now.
00:32Having said that, everything is possible and I think Coach York and Russell, they have enough time to try and put a formidable team together.
00:44He also believes that there's no better time to qualify.
00:46What I know is, it's absolutely imperative that we qualify for this World Cup.
00:53I mean, we can't have a World Cup in this part of the world and we're not there, especially among Caribbean countries.
01:00Will they qualify is another conversation. Nackett believes that the team gave a lackluster performance at the Gold Cup.
01:06Without getting technical, I think the team showed a lack of compactness. I think there was a lack of cohesiveness all around.
01:16I think there wasn't a desire to be adventurous, to take risks, to be courageous.
01:24All the things that, the qualities that you need to play a good football game were missing.
01:29And I think Coach York, he alluded to that as well, where he bemoaned the lack of creativity shown in the team.
01:36Nackett explained that creativity needs to be nurtured.
01:39Creativity doesn't come out of a vacuum. There are certain circumstances that let you be creative.
01:47You know, you have to have that support. You know, if you make a mistake, the coach doesn't criticize you or come down on you.
01:53He allows you to express yourself. You know, I was always considered a creative midfielder because I had coaches who allowed me to express myself.
02:01Here in Trinidad and Tobago, Alvin Corneal, Jimmy Blah, you know, these were coaches.
02:06I looked at players like Ron Lafferay who expressed themselves.
02:10Is Dwight York the man to take us to another World Cup?
02:13Well, I believe that he's the man for the moment right now.
02:18And of course, in football, nothing is guaranteed or sure.
02:22So I wish him all the best. We wish him all the best as a government.
02:25He says the government is on board with giving them financial support.
02:30It's very possible. I think he came with a request to have three extra players.
02:35And I think the Ministry of Sport, I think the minister immediately gave the OK on that.
02:41And, you know, when he asked me, I was pretty sure that we would accept.
02:46And the minister did. And I think anything that this team, within reason, asked for in order to assist them in qualifying,
02:55I think we had the Ministry of Sport as a government.
02:59I mean, Kamala Pesad-Bissassa has made it quite clear that she's in full support of the team and making it to the World Cup.
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