GERMANY: Beenhakker provides Dutch masterclass in coaching for Trinidad and Tobago

Record ID: 335521

  • Title: GERMANY: Beenhakker provides Dutch masterclass in coaching for Trinidad and Tobago
  • Date: 10th June 2006
  • Summary: ROTENBURG, GERMANY (JUNE 11, 2006) (REUTERS) PLAYERS ARRIVE ON BICYCLE FANS AT ENTRANCE TO TRAINING STADIUM MORE OF PLAYERS ARRIVING ON BICYCLES BOY WATCHING CAPTAIN DWIGHT YORKE AND STRIKER RUSSELL LATAPY WALKING COACH LEO BEENHAKER TYING SHOELACES (SOUNDBITE) (English) TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO COACH LEO BEENHAKKER, SAYING: "Well, what do you expect? That I'm sad? It's normal
  • Embargoed: 25th June 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Germany
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVAEQ0HRGHNK37CT0GO367QLF6H1
  • Story Text: Trinidad and Tobago held a training session on Sunday (June 11) after an impressive goalless draw with Sweden in their opening Group B game.
    As players arrived on bicycles for the training, coach Leo Beenhakker was busy working on the tasks ahead that could secure an unlikely place in the last 16.
    "Well, what do you expect? That I'm sad? It's normal after sixty minute. Everyone is happy. It's normal. We will enjoy it today. From tomorrow we will start with the next one. That's the way it goes in football," Beenhakker said, when asked about Saturday's result.
    The Dutchman's coaching credentials are impeccable having taken Real Madrid to a hat-trick of Spanish league titles in the 1980s. He also won two Dutch titles with Ajax Amsterdam and led the Dutch national team in the 1990 World Cup.
    Sixteen years on the raw material is very different but he has proved that quality coaching can make a real difference by moulding Trinidad & Tobago's disparate group into a team capable of holding their own at the highest level.
    Against a Sweden side packed with experience they defended superbly, kept the ball sensibly and worked tirelessly, particularly after the sending off of full back Avery Paul in the first minute of the second half.
    Beenhakker, though, did spring a surprise when, not long after John's dismissal, he sent on Cornell Glen for fellow striker Collin Samuel.
    Glen immediately made an impact by rattling the bar with a ferocious shot and so ensured that the Swedish defence would have to keep men back to cover him.
    He was also astute in his use of captain Dwight Yorke, who made his name as a goalscorer but who produced a man-of-the-match performance in midfield on Saturday.
    Trinidad now face England in the match that will most excite his squad but their experienced coach will be well aware that the more important game is against Paraguay when a victory could send them through to the second round against all the odds.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2014. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register