Former Soca Warriors attacking midfielder, Angus Eve has been rewarded for his good showing at the CONCACAF Gold Cup. The most capped footballer for the Soca Warriors’ interim appointment expired on August 31st, but got the full appointment on Thursday to take the reins of the Soca Warriors until March 2023. During this time period, Eve will oversee matches for the next Nation’s League cycle that will take serve as qualifiers for the 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup.
During Eve’s interim appointment, having taken over after a disastrous World Cup campaign where the team failed to get past a group containing St Vincent, Puerto Rico, Bahamas and Guyana, the Soca Warriors qualified for the Continental showpiece tournament with wins over Montserrat and French Guiana, before drawing a goal less match with eventual finalists Mexico in the tournament proper.
Commenting on the full-time appointment, Eve described it as a “tremendous honour and privilege, not just for me, but my family, making my dad and mom proud, they have sacrificed so much for me”. Eve also praised veteran former Soca Warriors coach, Tobagonian Bertille St Clair, clubs Terminix Rangers, North East Stars and Club Sando for their contributions of helping him with the appointment of the Soca Warriors coach.
Eve is also taking a huge responsibility on his broad shoulders for the local coaches who may have felt ‘slighted’ when it comes to coaching the national team. Eve told the virtual media conference “I see myself as having an obligation to them (local coaches), and if I do a good job, it will show that local coaches will step up to the plate”.
As regards, the next assignment for the national team, the new coach says he will sit with the Football Association on Monday to plan a schedule going forward. He said he “will like to play at every window available”.
Sharing his experiences from the initial interim appointment, Eve said it was “a learning experience for me. Every opportunity you have to pit your talents against the best, it is similar to when I was playing”. He added, “I am in a good place with the experiences I would have got in that tournament and watching the rest of the tournament. We are well placed to be competitive in the zone. It’s not going to be easy because we are starting at the deficit.” He adds that he believes in the players once they are given the right opportunities.”
Regarding the additional appointment of the Under 21 team, the former San Juan Jabloteh coach the group is the “same group of players that Stuarty (Stuart Fervier) had when they were under 13, then came up to under 15 and joined me at under 17 levels. So that will be the exact team”.
