00:00Disappointment and what-ifs were some of the feelings and thoughts on the minds of football fans the last time the national team played.
00:08TNT's World Cup dream officially ended following a 1-1 draw at home against Jamaica.
00:13And despite the disappointment, TTFA President Kyron Edwards focused on some of the positives.
00:18When you look at years gone by, World Cup qualifiers of not qualifying for the final run of going to the World Cup,
00:27in 2025, we brought back that passion, we brought back that belief.
00:32I know there was a bit of a disappointment coming so close to qualifying for the World Cup.
00:37When you look at it, you're looking at really one goal in that first five games was the difference between qualifying and not qualifying for a World Cup.
00:46Bringing back corporate support too into the football was something that we would have strived on coming in as the new executive to the TTFA.
00:54We really strived on bringing back that financial stability and that corporate support back to Trina and Tobago.
01:01But the real question is whether there would be change or continuity with the national team.
01:06What's next? Are we going to scrap the program that was done in the past?
01:11And no, we are not going to scrap the program.
01:13We continue to build on the program.
01:15We are in discussions with Coach Dwight York and his staff currently in terms of next steps.
01:20So much so that we would have been granted the opportunity to take part in the FIFA series.
01:26It's a series that's done in the match window for countries to come together.
01:30Countries that would have normally not been able to play against each other outside of qualifying for a World Cup.
01:37So we go to Uzbekistan in March.
01:40We take part in a tournament with Gabon, Uzbekistan, as well as Iceland.
01:47President Edward spoke about a bumper year to come with our national women at the start of their World Cup campaign.
01:53Our youth teams with the under-17 and under-20 boys both having tournaments early in the new year.
01:59He touched on a new strategic plan and a strategy to get more children active in the sport.
02:04The idea is to go a bit further.
02:07We have the high-performance program, which really targets between 12 to 17 in that age group.
02:14But we're going a bit further.
02:16We're going from six and engaging through the primary school because you have access to every single boy and girl in Trinidad and Tobago through the primary schools.
02:25And we're going into every single primary school and ensuring that they have that contact hours with the football, get them the more tactical awareness around the game, as well as just getting them to love the game.
02:40And with the grandparent rule passed in Parliament, the TTFE president confirmed he has the support of the government.
02:47The support of the government has been tremendous through the period for 2025 and the continued support.
02:55The prime minister will speak on it so much that I know football is a number one sport.
03:01I know persons from the Southland who loves cricket would want to differ.
03:06But when you hear us speak, football is run through a veil in terms of our early years and engagement in football.
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