The road through Hispaniola

In December 1492, Columbus happened upon the island of Ayiti (“land of high mountains” to the indigenous Taino people). He called it “Española”. He returned in November 1493 to establish Spain’s first American colony—La Isabela (named in honour of the Queen of Castile).

In a famous Letter to Luis de Santángel, the Spanish finance minister, he wrote, “There are mountains of very great size and beauty, vast plains, groves, and very fruitful fields, admirably adapted for tillage, pasture, and habitation. The convenience and excellence of the harbours in this island, and the abundance of the rivers…surpass anything that would be believed by one who had not seen it.” He described a new Garden of Eden to the Spanish Crown.

Brave explorer though he was, Columbus was a terrible administrator and La Isabela was a disaster. In 1500, Queen Isabela’s “Admiral of the Ocean Sea, Viceroy, and Governor-General” of all he “discovered” was returned to Spain in chains by rebellious colonists. This signalled the beginning of his political and physical decline. After two more voyages to the New World, he died in Valladolid, Spain, in May 1506, at the age of 54—sick, embittered, rejected by the royal court and still believing he had reached the outlying Islands of Asia rather than an entirely new continent.

Hispaniola endured centuries of tortured history thereafter—genocide, slavery, revolution, fragmentation into two independent countries in the 19th century (Haiti and the Dominican Republic), and dictatorship in the 20th.

“Yes, yes,” you say, “but what does this history lesson have to do with football?” Well, you see, just as it was for Columbus, that island could become a metaphorical graveyard for our national men’s team and coach Derek King if they are not careful. I refer to the approaching Concacaf Nations League campaign.

King’s contract as head coach, initially for one year, expires in May 2027. Since he took command of our flagship team, we have played four friendly matches, losing all (to Bolivia, South Korea, Russia and Louisville City FC) while scoring zero goals and conceding 12. The next Concacaf Gold Cup is scheduled for June and July 2027, so the Nations League is his only official tournament before his tenure ends. Failure in this competition will not see him reduced to chains, I imagine, but it would be difficult to offer an argument in favour of keeping him in the job for the continental championship. But I get ahead of events.

We kick off the Nations League competition on the road against Haiti, followed by Dominican Republic at home (on September 24 and 27, respectively). Our other opponent in Group A is Curacao, which we play twice on October 1 and 4, away and home. We know Curacao and Haiti. They are now respectfully seen as World Cup countries, but we cannot sleep on Dominican Republic. Coming immediately after Haiti, we underestimate them at our peril. Do so and our campaign could be over by the end of the month.

Opponents in our way

Currently ranked 139 by FIFA (compared to our 102), Dominican Republic has its tail in the air. After winning League B last year, 2026 will be their debut outing in League A. They are led by Argentine coach Gabriel Marcelo Neveleff. The rest of the staff is Spanish. They have played three friendlies this year–1-1 with Cuba, 2-2 with El Salvador and a 4-2 loss to Panama prior to the World Cup. The Dominican Republic squad increasingly relies on diaspora children born and trained in countries with strong football infrastructures, particularly Spain, to bolster their international competitiveness. These players are attached to clubs in Europe, South America and USA, including Elche, Alaves, Real Betis and Rayo Vallecano (Spain), Porto (Portugal) and Nashville SC of the Major League Soccer (MLS). The team favours a possession game and prioritises quick transitions through technical midfielders like Pablo Rosario of Porto and attacking wing-backs like Junior Firpo of Real Betis. Neveleff, though, is not afraid to apply more defensive tactics, absorb pressure and hit teams on the counter-attack.

After the 7-1 hiding from Germany, Curacao had a respectable World Cup (0-0 with Ecuador and a 2-0 loss to Cote d’Ivoire). Their staff is stable and their biggest problem these days is who to select from among the ever increasing number of Dutch-born professionals who wish to represent the island. They do not have the problem being faced by Dutch-born players representing Suriname, who have to apply for a work permit to play in the Netherlands when they choose to represent the Caribbean country.

Why? Because under Dutch law, if a citizen voluntarily acquires the nationality of a non-EU country (such as Suriname), they automatically lose their Dutch citizenship and are considered a foreign national. Because they no longer hold EU status, such players legally require a work permit to continue playing professional football in the Netherlands, despite being born and raised there. However, Curacao, while an independent member association of FIFA, is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Its citizens carry the Dutch passport. This is good news for Curacao but not for us, and particularly not for our reliable Dutch-born defender Deron Payne, who is affected by this law.

Our first opponent Haiti lost all their World Cup matches (1-0 to Scotland, 3-0 to Brazil and 4-2 to Morocco) but these were not terrible results, considering the opposition. New coach David Badía took charge in late August. Badía previously spent time coaching in FC Barcelona’s youth set-up, followed by senior jobs across clubs in Spain, Turkey, Cyprus, and Poland. This is his debut as manager of a senior national team. The team will rely on the usual agglomeration of players from top tier and second tier clubs across Europe and North America, reflecting a squad largely shaped by global migration. I expect them to be our toughest opponent.

Sink or float

King will have the top player pool available to him for these matches, the hottest of whom is Tyrese Spicer, who has been in matador form for his club Orlando City of MLS lately with five goals in the last month. He is now our top player and, hopefully, he will move to a bigger club soon. We await King’s selection but remarkably, a few days ago T&T Football Association’s (TTFA) Media Officer grabbed my attention with public commentary that had me wondering who is in charge over at TTFA. He wrote, “I do not expect Derek King to select a squad simply based on what his best starting 11 looks like. He is likely (to) think about who can play twice in a short period, who can come into the side without the level dropping too much, which positions need extra cover and which players give him flexibility.”

You might think me fussy, but public speculation by a media officer on any coach’s team selection is inappropriate and outside of normal professional protocols. The media officer is the official voice of team management, not an independent journalist or pundit. His job is to manage official public communications, not to publicly express his opinions on the coach’s thought process. Could you imagine the media officer (or even the President) of the Spanish or Moroccan federation commenting like this? Would such pre-emptive comments on a Prime Minister’s Cabinet selection by the functionary in charge of government communications be acceptable? I cannot imagine King would be happy.

And as a former national youth coach and a former TTFA Board member I can tell you I would not tolerate it. But it reflects the state of dysfunction in TTFA. King, for his own part, says “we will be relying heavily on the overseas players. Having our top players available gives us confidence, because we believe we have a squad capable of competing at a very high level.” Fair enough. A reasoned comment from the leader of the team. We await his selection.

The top two teams from each Nations League group advance to join the four seeded teams (Canada, Mexico, Panama and USA) in the two-legged home and away quarterfinals, from which the aggregate winners advance to the tournament semifinals. For Trinidad and Tobago, the road out of Group A runs through Hispaniola. And it is more difficult than the road to World Cup 2026 where we had six matches and opportunity to steady the ship after a poor start (which we scorned). We now have only four matches. We need at least four points from the first two matches—at least a draw on the road in Jamaica against Haiti and a must win at home to Dominican Republic—or the doubleheader against Curacao becomes an academic exercise. Fail at that task and the flagship sinks yet again. We shall soon see if King and his troops conquer Hispaniola or fall like Columbus did. P.S. TTFA—our national colours are red, white and black. Let the boys wear them.