Jack Warner, president of CONCACAF, opened the event on Friday with a speech encouraging the 77 participating coaches from 15 countries to work with each other across borders, and with their teams on a daily basis to improve the sport.

“Many coaches seem to know the best road to football success, but only a few are willing to try,’ he said. He added, however, that the large turnout at the workshop demonstrated a will for hard work in the region.

“Far too often many of us want the form of office as coach or trainer, but we don’t want to do or practice the substance of office, which is really hard work,” he said.

The workshop was led by Zdenek Sivek, president of the European Football Coaches Union, as well as former Trinidad goalkeeper Lincoln Phillips and former striker Alvin Corneal.

Subjects included techniques of play, game tactics, conditioning and sport psychology, with a special emphasis on preparing players mentally for matches.

CONCACAF, the soccer confederation for North America, Central America and the Caribbean, sponsored the workshop at Trinidad’s Joao Havelange Centre of Excellence.

In his feature address Warner also urged the participating coaches “to work hard and always seek opportunities to expand your knowledge of the game and develop your coaching skills.”

He added: “Success does not come easy but I am pleased to see so many coaches responding to our Development Programme in CONCACAF. Few confederations are doing what we are doing.”

Warner highlighted some of the important work that has taken place in CONCACAF.

He said: “We were the first to stage a symposium on the 2002 FIFA World Cup and we plan to stage another one this year on the FIFA Women’s World Cup

“We have training courses for coaches, administrators, referees, doctors, physiotherapists and even match commissioners. There are also plans to expand the range of courses that we offer and to ensure that we maintain the highest quality at all times .

“In this regard I wish to express my sincere appreciation to UEFA and FIFA for their unstinting support of our development initiatives.

“We must continue to use the collective expertise available to us both in the region and internationally,” he added.

Several important topics were discussed at the seminar, including the history of playing systems; modern tactics and choosing the right system.