Zoran Vranes relieved of T&T Head Coach duties

Zoran Vranes, former Technical Director employed by the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Football Federation, has been relieved of his post as Head Coach of the Trinidad and Tobago national Under-23{{more}} Team, preparing for the Olympic Qualifiers in July.

The announcement was made after Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation’s (TTFF) technical committee, following an evaluation of the performance of the T&T Under-20 Team at the CONCACAF Under-20 final round of qualification in Guatemala, recommended that Vranes be relieved of his duties, which included his position as Head Coach of the Under-23 team.

Former Trinidad and Tobago midfielder Angus Eve has been given the lead responsibility of preparing the national Under-23 Team for the Caribbean Football Union leg of the Qualifiers.

The Serbia Montenegro-born Vranes had served as Technical Director in St. Vincent and the Grenadines from 2004 to 2007.

He was employed by the St. Claire Leacock led Executive, but his tenure ended with the entry of Joseph Delves as President, who unseated Leacock in the October 2007 SVGFF Elections.

Vranes has been in the Caribbean since the mid 1990’s and has also coached some of Trinidad and Tobago’s pro league teams, as well as that country’s senior national outfit.

He had a previous stint with the Antigua and Barbuda national football set up.

Vranes was the technical director when St. Vincent and the Grenadines earned arguably its best football result, when the senior team, Vincy Heat, went under to continental power house, Mexico, 0-1, here in October, 2004.

Vranes was at the helm of the Trinidad and Tobago Under-20 Team, which thrashed St. Vincent and the Grenadines 8-0, here last November, and 4-1 in Trinidad and Tobago, in the Caribbean Football Union’s round to the CONCACAF Finals.

In the upcoming Under-23 Qualifiers, Trinidad and Tobago faces host Dominica and the Netherlands Antilles, from July 20-24.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines, which is also preparing for the Olympic Qualifiers, heads to Suriname to take on the host, Jamaica, and the Cayman Islands, from August 3 to 7.

Cuba will host Guyana and Aruba in Group C, to begin the first round of the Caribbean Olympic qualifier, from June 23 to 27.

St. Kitts and Nevis will be the host nation for Group D, along with Haiti, Antigua and Barbuda and St. Lucia, from July 21 to 25.

The group winners will advance to a second group phase, from which two will qualify for the eight-team CONCACAF finals next year in the United States.