Simoes, who coached Latapy during his stint as T&T’s national coach eight years ago, was hastily appointed Costa Rica’s coach in mid-September after the Central American country fired Rodrigo Kenton for a string of poor results.
The player/coach relationship was strained between Latapy and Simoes, who at one stage dropped Latapy and his star partner Dwight Yorke from the T&T national team after the two players failed to show up for a training session.
The dynamic T&T duo had retired from international football shortly after Simoes took charge of the T&T team in 2001.
Latapy suggested in a T&T Football Federation (TTFF) Media story that those issues are behind him and he is focusing on the Soca Warriors’ performance on Saturday.
“Sometimes in a particular situation you don’t always see eye to eye and you voice your opinion and the other party also has the right to voice their opinion. That was in 2001 and we’re now in 2009,” Latapy said.
“He (Rene Simoes) has a job to do for his employers and I also have a job to do for my nation so that’s all I’m going to be concentrating on,” Latapy said.
Simoes is best known for guiding Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz to their first and only World Cup Finals in France 1998 and the 56-year-old Brazilian was appointed as Costa Rica’s coach on Wednesday September 16, a day after Kenton was terminated.
