Zoran Vranes has been named coach of the St Vincent and the Grenadines national soccer team, replacing the fired Adrian Shaw.
The 53-year-old Yugoslavia-born Vranes, who previously held top posts with Antigua and Barbuda and Trinidad and Tobago, arrived in St Vincent on Sunday.He said he wanted to help the team beat Trinidad next month in World Cup qualifying. Trinidad beat St. Vincent 2-0 last month in the semi-final round of CONCACAF qualifying.
"I do not know the current standard which St. Vincent and the Grenadines are now playing," he said. "But maybe they are not a top level team like Jamaica, Trinidad and even Cuba, but we can prepare and work hard for Nov. 17 to see how we can beat Trinidad in the return game."
Vranes took over for Shaw, who was fired last week by the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Football Federation, according to federation president St. Clair Leacock.
Soccer officials said they fired Shaw because he took a two-week trip to England instead of preparing the team for a World Cup qualifying match against Mexico next month.
Vranes said beating Mexico may be quite a task based on what he had seen in the team's 3-1 victory over Trinidad on Sept. 8.
St. Vincent faces Mexico on Oct. 6 and 9, and St. Kitts and Nevis on Oct. 13.
Vranes was Trinidad's head coach and technical director from 1995-96, Antigua's head coach and technical director from 1997-2000, technical director of the Caribbean All-Star team on its tour of the United States in 1998 and technical director and head coach for FC Joe Public of Trinidad from 2000-04.
