Soca Warriors defender calls qualifier knockout his “biggest disappointment”

The disappointment of the World Cup qualifying ambitions ending on Tuesday night in Panama City is obvious. And a day after scoring an own goal that put Panama 2-0 ahead, defender Carlyle Mitchell is holding his hands up with an apology.

Mitchell and his teammates along with Dennis Lawrence and his staff members, are coming to terms with the run of events over the past week.

“Firstly, I want to apologise to the nation and to coach Dennis Lawrence, his staff and my teammates for the way in way the results went,” Mitchell told TTFA Media. “This has been the biggest disappointment of my career. I feel like I’ve let my country down, my teammates down and I will not pretend that we did things the way it was suppose to be. This is not something you just wake up in the morning and forget all about.

“We had the opportunities to try and turn things around and make this happen for the country. I am a person who does not live with regrets because it is something that can stay with you for life,” he said.

The former Vancouver Whitecaps player chose to express his feelings on the campaign overall particularly the six-games played in the “Hex” this year.

“It was a bit of a see-saw. We had our moments, some up, some down and we have to take responsibility for not being able to fulfil what we wanted to achieve in all of this. I think the coach and his staff gave it their all. They wanted this badly just as we as players wanted and unfortunately it did not work out for us. We have to reflect and recover from this for the benefit of everyone who cares about the country’s football,” Mitchell added.