Prepared TT face Wales in Wrexham

TT’s senior men will be looking to put on a solid display when they come up against Ryan Giggs’ Wales in an international friendly at the Racecourse in Wrexham,Wales from 7.45pm (3.45 pm TT time).

TT head coach Dennis Lawrence addressed the Welsh media at a press briefing just prior to the team’s final training session at the game venue last evening. The former Wrexham captain was asked to comment on his history with the club but he, of course, was more focused on the task ahead which is to try and guide his side to a decent performance this afternoon.

Under Lawrence, TT has conceded just three goals in six encounters dating back to last March.

Former national defender Marvin Andrews, who also played for Wrexham, showed up at Tuesday’s session to offer his support and led the team in prayer both at the start and the end of the session.

Chris Birchall will also attend today’s match. Also, looking on at yesterday’s session was former Welsh legend Joey Jones, who was a Wrexham coach during Lawrence’s playing days at the club, along with Carlos Edwards and Hector Sam.

“In terms of our preparations, I think we have done as much as we can. We all arrived here safely and no injuries to report The boys are looking forward to the game against Wales after a good afternoon session,” Lawrence said ahead of the match.

On the TT side and the preparations, Lawrence told the Welsh media, “We’re in the rebuilding stage because after we didn’t qualify for Russia, we then immediately started to think about Qatar 2022 and to be able to do that we had to put a process in place and part of the process is now where we are, going into the Gold Cup in June.

“We’ve got a young team with some experience players, Lawrence added. “A nice mixed bunch at the moment. We’ve got players with some fantastic qualities. It’s now getting them to play as a team to be in a professional manner and all work for each other. The idea going into the game tomorrow(today) is to compete because we want to compete against teams like Wales who are world class in my eyes.

Israel-based winger Levi Garcia is hoping to have an impact, following a return to the TT side after suffering with injuries for the better part of 2018.

“It’s good to be back in the squad,” Garcia said, “And I’m really honoured and thankful to have gotten the call again from coach Lawrence. It’s a big game for us and very important as part of the preparations for the Gold Cup,” Garcia told TTFA Media.

Giggs, however, told media at Wales’ briefing earlier yesterday that four of his players were unavailable, including Aaron Ramsey, who missed a training session due to a thigh problem, along with Swansea City star Daniel James, Anderlecht defender James Lawrence and Bournemouth winger David Brooks, all of whom trained separately from the main group during an open training session at the AON complex yesterday morning.