I’ve got a lot in the tank still

A DEFIANT Dennis Lawrence admitted that mistakes were made by the TT team during the Concacaf Gold Cup.

However, the 44-year-old ex-TT central defender has no intention of stepping down from his role as men’s team coach, even though his record (including friendlies) is five wins, six drawn results and 15 defeats.

“When you get negative results, you expect to be criticised, analysed (and) questioned,” said Lawrence, during a media conference at the Media Room, National Cycling Centre, Couva yesterday. “What is important is you have to believe in yourself...I felt like I’ve lost a battle but not the war. I feel I’ve got a lot in the tank still.”

Lawrence left his previous post as scout for the Belgium men’s team, under the guidance of Roberto Martinez, to replace the Belgian-born Tom Saintfiet as TT coach in January 2017.

“If I was a weak character, I could have easily sat behind Roberto and have an easy ride, because my name was never going to be in the public domain,” Lawrence acknowledged. “I took an opportunity to take up the challenge. I said it openly, one day I’ll like to come back home and help TT football.

“Of course, I’ve (taken) up a difficult challenge. We went to the Gold Cup and I’ve felt disappointed. I’m not saying I’ve got all the answers, but I can see how things can improve.”

One problem which surfaced ahead of the Gold Cup was visa issues, which affected a number of TT players.

Asked if it was a lack of planning by the team management, Lawrence replied, “No. That cannot be a lack of planning when you have Aubrey David and Ataullah Guerra for example, who applied for their US visas since March. I don’t think Ataullah has got his visa at the moment.”

David got his US visa a few days before the tournament started, and he replaced the uncapped defender Leland Archer in the 23-member TT squad.

The TT coach revealed that striker Marcus Joseph is yet to obtain his US visa, while winger/striker Rundell Winchester had to be excused from the selection due to a family matter.

Forward Akeem Roach and winger Kathon St Hilaire both joined the team too late to be considered for selection, according to Lawrence.

How far did he think the team could have gone based on those challenges? Lawrence responded, “Football is a very unpredictable game. If we had managed to put in the performances we put against Thailand, Iran, Japan, Wales, then maybe we could have gone a bit further. But football is not like that when you go into a tournament.

“You have to look at it in two ways, do you want to go and survive in a tournament or do you want to try and compete and win the tournament. We understood one of the biggest challenges is that we weren’t scoring goals, we weren’t creating enough changes.

“By having the opportunity to introduce players like Kevin Molino back into the fold, it gave us a different dimension, it allowed us to be a little bit more on the creative side of things.”

Canadian-born goalkeeper Gregory Ranjitsingh did not feature in the three games, but Lawrence commented, “What Greg did for the group was exactly what I’m looking for, competition. “If you ask me, I think (Marvin Phillip) was one of (our) few shining lights in the Gold Cup. You can see he’s grown and he’s getting that experience.” Midfielder Joevin Jones was introduced as a substitute for all three matches in the US.

Lawrence commented, “I work with the players and I ask certain things of them. I have to make a decision on what I think is best for the team. At this moment in time, I felt that the players that started the game were the right ones.”