Fenwick to make TT football coaching debut against US

Trinidad and Tobago MEN’S football team coach Terry Fenwick will finally see his team in action, at the competitive level, on January 31.

According to a media release from the TT Football Association (TTFA) last evening, the TT squad will be facing hosts United States in a friendly international at the Exploria Stadium, Orlando, Florida.

This game will be TT’s first since Fenwick replaced Dennis Lawrence as men’s team coach in January 2020. TT last played an international game on November 17, 2019 away to Honduras, at San Pedro Sula, in the Concacaf Nations League. The Hondurans won that fixture 4-0.

Fenwick was never afforded the luxury of an international match in 2020, due to the coronavirus pandemic, as well as FIFA’s suspension of the TTFA, between September and November.

In a video issued by the TTFA, Fenwick said, “We’re taking a gamble (regarding the covid19 pandemic). I want the kids to start playing football all over again, by playing against a team of the magnitude of USA. It’s a big step forward, maybe too early for us but I want to get us, as an organisation, moving forward. We’ve got World Cup qualifiers in the end of March.”

This game does not fall during a FIFA international window, and the England-born Fenwick said that his team will have a mix of local-based players and US-born players that he has set his sights on.

“We’ve identified a number of top players in the US that can’t travel (to TT) because of the covid restrictions so we’ll fuse together the best possible players we’ve got here in (TT) with the guys in the United States, and we’ll get them organised as quickly as we can,” said Fenwick.

“I’m hoping to achieve a camp, in seven to eight days, after that game, so I’ll get time on the training ground twice daily to see what qualities they bring to the table and to see how we can move forward positively.”

The TT team are preparing for the start of their 2022 FIFA World Cup Concacaf Zone qualifiers, at home to Guyana, on March 25.