Lawrence recalls Cato for Jamaica friendly

NATIONAL FOOTBALL team coach Dennis Lawrence will have the services of at least three overseas-based professionals for the forthcoming international friendly against Jamaica at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo on Thursday.

Speaking ahead of a training at the Stadium’s training pitch yesterday, Lawrence said, “The idea is to prepare for the Jamaica game which is leading up to the Honduras game which is the most important thing. I think the Jamaica game will be a fantastic test for the boys because Jamaica did really well in the Gold Cup. They will come here on a high and we are looking forward to the game.

“It is going to be good for the local players. We have managed to acquire the services of a couple of the foreign players and the main reason for that is the fact that they have not been playing for their clubs so it is important that we try and give them some match time before the Honduras game. I think we have three players confirmed – Cordell Cato, Mekeil Wiliams and Aubrey David.”

Lawrence added that he had a conversation with Cato after the winger was left out of the final squad for the World Cup qualifying matches against United States and Costa Rica last June.

“Cordell phoned me and we had a conversation. Cordell understands the situation of what is expected of him. I think what happened is behind us now. The door was never closed on him. We had a good conversation and he will be here as part of the group and he is going to try and achieve what we want to,” Lawrence said.

On playing the Honduras game at the Ato Boldon Stadium in Couva, Lawrence commented, “The idea is to basically create an atmosphere. If you look at the two previous games against Panama and Mexico at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, we didn’t have much of an atmosphere that we were looking for.”