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Misfiring Trinidad and Tobago Men’s National Senior Team head coach Dennis Lawrence will not get a better chance than his next international friendly to win his first game in 2019.
The Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) has announced an outing for the Soca Warriors against the world’s worst football nation, Anguilla, from 7pm on 11 November at the Ato Boldon Stadium in Couva. Admission is TT$40.
The game will be followed by a friendly away to Ecuador on 14 November while it will be serious business on 17 November when the Warriors travel to Honduras for their final 2019 Concacaf Nations League assignment.
(Courtesy Allan V Crane/CA Images/Wired868)
Trinidad and Tobago and Anguilla have met once before on the football field. On 15 October 2012, then head coach Hutson Charles faced Anguilla in a Caribbean Cup qualifier at Warner Park in St Kitts with a totally local based team. The Warriors ran out 10-0 winners with Jamal Gay scoring four times while Keon Daniel got a hattrick, Willis Plaza notched a double and Sylvester Teesdale chipped in a solitary item.
Lawrence has already begun preparations for the upcoming outings with training sessions for home-based players and North America-based players who are in their post-season.
At present, the Warriors are on a 14 match winless streak which dates back to a 2-0 triumph over the United Arab Emirates on 6 September 2018. Trinidad and Tobago have never gone longer than 12 matches without a win in the TTFA’s 111 year history.
Lawrence literally could not pick an easier opponent than his next one, though. Anguilla are ranked 209th from FIFA’s 209 member associations, which is not altogether surprising since they are the smallest football nation in the world. The British outpost in the Caribbean a flat low-lying island of coral and limestone, has a population of 14,000 people, which is roughly as many inhabitants as La Horquetta.
Anguilla have never won a competitive match in their 34-year history as a FIFA nation while their most famous result was a goalless draw away to the Dominican Republic on 19 March 2004, which was the first and last time they picked up a point in a World Cup qualifier.
Still, Anguilla coach Nigel Connor managed something that Lawrence did not in 2019. On 10 March, the tiny Caribbean island downed Saint Martin 2-1 in a friendly at The Valley. Saint Martin, an island with a population of 36,000, are not recognised by FIFA.
Lawrence would be heavily favoured to set that right on 11 November, though.
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