Lawrence’s mom upbeat

“I see it as a win,” was her view on Tuesday’s game. “I see Paraguay as a (victory).”

For Trinidad and Tobago to advance to the knockout phase, they will have to defeat Paraguay, who were eliminated yesterday following their 1-0 loss to Sweden and hope England, who got past the TT squad 2-0 hours before the Sweden-Paraguay fixture, beat the Scandinavians.

If such a scenario takes place, goal-difference will determine whether Trinidad and Tobago or Sweden advance to the next phase, as the second placed team in Group B.

Earlier this week, Lawrence was given the opportunity to watch her son face the Paraguayans courtesy of an all-expenses paid trip from FIFA vice-president Jack Austin Warner.

“I’m leaving on Sunday afternoon,” she stated. “I (got) through with everything, thanks to Mr Jack Warner and the people at Power 102 (FM) for their arrangements just to get me to go to Germany.” But she does not think that her 31-year-old son is aware of Warner’s gesture.

“Jack Warner said he wanted it to be a surprise,” she pointed out. “When I reach there, he’ll take me into the camp where Dennis (is) at to surprise him.

“I don’t think he knows because nobody called me and (told) me that Dennis knows,” Lawrence continued. “I’m looking forward to it.” She added, “It’ll be a nice experience. I’ll enjoy it.”

Gail Lawrence is also optimistic that the performances of her son, during yesterday’s game and the opener against Sweden last Saturday, can entice a number of top football clubs to offer a contract to the six-foot-seven-tall defender, who currently plays for Wrexham in the English League Two.

Reflecting on yesterday’s England match-up, Lawrence noted, “we had all the opportunities in the first half but we did not capitalise on that. But, to me, England wasn’t themselves in the first half.” One criticism she levelled at TT coach Leo Beenhakker was the reluctance to use veteran midfielder Russell Latapy in the second half. “He had a right to bring on Latapy,” she affirmed. Trinidad and Tobago held England at bay for 82 minutes before another beanpole player, Peter Crouch, broke the deadlock with a point-blank header past TT goalkeeper Shaka Hislop while Steven Gerrard’s left-footed bullet in injury time booked England’s passage to the second round.

But Lawrence felt the first goal may not have materialised if her son (instead of dreadlocked defender Brent Sancho) was marking Crouch.

“That’s a next big blunder,” she stressed. “To me, it was a blunder because Dennis had been marking Crouch (since) the beginning of the game. Crouch and Dennis (are) the same height.” Her son Sherwin interjected, “this is where we missed Marvin Andrews (who is struggling to recover from a knee injury) in the defence because (Wayne) Rooney is one of the world’s leading strikers.”