Former TT coach Beenhakker endorses Lawrence

Lawrence was officially announced by the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TT FA) as the head coach on Saturday.

Beenhakker responded to a request for a statement by indicating that he was pleased that the man who scored the winning goal for TT against Bahrain to qualify this country to the 2006 World Cup, was given the job, also wishing him the best in his new role.

“Dennis and I had a conversation by phone about two weeks ago about the item and I am very happy that he accepted the job,” Beenhakker told TT FA media yesterday.

“He has the authority, the personality and even more than that, the knowledge of the game to do a successful job and he deserves the support of the board, the media and the fans.

“Dennis was the guy who brought TT in November 2005, as one of the players, for the first and only time to the World Cup in 2006,” Beenhakker continued.

Also expressing his support for Lawrence was Wim Rijsbergen, the assistant to Beenhakker during the 2006 campaign and a former head coach of TT in 2007.

“I spoke the last couple of days with some people in Trinidad about the new coach. I thought that Dennis would be the best man for the job,’ Rijsbergen told TT FA media.

“I have been following him the last couple of years working with Roberto Martinez. I have been following TT since I left, and I still feel positive about the time we had with a great bunch of players and staff to reach the World Cup 2006. I hope that Dennis and everybody involved will work together to turn around the results,” added Rijsbergen who is a former Netherlands player, appearing in the final of the 1974 and 1978 World Cups.

Beenhakker led TT to World Cup qualification after joining as head coach after three matches in the final round of qualifying in 2005. Lawrence scored for TT in Beenhakker’s first World Cup qualifying match in charge of TT in a 2-0 win over Panama at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Port of Spain. Beenhakker’s first two qualifying matches after taking the top post were against Panama and Mexico. Lawrence’s opening two qualifiers will be against Panama on March 24 and Mexico on March 28 at the Hasely Crawford Stadium.