Lawrence calls for focus

Both teams were successful in their previous matches on Friday, with TT edging Panama 1-0 while Mexico brushed aside Costa Rica 2-0.

On the CONCACAF Zone Final Round points standings, after three games, Mexico lead with seven points, with Costa Rica next on six points and Panama third on four points.

The United States, TT and Honduras round off the group with three points apiece, but the US’ goal difference is plus one, TT ’s own is minus three and Honduras are on minus five.

During yesterday’s pre-game media conference at the Hasely Crawford Stadium’s VIP Lounge, Lawrence acknowledged, “My major concern is probably the focus. We have to stay focused. We have to understand that what we did to Panama was fantastic, but it’s over.” He continued, “We’re now going into the Mexico game. We’re going to be playing one of the world’s best football teams in my opinion and we need to go into the game with a clear direction.” TT are playing their second game in 96 hours and Lawrence indicated that his technical staff has been working assiduously to ensure his players have recovered sufficiently from Friday’s match.

Referring to today’s contest, Lawrence said, “The key for us is we have to be brave. We have to be brave to be able to say we know exactly what we want to do.

“We cannot allow Mexico to take total control of the game, which they are extremely good at. So it’s going to be a great test for our group. But the idea is to be brave and try (to) go toe-to-toe with Mexico and ensure we stay involved in the game.” Concerning where he wants the TT team to improve on, Lawrence noted, “I think we could have kept the ball a little bit better in the second half (against Panama).

“Obviously I understood that once we were one-nil up, the scoreline started to affect some of the things that we wanted to do. So we started to drop a bit deeper and allow Panama to come onto us a little bit more.

I thought we would have dealt with it a bit better.

I’d like to hope we can improve that one bit.” Due to injuries, Mexico will be without the services of the experienced trio of defender Rafael Marquez (back), midfielders Giovani dos Santos (hamstring) and Andres Guardado (leg).

But the TT coach insisted, “Mexico (have) got talent coming out from every avenue.

With these players being out, I’d like to hope it would be a benefit to us but I’m expecting the replacements to be just as good.” On the TT end, Lawrence said that central defenders Sheldon Bateau and Radanfah Abu Bakr, who missed Friday’s game due to suspension and illness respectively, will be available for selection today.

Lawrence praised the brilliance of his opposite number Juan Carlos Osorio which he said makes being prepared more important.

“We (will) prepare as much as possible to see if we can cover all angles. (Osorio) is very tactically astute and he’s devised things that you need to be fully aware of. So we (will) try and make sure that we can cover all these areas, to ensure that it doesn’t affect us.”