Following T&T's 2-2 draw with Martinique in the second leg of Group C of the Concacaf Nations League at the Hasely Crawford Stadium on Monday night, the T&T Football Association announced on Tuesday that T&T will face Mexico in a non-FIFA date friendly on October 2 in preparation for their CONCACAF Nations League matches.
The game will be played in Toluca and will be part of a doubleheader along with the Copa MX match between Toluca and Veracruz, the Mexican Football Federation also announced.
This will be the first time Mexico and T&T will clash since the teams' 2017 World Cup Qualifier in San Luis Potosi.
That match, which was a special night since it was the first game played after the September 19 earthquake in Mexico City, finished in a 3-1 win for Mexico, a win that wasn’t as easy as the score suggests. Not only did Trinidad and Tobago take the lead, with an A-squad, Mexico didn’t get the final two goals until the final minutes of the game. That same Trinidad and Tobago team would days later defeat the United States at home and eliminate them from the 2018 World Cup.
However, as the match is on a non-FIFA date, both teams are expected to feature mostly home-based players.
Soca Warriors 2, Martinique 2
T&T's footballers played to a 2-2 draw with Martinique in the second leg of their Group C Concacaf Nations League at the Hasely Crawford Stadium on Monday night.
However, the players had only themselves to blame for dropping points after leading twice but conceding goals from two set-pieces, which prevented coach Dennis Lawrence from getting his first win in 11 matches. A disappointed Lawrence said afterwards that they will have to return to the drawing board and work on defending during set plays.
Going into the match following a 1-1 draw with Martinique last week, the Warriors took the lead when goalkeeper Loic Chauvet made a mess of his intended pass to a defender in the 17th minute and T&T midfielder Kevin Molino intercepted the ball, and with just one defender in his way, drilled a low hard shot between the legs of the custodian for the lead.
Less than a minute later, Molino put the speedy Levi Garcia through. But after outsprinting the defence, Garcia failed to put his effort on target.
Martinique got a clear shot at goal in the 32nd minute from overlapping defender Yordan Thimon but although he turned past his marker on the left side, his thunderous right-footed drive was tipped over by T&T goalie Marvin Philip.
T&T went to the break with a 1-0 advantage and they increased it less than a minute after the resumption through Ryan Telfer, who fired in from Daniel Carr's pass.
However, Martinique pulled a goal back when Daniel Herrell curled in a corner from the left side to in the 59th minute to reduce the scoreline.
And despite relentless attacks on their goal area, Martinique held firm and drew level in the 80th minute when Jordy Delem turned in a pass from the left side.
The Soca Warriors then pressed for the winner in the moments thereafter and it was only brilliant double point-blank saves by their custodian which denied Leston Paul and Molino in the 87th minute for a share of the points.