T&T conceded goals on either side of halftime in a 2-0 defeat to Canada behind closed doors at the Titan Stadium in Cal State, Fullerton, USA on Monday evening. It was the team's final warm-up match ahead of the CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament which kicks-off in the United States on Saturday.
Canada captain Scott Arfield, who plays with Scotland's Glasgow Rangers, gave his team the lead with a perfectly struck volley in the 5th minute, before he sealed the win with a 90th-minute strike.
T&T coach Dennis Lawrence made seven changes to his starting team from the one that played in the 0-0 draw against Japan last week.
Minnesota midfielder Kevin Molino was joined by Seattle Sounders' Joevin Jones, Akeem Humphrey, goalkeeper Adrian Foncette, Shahdon Winchester, Neveal Hackshaw and Cordell Cato in Lawrence's team for the match.
T&T created a number of chances and had only themselves to blame for not getting on the scoresheet. Winchester had two missed opportunities in the first half and Molino also squandered a clear-cut chance by directing a right-footer overbar from on top the penalty box before the break.
Later, Levi Garcia, who came on as a second-half substitute, also fired one across the goal from a tight angle after beating his marker deep in the Canada penalty area.
T&T lost defender Carlyle Mitchell in the first half due to a groin injury and Lawrence now hopes he will be ready for their opener against Panama on June 18.
In spite of the defeat, Lawrence said there were positives to take away from the match.
“I was very, very pleased with a lot of the aspects,” Lawrence said.
“Obviously disappointed to concede two goals, one so early in the game and then one late, but in terms of a training exercise for the boys, I thought it was very good for us. It gives us the opportunity to try different players because we are still trying to find the right balance."
Lawrence added, “I was a bit pleased, especially in the second half, with the way we managed the game. We got ourselves in a lot of good attacking situations but again, we didn’t convert. All in all, it was a very pleasing exercise for us.”
Lawrence was, however, hoping to use more players in the match.
“I was just a bit disappointed with the way the rules were used. We were only allowed to use six substitutions and we were planning to give everybody a game today. We wanted to play some people for 45 minutes but we were not able to do that today but all in all, it was a pretty good exercise for the boys," he said.
“It was important for these boys. Molino last played on June 2, and Joevin has been coming on for his club since he got there. Greg Ranjitsingh has not been playing so we felt it was very important that they got some minutes. Molino managed to get through 90 minutes which was good for us. Ranjitsingh, I thought did well when he came on and Joevin."
