LOS ANGELES, United States, CMC – Trinidad and Tobago slumped to a 2-0 defeat to Canada in their final international friendly before kicking off their CONCACAF Gold Cup campaign.
In a match played behind closed doors at California State University, the Caribbean side conceded on either side of half-time to Canada captain Scott Arfield, who scored early in the contest and then again late on.
The result follows T&T’s nil-all draw against Japan in another international friendly in Aichi last week.
Head coach Dennis Lawrence said even though he was disappointed with the outcome, there had been encouraging aspects of his side’s performance. “I was very, very pleased with a lot of the aspects,” he said afterwards.
“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 gave us the opportunity to try different players, to try different players in different positions because we are still trying to find the right balance.”
He continued: “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 manage to convert. All in all it was a very pleasing exercise for us.”
T&T are set to do battle in Group D of the Gold Cup alongside United States, Panama and minnows Guyana, in the tournament which runs from June 15 to July 7.
