SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (CMC) – Head coach Dennis Lawrence has blasted the referee’s decision not to award Trinidad and Tobago a second-half penalty, during their 2-1 defeat to Costa Rica in the CONCACAF final round of World Cup qualifiers here Tuesday.
Jamille Boatswain went down in the area in the 51st minute under a challenge from a Costa Rican defender but the referee waived away appeals for the penalty.
With neither side able to score in the second half, the 2-1 half-time scoreline remained, leaving T&T with their fifth defeat of the campaign and closer to elimination.
“First and foremost I’m going to be careful with how I deal with the situation because I am not really happy,” Lawrence said following the game.
“Congratulations to Costa Rica. In terms of our boys, I think we gave a tremendous effort tonight and I don’t think the result reflected the actual result.
“I’ve got to question the penalty because I think the only people on the football pitch, who did not believe it was a penalty, were the officials. From that point of view, I thought we should have come out with something from the game and I really feel sorry for the boys.”
He added: “I thought we had more of the game in the second half than Costa Rica. I think the entire stadium knew it was a penalty. The only people who did not recognise it were the people who were most important – the officials.”
T&T were behind in the open seconds of the contest when Francisco Calvo scored following a corner and even though Kevin Molino equalised in the 34th minute, Bryan Ruiz produced a stunner on the stroke of half-time to regain the lead for the hosts.
Neither team could have broken the other down in the second half, and the scoreline remained.
Goalscorer Molino said he felt Trinidad had played well enough to earn a share of the points.
“I am disappointed. There is no way to hide this because I felt we did well enough to get a result tonight, at least a point,” the MLS-based attacker said.
“I feel pleased to have scored here in Costa Rica but I am hurting with the result. I would have much preferred to leave here with something. We put out a strong effort tonight but unfortunately we didn’t get the result.”
T&T lie bottom of the six-nation CONCACAF final round standings on three points.