Levi Garcia made his first appearance in the Dutch Erevisie on the weekend, coming on as a substitute for AZ Alkmaar in their 3-2 loss to PSV in their opening game of the Dutch Eredivisie.
It was Garcia’s first appearance in competition after a two-month lay off with a hamstring injury that forced him to miss T&T’s two previous World Cup qualifiers against Costa Rica and the United States
But the 19-year-old winger is now aiming to force his way back into Dennis Lawrence’s plans for the upcoming back to back World Cup qualifiers against Honduras and Panama on September 1st and 5th.
“It felt great to be back on Saturday. I got in for the last 15 minutes against PSV on the weekend. It was my first game after a two-month injury setback. I am thankful to God that I am fit and able to play the game again,” Garcia told TTFA Media . “It was devastating to be out for so long with the injury especially having to miss the qualifying games. But I am getting back to 100 percent again. My main focus for the preseason was to get fit and playing again,” he added.
Looking ahead to the upcoming programme, Garcia believes he can earn the call from Lawrence.
“This is a really important period for us and I hope I can be part of it. It has been a while since I really did well for the team in terms of scoring and having an impact on the game which was the win over St Vincent last year. Hopefully I can get back to that kind of form and I think there will be no better time than the game against Honduras to make this happen.
“I have been watching on the recent games and I think we were unfortunate not to get some points but things have been looking good. The boys have been putting in good performances and now it’s just down to us to raise the level a bit and finishing off the job in these next two games which will put us a in a much better position for the last two games in October. But firstly, we need to take care of Honduras,” Garcia added.
T&T will host Jamaica in their next international match at the Hasely Crawford Stadium on Thursday August 24th at 8pm. Tickets are available at all NLCB Lotto Locations at $100 (covered) and $50 (uncovered). Early bird tickets for T&T versus Honduras are also on sale at the Lotto outlets at $300 (covered) and $150 (uncovered) and those tickets will allow free entry to witness the Soca versus Reggae clash on August 24th.