Climax to take call on retirement after SAFF football

New Delhi: Leading the Indian football team in the ongoing SAFF Championship here, veteran midfielder Climax Lawrence on Thursday said he will take a call on his international retirement only after the tournament.

The 32-year-old attacking midfielder has been a regular in the national team ever since his debut in 2002 under then coach Steven Constantine, having won nearly 60 caps at international level. "I have not decided yet, I will decide about my future after I go back to Goa after the tournament," Lawrence said on the eve of India`s semifinal clash against Maldives. Lawrence started his career with Salgaocar in 1998 and after five years joined East Bengal in 2004. And after a brief stint with East Bengal, the following season he shifted base to Dempo, a club that he has been serving with distinction for more than five years. There have been whispers about the Dempo playmaker mulling retirement and asked about that, the national coach Savio Medeira said it was upto Lawrence to take a call but felt the midfielder still has a couple of years left in him. "That will be his decision. But I feel that he still has a couple of years left in him in international football," he said. Medeira, however, wasn`t too pleased when he was asked about Mahesh Gawli (30) and Samir Naik`s (32) retirement. The two Dempo defenders have not been in the best of form and Naik has also been besieged with one or other injury for a while now. "Age doesn`t count in the world of football but performance does. What makes you think that? A player can continue as long as he is able to perform," Medeira shot back. PTI