:: INDIA EMPIRE ::

GOING, GOING, GOAL

With their stupendous draw against powerhouse Sweden and gutsy play against England and Paraguay in the recent World Cup, the Socca Warriors have catapulted T&T to the forefront of the world soccer scene

June 10, 2006 will remain a red letter day in the sporting annals of Trinidad & Tobago. For, it was on that day when Trinidad and Tobago, featuring former Howard University goalie Shaka Hislop, turned back scoring threat after scoring threat by the powerhouse team from Sweden and exploded in a celebration when the clock ran out. The T&T team took a raucous victory lap after playing heavily favoured Sweden to a 0-0 tie.

Of course, the jokes began soon after. Why were the Swedes such big favorites when they had to play both Trinidad and Tobago. But clearly the world was getting serious about the Socca Warriors. England and Paraguay weren’t talking about free points anymore.

On the eve of the match, head coach Leo Beenhakker said: “On paper, Sweden, England and Paraguay are supposed to beat us. That’s the reality. The magical thing about World Cup and football, it’s not all the time that the team that is supposed to win actually wins.”

FIFA general secretary Urs Linsi recognised the emergence of a new regional power. Sky Sports highlighted T&T’s debut as Hislop was given the “Player of the Day” tip as well as the “Save of the Day” and T&T’s debut got the “moment of the day”. “A wonderful day for the Soca Warriors and all their fans. They showed huge passion from start to last,” it stated.

While the media and fan interest in the team was extensive since arriving in Germany, that has now doubled following the result. And to top it off, several of the players received congratulatory text messages and phone calls from their club bosses as well as a few have already started picking up inquiries from other clubs.

Today, T&T is ranked 27 by FIFA. With over 200 countries playing soccer, that’s surely a big score.