Trinidad and Tobago at the FIFA World Cup
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The FIFA World Cup, sometimes called the Football World Cup or the Soccer World Cup, but is normally referred to simply as the World Cup, is an international
association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
competition contested by the men's national teams of the members of ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (
FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...
), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the first tournament in
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, except in 1942 and 1946, due to
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. The tournament consists of two parts, the qualification phase and the final phase (officially called the ''World Cup Finals''). The qualification phase, which currently take place over the three years preceding the Finals, is used to determine which teams qualify for the Finals. The current format of the Finals involves 32 teams competing for the title, at venues within the host nation (or nations) over a period of about a month. The World Cup Finals is the most widely viewed sporting event in the world, with an estimated 715.1 million people watching the 2006 tournament final.
Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...
have qualified for the final stages of the
FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...
on one occasion, in 2006, when they qualified for the
tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...
in Germany, but were eliminated at the group stage. Trinidad and Tobago became the smallest nation in terms of population to reach the finals of a World Cup tournament, a feat previously held by
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
since their first World Cup appearance at the
1958 World Cup The 1958 FIFA World Cup was the sixth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Sweden from 8 to 29 June 1958. It was the first FIFA World Cup to be played in a Nordic country. Brazil be ...
. This record was held until Iceland qualified for the first time in
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.


World Cup record


2006 FIFA World Cup


Qualification

On 12 October 2005, Trinidad and Tobago secured fourth place in the CONCACAF final qualification round, and therefore participated in a playoff with the fifth place Asian team
Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...
for a chance to enter the 2006 World Cup. After a 1–1 draw in
Port of Spain Port of Spain (Spanish: ''Puerto España''), officially the City of Port of Spain (also stylized Port-of-Spain), is the capital of Trinidad and Tobago and the third largest municipality, after Chaguanas and San Fernando. The city has a municip ...
, the team beat Bahrain 1–0, with a
Dennis Lawrence Dennis William Lawrence CM (born 1 August 1974) is a Trinidad and Tobago former professional footballer and current first-team coach at Coventry City. He was the manager of the Trinidad and Tobago national team from 2017 to 2019. Prior to coa ...
header in
Manama Manama ( ar, المنامة ', Bahrani Arabic, Bahrani pronunciation: ) is the capital and largest city of Bahrain, with an approximate population of 200,000 people as of 2020. Long an important trading center in the Persian Gulf, Manama is h ...
, to clinch their first ever qualification for the World Cup finals.


Squad

Silvio Spann was originally in the squad, but had to drop-out after sustaining a
hamstring In human anatomy, a hamstring () is any one of the three posterior thigh muscles in between the hip and the knee (from medial to lateral: semimembranosus, semitendinosus and biceps femoris). The hamstrings are susceptible to injury. In quadrupeds, ...
injury in the run-up to the tournament. He was replaced by Evans Wise. Head coach of Trinidad and Tobago's 2006 World Cup squad was
Leo Beenhakker Leo Beenhakker CM (; born 2 August 1942) is a Dutch international football coach. He has had an extensive and successful career both at club and international level. He led both Ajax and Feyenoord to Dutch championships and also had domestic s ...
.


Finals Matches

Trinidad and Tobago were drawn in
Group B Group B was a set of regulations for grand touring (GT) vehicles used in sports car racing and rallying introduced in 1982 by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). Although permitted to enter a GT class of the World Sportscar ...
along with
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
,
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
and
Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...
. In their first match, Trinidad and Tobago held a strong Swedish side to a 0–0 draw, despite having
Avery John Emery Avery John CM (born 18 June 1975) is a Trinidad and Tobago former professional footballer who played as a defender. Career Youth and College John was born in Point Fortin. He attended Vessigny ntillesGovernment Secondary School and t ...
sent off less than 30 seconds into the second half. Team captain
Dwight Yorke Dwight Eversley Yorke CM (born 3 November 1971) is a Trinidadian and Tobagonian former professional footballer and current manager of Australian A-League club Macarthur FC. Throughout his club career, he played for Aston Villa, Manchester Unit ...
won ''Man of the Match'' honours. Trinidad and Tobago lost their second game of the group stage to England 2–0. Late goals from
Peter Crouch Peter James Crouch (born 30 January 1981) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker. He was capped 42 times by the England national team between 2005 and 2010, scoring 22 goals for his country during that time, and ...
and
Steven Gerrard Steven George Gerrard (born 30 May 1980) is an English professional football manager and former player, who most recently managed club Aston Villa. Described by pundits and fellow professionals as one of his generation's greatest players, Ge ...
secured England a place in the second round. Trinidad had hoped for a draw between Paraguay and Sweden for their best chances of getting second place but Sweden defeated Paraguay 1–0. Trinidad and Tobago lost their third and final game of Group B to Paraguay 2–0. An own goal from
Brent Sancho Brent Sancho CM (born 13 March 1977) is a Trinidadian former professional football player and politician. In February 2015, he became the Minister of Sports for his home country, Trinidad and Tobago. Club career College Born in Port of Spa ...
put them behind early in the game, and Paraguay scored a second goal late in the match from
Nelson Cuevas Nelson Rafael Cuevas Amarilla (; born 10 January 1980) is a Paraguayan former footballer and current singer. He represented the Paraguay national football team at the 2002 and 2006 FIFA World Cups and the 1999 and 2007 Copa América tourn ...
. Trinidad and Tobago finished last in Group B with one point, and were eliminated. They were the only team in the 2006 World Cup not to score a goal.


Group B


Trinidad and Tobago vs Sweden


England vs Trinidad and Tobago


Paraguay vs Trinidad and Tobago


Support

The
Tartan Army Tartan ( gd, breacan ) is a patterned cloth consisting of criss-crossed, horizontal and vertical bands in multiple colours. Tartans originated in woven wool, but now they are made in other materials. Tartan is particularly associated with Sc ...
, supporters of Scottish football, lent their support to Trinidad and Tobago, partly since they were opponents to England and also due to six of the squad members playing for Scottish clubs.


Aftermath

On their return from Germany, the government awarded Leo Beenhakker and each member of the squad the country's second highest honour, the Chaconia Medal, Gold, plus TT$1,000,000 (one quarter in cash, the rest in unit trusts). As captain, Dwight Yorke was awarded TT$1,250,000, while players who had participated in qualification but not in Germany were awarded TT$250,000. Ten members of the teams' technical staff were also later awarded TT$250,000. On 6 October 2006, thirteen of the players in the 2006 World Cup squad indicated their intention to retire from international football after friendly matches against
St. Vincent and the Grenadines Saint Vincent and the Grenadines () is an island country in the Caribbean. It is located in the southeast Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, which lie in the West Indies at the southern end of the eastern border of the Caribbean Sea wh ...
and
Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...
on 7 October and 11 October, respectively. The players alleged that the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation had reneged on various contractual commitments to the team.''Vital Football''
Scotland quits international scene.
retrieved on 7 October 2006.
This was upheld by the Trinidadian High Court in March 2011, who ordered that an interim payment of $1.14m should be made.Trinidad & Tobago players to get 2006 World Cup cash
''BBC Sport'', 4 March 2011


Record players

Nine players were fielded in all three of Trinidad and Tobago's matches in 2006, making them record World Cup appearance makers for their country.


See also

*
North, Central American and Caribbean nations at the FIFA World Cup Association football is the most popular sport in almost all North, Central American and Caribbean countries, and eleven members of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football, CONCACAF, have competed at the spo ...
* Trinidad and Tobago at the CONCACAF Gold Cup


References


External links


Trinidad and Tobago at the 2006 World Cup BBC Page
{{Countries at the FIFA World Cup Countries at the FIFA World Cup