Trinidad and Tobago at the FIFA World Cup

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 competition contested by the men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the first tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946, due to World War II.

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 have qualified for the final stages of the FIFA World Cup on one occasion, in 2006, when they qualified for the tournament in Germany, but were eliminated at the group stage.[1] Trinidad and Tobago became the smallest nation in terms of population to reach the finals of a World Cup tournament,[2] a feat previously held by Northern Ireland since their first World Cup appearance at the 1958 World Cup. This record was held until Iceland qualified for the first time in 2018.[3]

World Cup record

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FIFA World Cup record
Year Round Position Pld W D L GF GA
  1930 Did not enter
  1934
  1938
  1950
  1954
  1958
  1962
  1966 Did not qualify
  1970
  1974
  1978
  1982
  1986
  1990
  1994
  1998
    2002
  2006 Group stage 27th 3 0 1 2 0 4
  2010 Did not qualify
  2014
  2018
  2022
      2026 To be determined
      2030
  2034
Total Group stage 1/25 3 0 1 2 0 4

2006 FIFA World Cup

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Qualification

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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 for a chance to enter the 2006 World Cup. After a 1–1 draw in Port of Spain, the team beat Bahrain 1–0, with a Dennis Lawrence header in Manama, to clinch their first ever qualification for the World Cup finals.

Squad

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No. Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Club
1 1GK Shaka Hislop 22 February 1969 26   West Ham United
2 2DF Ian Cox 25 March 1971 16   Gillingham
3 2DF Avery John 18 June 1975 58   New England Revolution
4 2DF Marvin Andrews 22 December 1975 98   Rangers
5 2DF Brent Sancho 13 March 1977 42   Gillingham
6 2DF Dennis Lawrence 1 August 1974 65   Wrexham
7 3MF Chris Birchall 5 May 1984 21   Port Vale
8 2DF Cyd Gray 21 November 1976 41   San Juan Jabloteh
9 3MF Aurtis Whitley 1 May 1977 26   San Juan Jabloteh
10 4FW Russell Latapy 2 August 1968 66   Falkirk
11 3MF Carlos Edwards 24 October 1978 53   Luton Town
12 4FW Collin Samuel 27 August 1981 19   Dundee United
13 4FW Cornell Glen 21 October 1980 37   Los Angeles Galaxy
14 4FW Stern John 30 October 1976 97   Coventry City
15 4FW Kenwyne Jones 5 October 1984 30   Southampton
16 3MF Evans Wise 23 November 1973 17   Waldhof Mannheim
17 2DF Atiba Charles 29 September 1977 19   W Connection
18 3MF Densill Theobald 27 June 1982 40   Falkirk
19 4FW Dwight Yorke (c) 3 November 1971 56   Sydney FC
20 4FW Jason Scotland 18 February 1979 25   St Johnstone
21 1GK Kelvin Jack 29 April 1976 32   Dundee
22 1GK Clayton Ince 13 July 1972 63   Coventry City
23 3MF Anthony Wolfe 23 December 1983 4   San Juan Jabloteh

Silvio Spann was originally in the squad, but had to drop-out after sustaining a hamstring 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.

Finals Matches

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Trinidad and Tobago were drawn in Group B along with England, Sweden and Paraguay.

In their first match, Trinidad and Tobago held a strong Swedish side to a 0–0 draw, despite having Avery John sent off less than 30 seconds into the second half. Team captain Dwight Yorke won Man of the Match honours.[4]

Trinidad and Tobago lost their second game of the group stage to England 2–0. Late goals from Peter Crouch and Steven Gerrard secured England a place in the second round.[5] Trinidad had hoped for a draw between Paraguay and Sweden for their best chances of getting second place but Sweden defeated Paraguay 1–0.[6]

Trinidad and Tobago lost their third and final game of Group B to Paraguay 2–0. An own goal from Brent Sancho put them behind early in the game, and Paraguay scored a second goal late in the match from Nelson Cuevas.[7]

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.[8]

Group B

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Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
  England 3 2 1 0 5 2 +3 7
  Sweden 3 1 2 0 3 2 +1 5
  Paraguay 3 1 0 2 2 2 0 3
  Trinidad and Tobago 3 0 1 2 0 4 −4 1
Team #1   Score   Team #2
Trinidad and Tobago   0–0   Sweden
England   2–0   Trinidad and Tobago
Paraguay   2–0   Trinidad and Tobago

Trinidad and Tobago vs Sweden

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Trinidad and Tobago  0–0  Sweden
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Trinidad and Tobago
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Sweden
GK 1 Shaka Hislop
RB 8 Cyd Gray
CB 5 Brent Sancho
CB 6 Dennis Lawrence
LB 3 Avery John   15'   46'
RM 11 Carlos Edwards
CM 7 Chris Birchall
CM 19 Dwight Yorke (c)   74'
LM 18 Densill Theobald   66'
CF 14 Stern John
CF 12 Collin Samuel   52'
Substitutions:
FW 13 Cornell Glen   52'
MF 9 Aurtis Whitley   66'
Manager:
  Leo Beenhakker
 
GK 23 Rami Shaaban
RB 7 Niclas Alexandersson
CB 3 Olof Mellberg (c)
CB 4 Teddy Lučić
LB 5 Erik Edman
RM 21 Christian Wilhelmsson   78'
CM 6 Tobias Linderoth   78'
CM 8 Anders Svensson   62'
LM 9 Freddie Ljungberg
CF 10 Zlatan Ibrahimović
CF 11 Henrik Larsson   90'
Substitutions:
FW 20 Marcus Allbäck   62'
FW 18 Mattias Jonson   78'
MF 16 Kim Källström   78'
Manager:
Lars Lagerbäck

Man of the Match:
Dwight Yorke (Trinidad and Tobago)

Assistant referees:
Prachya Permpanich (Thailand)
Eisa Gholoum (United Arab Emirates)
Fourth official:
Óscar Ruiz (Colombia)
Fifth official:
Fernando Tamayo (Ecuador)

England vs Trinidad and Tobago

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England  2–0  Trinidad and Tobago
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England
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Trinidad and Tobago
GK 1 Paul Robinson
RB 15 Jamie Carragher   58'
CB 5 Rio Ferdinand
CB 6 John Terry
LB 3 Ashley Cole
RM 7 David Beckham (c)
CM 4 Steven Gerrard
CM 8 Frank Lampard   64'
LM 11 Joe Cole   74'
CF 10 Michael Owen   58'
CF 21 Peter Crouch
Substitutions:
FW 9 Wayne Rooney   58'
MF 19 Aaron Lennon   58'
MF 20 Stewart Downing   74'
Manager:
  Sven-Göran Eriksson
 
GK 1 Shaka Hislop   47'
RB 11 Carlos Edwards
CB 5 Brent Sancho
CB 6 Dennis Lawrence
LB 8 Cyd Gray   55'
RM 7 Chris Birchall
CM 9 Aurtis Whitley   19'
CM 19 Dwight Yorke (c)
LM 18 Densill Theobald   18'   85'
CF 15 Kenwyne Jones   45+1'   70'
CF 14 Stern John
Substitutions:
FW 13 Cornell Glen   70'
FW 16 Evans Wise   85'
Manager:
  Leo Beenhakker

Man of the Match:
David Beckham (England)

Assistant referees:
Yoshikazu Hiroshima (Japan)
Kim Dae-young (South Korea)
Fourth official:
Kevin Stott (United States)
Fifth official:
Chris Strickland (United States)

Paraguay vs Trinidad and Tobago

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Paraguay  2–0  Trinidad and Tobago
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Paraguay
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Trinidad and Tobago
GK 22 Aldo Bobadilla
RB 21 Denis Caniza   89'
CB 5 Julio César Cáceres   77'
CB 4 Carlos Gamarra (c)
LB 2 Jorge Núñez
RM 8 Edgar Barreto
CM 10 Roberto Acuña
CM 13 Carlos Paredes   30'
LM 19 Julio dos Santos   54'
CF 18 Nelson Valdez   66'
CF 9 Roque Santa Cruz
Substitutions:
FW 23 Nelson Cuevas   66'
DF 15 Julio Manzur   77'
DF 14 Paulo da Silva   89'
Manager:
  Aníbal Ruiz
 
GK 21 Kelvin Jack
RB 11 Carlos Edwards
CB 5 Brent Sancho   45'
CB 6 Dennis Lawrence
LB 3 Avery John   31'
RM 7 Chris Birchall
CM 9 Aurtis Whitley   48'   67'
CM 19 Dwight Yorke (c)
LM 18 Densill Theobald
CF 13 Cornell Glen   41'
CF 14 Stern John
Substitutions:
DF 15 Kenwyne Jones   31'
MF 16 Evans Wise   41'
MF 10 Russell Latapy   67'
Manager:
  Leo Beenhakker

Man of the Match:
Julio dos Santos (Paraguay)

Assistant referees:
Cristiano Copelli (Italy)
Alessandro Stagnelli (Italy)
Fourth official:
Frank De Bleeckere (Belgium)
Fifth official:
Peter Hermans (Belgium)

Support

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The Tartan Army, 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

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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).[9] 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.[10]

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 and Panama 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.[11] This was upheld by the Trinidadian High Court in March 2011, who ordered that an interim payment of $1.14m should be made.[12]

Record players

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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.

Rank Player Matches
1 Chris Birchall 3
Carlos Edwards 3
Cornell Glen 3
Stern John 3
Dennis Lawrence 3
Brent Sancho 3
Densill Theobald 3
Aurtis Whitley 3
Dwight Yorke 3

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "FIFA World Cup Statistics for Trinidad and Tobago". FIFA.com. Archived from the original on June 26, 2008. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  2. ^ "The World Cup's smallest team". BBC article. 11 May 2006. Retrieved 11 June 2006.
  3. ^ T.A.W. (12 November 2017). "How Iceland (population: 330,000) qualified for the World Cup". The Economist. Archived from the original on 13 November 2017. Retrieved 21 November 2022.
  4. ^ "Football - World Cup 2006 - Sweden 0-0 Trinidad & Tobago". BBC Sport. 10 June 2006. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  5. ^ "Football - World Cup 2006 - England 2-0 Trinidad & Tobago". BBC Sport. 15 June 2006. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  6. ^ "Football - World Cup 2006 - Sweden 1-0 Paraguay". BBC Sport. 15 June 2006. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  7. ^ "Football - World Cup 2006 - Paraguay 2-0 Trinidad". BBC Sport. 20 June 2006. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  8. ^ "Football - World Cup 2006 - Teams - Trinidad & Tobago - Beenhakker admits defeat was fair". BBC Sport. 20 June 2006. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  9. ^ "Birchall and Bell up for award". BBC Sport. 21 November 2006. Retrieved 6 September 2021.
  10. ^ Trinidad and Tobago's Newsday : newsday.co.tt :
  11. ^ Vital Football, Scotland quits international scene., retrieved on 7 October 2006.
  12. ^ Trinidad & Tobago players to get 2006 World Cup cash, BBC Sport, 4 March 2011
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