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Fri, Mar

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Take out your history book. Mark down 2005 as the "Year of the Warriors".


There will always be debate about which Trinidad and Tobago football team had the biggest impact on its citizens. But there is no doubt about the country's most successful outfit.

Six foot seven Wales-based defender Dennis Lawrence headed the self-titled "Soca Warriors" into the 2006 World Cup Finals in Germany with the lone goal in a 1-0 play-off win away to Bahrain on November 16, 2005.

It is a memorable milestone for the former soldier who has endured a series of setbacks in his professional career.

Lawrence had amassed 46 national caps before his first outing under Leo Beenhakker, but his awkward strides were not to everyone's liking. Ignored by Brazil-born coach Rene Simoes and used sparingly by Bertille St Clair, the Wrexham player will now always be associated with T&T's footballing success.

The World Cup-bound squad is filled with such stories of perseverance.

If 1973 boasted Trinidad and Tobago's most formidable line-up-not since Everald "Gally" Cummings has a footballer won the Sportsman of the Year award-and the colourful "Strike Squad" of 1989 fused sport and society; then 2005 was a victory for the less aesthetic virtues of our personalities.

Strike Squad fans still drool over Hutson "Barber" Charles' classy finish away to the United States and Kerry Jamerson's thunderbolt at home to Guatemala.

Chris Birchall and Stern John scored cracking items against Bahrain and Mexico respectively, while there was also Lawrence's header from a Dwight Yorke corner. But surely the prevailing image of the Warriors' success is of 11 players-plus substitutes-grafting away in front of a hostile crowd in Manama, Bahrain.

The year 2005 was a triumph for perspiration over inspiration; and there was a perverse pleasure in that too. A mischievous almost delicious taste of vengeance as Dwight Yorke and Russell Latapy played for time in the corners of the field.

It was the "win-at-all-costs" mentality that local fans had seen so often in visiting teams. The shoe was on the other foot. Trinidad and Tobago loved it.

Who would have thought, after conceding five goals away to Guatemala in March, that T&T could be preparing to face England in a World Cup fixture in just over 12 months?

The change in staff after that defeat was minimal in terms of numbers, but not quality.

Former Holland, Real Madrid and Ajax coach Beenhakker took up the reins, while versatile CL Financial San Juan Jabloteh midfielder Aurtis Whitley and Falkirk playmaker Latapy were added to telling effect.

Yet it was Beenhakker's predecessor, St Clair, who arguably made the most decisive move of all by first reintroducing Yorke to international football and then giving him the challenge of captaincy.

Yorke, whose return was initially met with skepticism by local fans, ended as the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation's "Player of the Year"-a crown that was absurdly denied him by the T&TFF during his pomp at Manchester United.

But even he had little idea of what lay in store when he contemplated an international comeback at age 33.

St Clair openly pursued Yorke ever since he returned to his national coaching post in January 2004. But his former mentor needed him more than ever after T&T limped into the final qualifying round despite the good fortune of an uncomplicated draw against the likes of St Vincent and St Kitts in the semifinal stages.

St Clair's outfit began 2005 with a 3-1 Caribbean Cup win at home to St Vincent, but followed up with losses in a friendly away to Antigua and Barbuda and then in the return leg to St Vincent.

Even Yorke's comeback match, fittingly in Tobago, ended in a 1-0 warm-up defeat to Haiti in which Tobago's favourite son gave away the decisive penalty kick.

An opening World Cup qualifying defeat at home to the United States on Ash Wednesday and their Caribbean Cup loss to regional champions, Jamaica, increased pressure on St Clair.

There was no escaping the fallout after a humiliating 5-1 World Cup qualifying loss away to Guatemala, though. St Clair lasted five more days, but another coach had already agreed terms when he led out T&T for the last time in a goalless draw at home to Costa Rica on March 30.

On the following day, St Clair found out he was fired on a radio programme while driving to the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Port of Spain, for a post-game meeting with Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (T&TFF) officials.

Naming St Clair's successor was more difficult than T&TFF special adviser and FIFA vice-president Jack Warner imagined. Warner agreed terms with ex-Manchester United, Aston Villa and West Brom boss Ron Atkinson, but backed down in the face of a possible player revolt at the Crowne Plaza over televised racist remarks made by Yorke's former manager, which cost him his job as a television commentator.

Ex-England and Newcastle coach Kevin Keegan allegedly priced himself out of the job while former France and Liverpool manager Gerald Houllier was not interested, so Beenhakker got the post.

The team improved steadily under the 66-year-old Dutchman.

Beenhakker initially promised lots of ball possession and more offensive play and there were positive signs in his opening 2-0 qualifying win over Panama.

Two qualifying defeats away to Mexico and the United States as well as three CONCACAF Gold Cup outings without a win and Beenhakker might have tailored his view.

By the time the Warriors-Warner altered their name from Soca Warriors to prove they meant business-met Mexico in a decisive group encounter, Beenhakker had only one recognisable striker ahead of a five-man midfield.

Yorke had since converted himself into a holding midfield role-a position he flirted with under St Clair-while John rediscovered his scoring touch.

When St Clair's contract was terminated, John had gone five successive competitive matches without a goal for the first time in his career. He scored six times in seven games for Beenhakker before the two-legged play-off against Bahrain.

Latapy's return was also crucial as the "Little Magicians swallowed his disappointment at being bypassed for a national coaching role to add class to Beenhakker's playing staff.

A scrappy draw at home to Bahrain put T&T's ambitions in the balance. Only a terrific Birchall strike avoided an even more desperate situation as the Warriors flew halfway around the world to Manama.

It was now or never and Beenhakker sacrificed Latapy from the starting line-up to use lively Southampton striker Kenwyne Jones upfront in a 4-4-2 system.

The positive approach reaped dividends as the Warriors made regular inroads into the Bahraini defence and pushed their hosts far up the pitch.

It was Lawrence who beat his more offensive teammates to the winning goal, though.

Bahrain threw everything they had-including bottles and chairs-at their visitors but Trinidad and Tobago held on for their place in history.

Instead of flair and creativity, write tactical discipline, character and effort; it was the making of an unforgettable team.