June 20, 2006, 11:49PM
Once they hit the pitch, teams find equal footing
By JOHN P. LOPEZ
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle
COLOGNE, Germany — One team arrived from its secluded Black Forest retreat by private jet.
The English had their own security force, joined by standard-issue German police, the blaring horns and spinning lights from the long brigade of security making the drive from the airport to the stadium unmistakably ostentatious.
Then again, England's World Cup heroes command such a presence. They are like 23 Mick Jaggers, rich and royal, every move dissected and followed with clicking cameras and a hustling gaggle of reporters.
They make news simply walking across a plaza. Their so-called "WAGS" — wives and girlfriends — are put up in a boutique hotel that charges up to $1,500 a night for rooms.
The "WAGS" are as much an attraction, if not more so, than the players. But then, that's English soccer.
Only Tuesday, the dominant pictures on the front pages of most English dailies and the leading German sports publication, BILD, were of "WAGS" sunbathing in bikinis. Or "WAGS" going on a $100,000 shopping spree.
Or "WAGS" dropping $1,500 a round on drinks at a local night spot, some caught dancing on tables.
A study in contrasts
It's not easy being part of the most gifted and popular soccer team in the world this side of Brazil. You have to deal with ungodly amounts of money, fame and attention.
England is the richest team in the world in terms of sponsorship dollars, topping $90 million a year. Individually, of the 20 highest-paid soccer players in the world, eight are English.
Meanwhile, the other team that found itself in the spotlight on this night, Trinidad and Tobago, had players ride bicycles to practice on the day before Tuesday's make-or-break matches.
The rack of bikes in front of the team hotel made it easier to get to the fields.
The "Trin-bagian" team stayed in a city hotel provided by soccer's international governing body, but had to check out by Tuesday afternoon, just in case it did not move past the group stage. Wives and girlfriends were on their own.
So there were the Trinidad and Tobago players on the most important day of their soccer lives, lugging luggage onto buses, cramming sacks full of cheap souvenirs most could not afford into racks on a bus.
The majority of "Soca Warriors" players are not exactly soccer royalty, although many have played in England. For the most part, they piddle around on second- and third-division English teams, some rooming together, wiring money home whenever possible.
One goal accomplished
In Trinidad, there is much social unrest, with workers striking, violence, drug wars and shantytowns cropping up as a result of vast poverty.
So there were the contrasting pictures.
Rich, poor. Spotlight, shadows. England, Trinidad and Tobago.
Yet they shared a dream and until the final whistle blew Tuesday night, if you had not read the headlines you would not have known which was which. Pedigree didn't matter.
Such is this game and why billions watch.
Nothing illustrated how soccer more than any other sport can be the great equalizer more than these teams on opposite sides of the spectrum chasing the same thing on the same night.
England had clinched a move onward to the round of 16, but desperately wanted to avoid having to play host Germany, which beat Ecuador earlier in the day. The English needed a draw at worst against Sweden.
Trinidad and Tobago had become the unlikely darlings of the Cup, playing to a draw with powerful Sweden in the opener, yet needing a win over Paraguay on Tuesday to move on.
The scene here in Cologne was expectedly impressive for the powerful English, the majority of 41,000 fans waving the red and white cross of St. George, singing Three Lions and chanting familiar cheers. Outside, another estimated 15,000 English fans watched in plazas, where a pair of 60-foot high TV screens beamed the game.
On the streets of Cologne, fans gleefully handed over up to $1,000 a ticket for the chance to watch the beloved lads.
But in Trinidad, the face value price of a single ticket would equal a week's wages for the average worker.
Still, they played — equal footing if ever there was some. The Trinidadians represented the smallest country to qualify for the World Cup finals. The English represented soccer royalty.
The English popped in a go-ahead goal once, then twice, only to be matched by the Swedes each time. A tie was good enough. The WAGS surely would dance on tables again, no doubt.
From humble beginnings
The Soca Warriors pressed forward, dreaming of some kind of miracle, only to have an own-goal on an unfortunate header trying to clear a ball.
The Warriors lost, the English move on. One goes home proud to have played, the other got the easier draw and just might well be the World Cup champions.
This is why this game captivates so many. Everyone can dream big. For 90 minutes, it doesn't matter how much you're worth or what your girlfriend charges to the platinum card.
Ronaldinho, Brazil's magnificent scorer, has a market value that ranks only behind Tiger Woods, LeBron James and England's David Beckham. He learned how to play the game kicking around balled-up plastic bags wrapped with tape. He did not get his first real soccer ball until he was 9 — four years after he started playing on neighborhood teams.
Trinidad and Tobago's Dwight Yorke was discovered on the streets of Port of Spain, playing "close-in" soccer between makeshift goals made of cardboard boxes from a shipping yard. He made it all the way to the English Premiership, and hung on this year despite fading talents because this was the World Cup.
For one night, everything was equal. That's why it's the world's game.
john.lopez@chron.com
