Trinidadians celebrate tie as a victory
Associated Press
Port-Of-Spain, Trinidad — Some burst into tears, others danced to the thump-thump of Muslim drummers, and still others just got out of their car and hugged total strangers. After Trinidad and Tobago tied with Sweden in its World Cup debut, the country stopped to celebrate a draw as a victory.
"We just won the World Cup," screamed a middle-aged Trinidadian man as he ran out of one of the many bars, known as rum shops, in Port-of-Spain.
All the bars in the heavily East Indian district of St. James were overflowing with Trinidadians decked out in the red-and-black T-shirts of the Soca Warriors. Bar owners set up massive plasma-screen televisions on the sidewalk for fans, and traffic all but halted.
One middle-aged man, referring to the red card that sent off Avery John in the 46th minute said, "If they can't beat us with 10 men, then they can't beat us at all!"
A few blocks away in Woodbrook, one of Port-of-Spain's oldest neighborhoods famous for its tin-roofed Victorian homes, fans gathered at a local cafe to watch their homegrown heroes face World Cup veteran Sweden.
Mariel Brown, a local TV producer said, "When they took the field we all just burst into tears, we couldn't believe that we were actually in the World Cup."
The 300 fans crammed into the cafe screamed at the television every time the announcer said Sweden would roll over the Soca Warriors, Brown said.
"He was just expecting the Swedes to clean the floor with us. We showed him," she said.
Trinidad and Tobago, the twin-island Caribbean nation with a population of 1.3 million, was the smallest country ever to reach the World Cup and needed to beat Bahrain in a playoff just to get here.
T&T's next game comes Thursday against England, the small country's former colonial ruler. Sweden will play Paraguay on Thursday in its second game in Group B. England beat Paraguay 1-0 earlier Saturday.
One older man, buoyant from the draw, said England better watch out.
"England just scraped past with one goal and by now they are afraid of us," he said.
