Sunderland braced for calypso coup.
By: Lasana Liburd (Express).[/size]
First, Sunderland enticed Trinidad and Tobago national football captain and legend Dwight Yorke while, within months, Carlos Edwards and Stern John joined their compatriot in North-East England. This afternoon, it might seem as though the rest of Trinidad and Tobago has also united with the "Black Cats" as the England Championship Division club is set for a colourful invasion from the Caribbean island.
Sunderland, who is in third spot and chasing promotion to the English Premier League, expects at least 200 Trinidad and Tobago supporters at its Stadium of Lights venue this afternoon for kick off against Wolverhampton.
John, who swapped Coventry for Sunderland in January, is looking forward to a more familiar atmosphere today.
"They told us they would be allowed to bring in steel bands and drums and so on which should be nice," John told the Express.
"It should give the north-east some of the Caribbean flavour and it will be exciting. The most important thing is getting three points but it is definitely an added bonus."
The Trinidad and Tobago contingent includes London-based steelband, the Ebony Steel Orchestra, and the Poison UK girls while Ashton Forde, Information Attaché for the UK-based High Commission, should make presentations to the players as well as Sunderland officials including manager Roy Keane and chairman Niall Quinn.
The Easter trip is the brain child of a London-based football fan who goes by the alias, "Redtrinigirl", on the socawarriors.net website.
"I just wanted to visit the Stadium of Lights before the season was over and I thought it would be a great chance to show the boys some support," said Redtrinigirl, "and that we haven't forgotten about them after the World Cup.
"It just snowballed into this great lime and, if you are going over 300 miles, you might as well make a day out of it."
A Sunderland win today could move the ex-Premiership team to second spot and within touching distance of automatic promotion back to the English top flight.
