T&T rally to reach play-off.
By: FIFAworldcup.com.[/size]
Trinidad's 2-1 come-from-behind win over Mexico on the final day of qualifying in Port of Spain saw them edge chasers Guatemala, who also won at home, to grab a spot in the decisive play-off with Bahrain.
Despite some decidedly turbulent ups and downs in the final round of North, Central American and Caribbean qualifying, the Soca Warriors' wildly impressive performance against an admittedly under-strength Mexico brought them to 13 points and fourth-place in the final six-team group.
In the same Hasely Crawford Stadium where they lost out on a trip to Italy 1990 on the final day of qualifying back in 1989, the home side were determined not to let this chance – their best since that fateful day – slip away.
An outrageous left-footed chip by Jaime Lozano over the head of goalkeeper Kelvin Jack in minute 38 looked to have put paid to the islanders' best hopes. But three minutes before the interval, an equaliser from Stern John, who was doing his very best to atone for an earlier penalty miss, brought the dismayed all-red crowd back to life.
Knowing a win would nullify anything Guatemala could do against Costa Rica, John sealed the night, and his hero status, with a vicious blast to the top corner just after the hour mark. As he made no mistake from a genius bit of play from inspirational 37-year-old veteran Russell Latapy, the ecstatic crowd forgave John's earlier transgression as they danced and sang to the final whistle. In the dying minutes of the game, T&T could have made it 3-1, when sub Densill Theobald a replacement for Aurtis Whitley found Marvin Andrews in the back and after surging through the middle tried a weak right-footed drive which found Stern John but his back heeled shot was cleared off the line by the Mexicans.
The Caribbean side will now play-off with fifth-place Asian finisher Bahrain, who earlier in the day, pulled off a 0-0 draw at home against Uzbekistan to see them through. The first leg will be played in Port of Spain on 12 November and the second four days later in Bahrain.
Led by wily old Dutch tactician Leo Beenhakker, T&T will be hoping to become only the second English speaking Caribbean nation in history to reach a FIFA World Cup finals, after Jamaica made their debut at France 1998.
"The manner in which we fought during the whole game to turn around the result was amazing," Beenhakker told the Mexican radio station Estadio W on Thursday.
"It was an historic win which has left the doors open for this country to go to the World Cup." Beenhakker, 63, who coached his native Netherlands at the 1990 World Cup finals, added: "Time doesn't forgive and I'm more or less at the end of my sporting career. "This could be a fantastic finale for me to take part at another World Cup."
Guatemalan tears for souvenirs.One man's joy is another man's pain, as they say. After a brilliant chip from Elmer Ponciano opened the scoring in only the second minute against Costa Rica, it seemed it was to be the Guatemalans who would be celebrating through the night. But two more from Freddy Garcia and Carlos Ruiz and an emphatic 3-1 win at home were not enough to edge out the Trinidadians as the Chapines finished the campaign with only tears for souvenirs and 13 points - three shy of the islanders.
Confident USA claim top spot.In the section's other game, Bruce Arena decided to give a second chance to the talented youngsters brushed aside 3-0 by Costa Rica at the weekend and the gamble paid off. The second string repaid his faith with a solid 2-0 victory over bottom-placed Panama, who also rested several first-choice players. Goals early in the second half from Kyle Martino and Taylor Twellman proved enough for the Stars and Stripes to claim top spot in the qualification group for the first time in their history.
Teams:T&T Line-Up:Kelvin Jack (Shaka Hislop 46th), Cyd Gray, Marvin Andrews, Dennis Lawrence, Avery John, Carlos Edwards, Christopher Birchall, Dwight Yorke (capt), Aurtis Whitley (Densill Theobald 80th), Russell Latapy, Stern John.
Mexico Line-Up:Jose Corona, Francisco Rodriguez, Joel Huiqui (Mario Medina 67th), Israel Lopez (capt), Oscar Rojas, Hugo Guerrero, Luis Perez (Alberto Medina 46th), Guillermo Franco (Juan Rodríguez 74th), Francisco Fonseca, Carlos Morales, Jaime Lozano.
Touches and Andre Samuel reporting.Up-Close with Andre Samuel.Up-Close with Touches.
Beenhakker: We deserved the victory.
By: Kern De Freitas (Express).[/size]
Trinidad and Tobago national football coach Leo Beenhakker has expressed satisfaction with the "Warriors" performance in their 2-1 triumph over Mexico in their final round CONCACAF World Cup qualifier at the Hasely Crawford Stadium on Wednesday night.
The victory puts T&T in fourth spot in the CONCACAF qualifying standings and the national team now face a home and away playoff next month with the fifth-place Asian Zone country, Bahrain, for a berth at the 2006 World Cup.
And although the Dutchman remained typically composed following his team's latest win against the top CONCACAF team, Beenhakker was notably much happier with the Warriors' performance on the night.
"You also saw the game, no?" Beenhakker told the media following the match. "I think everyone can be happy with it. We played against one of the best teams of the world. And they still are. And I think it was in our possibilities. We played a great match, especially first half. First half hour we didn't give a chance to them. And we had the whole match in our hands.
"It was a difficult moment when Stern (John) missed the penalty, but after that the team again played with a lot of courage, and I think at the end we beat a great team, a great opponent, and we deserved the victory."
The T&T coach also revealed that now that this part of the journey is over, he and the rest of his staff already have their sights set on Bahrain.
"What can I say? I know we have two more games to play," Beenhakker said. "Yeah, well, first I think we have the right to be happy about this victory and we know that Bahrain is our next opponent, and from tomorrow morning we will start thinking about it.
"At least we have one of the coaches over there from Holland," the T&T coach continued, "and he saw both matches, so in that way we are very well prepared. We know who Bahrain is and we know who the players are. We will get information about all that, so from tomorrow we will start thinking about it.
"We have a few weeks and, as you know, everybody will go to his club tomorrow morning and I will see the guys again four days before the next match. So that's the situation we are in."
T&T captain Dwight Yorke was also elated with the victory, but although he felt the public should celebrate, he warned that the team still has some way to go to qualify.
"There's no question that this was a fantastic result for us," the Sydney FC striker remarked. "We set out pretty much to score an early goal, and again this is a fantastic result and everyone should be happy because we know that the job is not complete yet.
"We put ourselves in a fantastic position," Yorke added, "and by completing the job tonight, we have a couple of games ahead of us and again I keep saying let's not get ahead of our time. But we should enjoy the occasion which is a special occasion for everybody."
T&T striker Stern John, who scored both goals to lift the Warriors to victory, acknowledged he has now surpassed Steve David's World Cup qualifying goalscoring record (16 goals) for the national team with 18, but said the most important goal right now is qualifying.
"It's always good to score goals," John added. "I did not really set out to break his record, it's just good to score today and get the victory for the team. I think along the way if I break records and stuff it's an added bonus, but the main thing is to qualify for the World Cup.
"That's just a notch under my belt, but that's not really the important thing right now. That's a personal thing, but football is a team game. And I'm very happy for the victory today."
And Yorke had a message for all the fans who supported the Warriors on Wednesday.
"The message from me and the message from the players is that 'keep the faith'. We're headed in the right direction, but again let's not get ahead of ourselves. We know that there's two games remaining. Tonight is a fantastic result and quite rightly so.
"Everybody should enjoy it and enjoy the occasion, but then back to the drawing board in less than a month's time, and then see where we go from there," Yorke concluded.
Worldwide congratulations pour in for ‘Warriors’
By: Shaun Fuentes.[/size]
In the aftermath of this country’s resounding 2-1 victory over CONCACAF giants Mexico on Wednesday to book a spot in the playoffs for qualification to Germany 2006, several international organizations and media companies have been offering congratulatory messages to the team, the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation and Special Advisor Jack Warner.
T&T’s win was highlighted throughout the United Kingdom and even as far as Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, parts of United States and of course Bahrain and even Guatemala. There was also an outpour of messages from local organizations, banks and other companies as well as T&T organizations in North America and the UK.
Head of International Relations for the English FA, Jane Bateman wrote to Warner: “Just a short note to congratulate you and the Trinidad & Tobago national team for reaching the play-offs for the FIFA World Cup in Germany 2006! Having had such a close involvement with the earlier preparations and, of course, through our work with you, we keep a very close eye on the team's progress. We in England are fortunate to have reached the end - thank goodness! - of our qualifying campaign and do hope that we will be seeing you and your team in Germany next year.”
At least three Jamaican Radio Stations had been praising the T&T team during call in talk shows before and after the win and Captain Horace Burrell publicly spoke of how thrilling the experience on Wednesday night was, comparing it to that of 1998 qualifiers when Jamaica made it to France. The Irish National Radio Station also had TTFF Media as guests on their Thursday live talk show saying that they were looking forward to supporting T&T in Germany since their team did not make it to the Finals.
Even President of the Costa Rican Federation, Vargas Hermes sent Warner an email message which read “Dear President and friend Congratulations. I know the meaning of this for you and I am sure you will accomplish the goal as anything you have taken as a goal in your life.”
CONCACAF General Secretary Chuck Blazer said he was on the edge of his seat. “I thought it was going to be a nightmare when Stern John had missed the penalty and Guatemala was up 3-0. But, the night turned out the right way. Enjoy the moment and lets get ready for the Bahrainians,” Blazer stated.
Antiguan official Chet Greene was in the stadium as an official witnessing Guatemala’s win over Costa Rica.
”You can imagine just how happy I am tonight, congratulations. After Guatemala scored their three goals and the news was reported in the stadium that you were one goal down to Mexico, my heart sank. I was relieved somewhat when it as announced that the scores were level and totally ecstatic when it was reported that you had scored a second goal. From that point onwards, the game (in Guatemala) had little significance to the local fans as they continued to follow the Trinidad match. It was a sad scene after the game for them," Greene recalled.
FIFAworldcup.com did not hold back from letting the viewers from around the world know what the “Warriors” achieved on Wednesday.
“Trinidad and Tobago waited until the bitter end to show their class and book a historic spot in the Germany 2006 play-off with Asian upstarts Bahrain. Just one step from the glory of a debut appearance at a FIFA World Cup™ finals and becoming only the second English speaking Caribbean side to do so since Jamaica in 1998, the islanders can take heart from the fact that they saved the best for last at the tail-end of their qualifying campaign,” the site stated.
Barriers not stopping Bahrain.
PA Sport News.[/size]
Bahrain's hopes of a first-ever World Cup appearance remain alive, and as a result Luka Peruzovic continues to look for ways to overcome the barriers that lie in his team's path to Germany 2006.
After overcoming Uzbekistan on Wednesday evening - a 0-0 draw at home saw Bahrain go through on the away goals rule after a 1-1 tie in Tashkent four days earlier - Peruzovic's team will now meet Trinidad & Tobago in a final eliminator for a spot in next year's finals.
Despite making it so far in the quest to secure an unprecedented fifth place in the finals for Asia, the Croatia-born Belgian is now presented with a new set of problems ahead of a game that will see both teams traverse the globe in the space of just four days next month.
Trinidad & Tobago will host the first leg on November 12 with the second leg in Manama on November 16 while Peruzovic will also battle to secure the release of his players, the majority of whom play professionally in Qatar and Kuwait.
"It will be difficult because there is an eight-hour time difference between Bahrain and Trinidad, but we have no choice, we must accept this situation and try to do our best," Peruzovic told PA Sport.
"I don't know yet how we are going to prepare, but we have to make a good plan and stick to it."
"Also, it is Ramadan here and the players have to respect that. Plus we have nine players who have already gone back to their clubs in Qatar and they have three competitive league games before we face Trinidad and anything can happen there."
"I don't know if I can have the players before and maybe the Bahrain and Qatar federations can make some kind of agreement to give us the players at the beginning of November."
Bahrain's progress to the next phase of qualifying was achieved after a false start against Uzbekistan in September, when FIFA ordered the first leg of their eliminator to be replayed after a refereeing error prompted the Uzbeks to make an official complaint to the game's governing body.
With Uzbekistan having won the annulled first leg 1-0, the move represented a spectacular mistake on the part of the Central Asian nation's federation while giving Peruzovic and his team more time to acquire an edge to their play that was missing one month ago.
It clearly paid off and Bahrain are now on the verge of capping their rapid rise to the upper echelons of Asian football with an appearance in Germany next summer.
"I knew before the match that it would be tough because Uzbekistan have good players and, secondly, for them it was important to score a goal," said Peruzovic. "I told them the match would be difficult and it was."
"We made it a little bit more difficult for ourselves because from the beginning we had chances to score and we didn't take them, so in the last 15 minutes we were in a difficult position. But the players worked hard and in the end everybody was happy."
"I think we deserved it over the two matches because we played more realistic football and it was very important to score in Tashkent. It was very, very important. I knew a goal would make the difference."
Best Mover in 2003: Bahrain.
