Dutchman Leo Beenhakker is widely credited with turning around the fortunes of the Trinidad and Tobago national team to the point where they have qualified for a play-off against Bahrain, with the winners qualifying for the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
But while Beenhakker and the T&T Warriors have come in for praise, there are also people working in the background in the national interest who the fans seldom ever see.
Some have contributed for years in obscurity, never being involved in either the praise or criticism levelled at the team. But they too have been doing their job, daily and diligently.
Among them are Iken Williams, an equipment manager who has worked with several national squads, and trainer/physiotherapist Wayne Lawson, who seems to have been around forever.
There's also Dr Terrence Babwah, who looks after the health of the team and is called to quickly mend minor medical ailments and to conduct fitness tests on players. He also gives coach Beenhakker the final word if a player is unable to make the line-up due to injury.
And Zephrinus Nicholas is a young physical training instructor from the Defence Force who keeps the Warriors fit, while Michael "Brow" Maurice, an outstanding former national goalkeeper, now passes on his experience to current keepers Shaka Hislop, Kelvin Jack and Clayton Ince.
Back in 1989, "Brow" was the man between the uprights for the T&T "Strike Squad", who failed by a single point to qualify for the 1990 World Cup in Italy.
Also among the backroom staff are Dutch assistant coaches Whim Rijsbergen and Theo De Jong, who implement coach Beenhakker's instructions on the training pitch.
Both are former national players with Holland and have tasted World Cup football themselves. They put Beenhakker's plan into practice, Rijsbergen sometimes dealing with the defence and De Jong with the attack.
Last, but not least, is the management team comprising manager Bruce Aanensen and assistant managers George Joseph and Joseph "Sam" Phillip, who make sure that the coaches, players and technical staff are happy.
Sam Phillip is a former Defence Force sergeant who was manager of Super League champions Joe Public before joining the national team. He travels with the Warriors making sure all goes well.
Joseph is the point man and leaves home long before the team to book hotel rooms and make sure that training facilities are in place for overseas trips.
Manager Aanesen's work is ensuring everyone does their job and making sure that everything is in place for the players and the coaches.
All these people operate behind the scenes to make sure that all goes well as the T&T Warriors attempt to reach their first World Cup.
Here we get to know a few of them:
Almost all of Trinidad and Tobago's professional footballers playing in Europe and the United States have passed through Wayne Lawson's hands at some time or the other.
He is almost a father figure to them, the one they entrust with keeping their money and jewelry when playing and the one they often seek advice from as well.
Lawson, acting warrant officer with the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force, is the acting Physical Training Officer in the Army's PTI unit.
He is also a trainer and physiotherapist with the Trinidad and Tobago Warriors and has also served with all of T&T's national football teams over the past 15 years, including the senior, women, under-20 and under-14 squads.
Lawson's service is one of love.
"Our time with the national team comes under 'National Duty' with the Defence Force. We are not paid anything other than our regular Army wages," he told Sport Express.
When a national team requires Lawson to serve, they write the Army's commander in chief and he is seconded to the team to do "National Duty".
Lawson is a perennial favourite, along with David Cumberbatch.
And because he works with so many national teams from time to time, Lawson is now also assisted by his young protégé, Zephrinus Nicholas, who he trained in the Defence Force and also recommended to the national team.
"I am technically one of the longest-serving members of staff on the national football team. I have seen many of these players grow up and all of them have done their physical assessment through me before going off on contract. I think I have done a good job."
Lawson feels that players and coaches alike are comfortable with him because they know he has amassed experience both as a player and a trainer at the highest level.
He is a former national under-19 footballer and was also a member of the 1978 senior T&T national team.
Lawson also played club football for then superpower Defence Force for 15 years, starting in 1978, and was a member of the team that won the 1985 CONCACAF Club Championship and also almost went on to the final of the World Club Championship.
He says his experience has been a steadying influence for many concerned with national teams over the years.
"When one travels with a national team, you will know if someone is inexperienced. Often, national coaches seek my advice on things such as altitude in places such as Mexico and South Africa. I would advise them to go a certain way and they take my advice under consideration.
"They know I have played at that level and have also had the experience with the team."
Lawson said his expertise is also called upon in making out diet sheets for the players at hotels, especially in Central American countries, "where the food can be hell to digest".
One of the areas Lawson has excelled in over the years is judging the performance of T&T teams based on the "vibe" or the mood in camp and what is happening on the field.
And he has never been more confident that a team will qualify for the World Cup than he is with the current national squad.
"Honestly speaking, I am confident because of my experiences over the years. When I look and see the example that Dwight Yorke and Russell Latapy are setting it amazes me. The younger players look up to them.
"In the past, I could tell if a team would draw or lose. I have a strong feeling this team will win. You can see it on the field in training. In Panama, I was almost scared by the intensity in the training camp. In the hotel, too, you would sense something. I think we are going to the World Cup," he stated.
But one thing Lawson is asking the people of Trinidad and Tobago to do is to leave the players alone at their hotel in the build-up to the Bahrain game this week.
He said people constantly harass the players with telephone calls begging for things such as tickets.
That, he believes, cannot be good for the players at this crucial stage.
IF members of the support staff were to have been awarded caps each time they were with the national team, then equipment manager Iken Williams would have been the most capped person on the Trinidad and Tobago squad beside veteran players Dwight Yorke and Russell Latapy.
Williams has been aboard since 1989 when the T&T Strike Squad got to within a point of going to the 1990 World Cup.
Back then, current captain Yorke was a teenager; Latapy, now 37 years old, was a young midfielder; and current goalkeeper coach Michael "Brow" Maurice was the starting custodian.
A Government Printery worker for 41 years, Williams was a Malvern player when a former "Printery" colleague asked him to help out with a national team.
Philmore Augustus was chief liaison officer with one of T&T's youth teams and asked Williams to assist and he agreed.
Then, in 1989, Neville Ferguson, equipment manager of the national football team, needed help and asked Williams for assistance.
Since then, Ferguson has moved on to better things and Williams has been equipment manager with several national teams.
And he has seen the likes of Alvin Corneal, Everald "Gally" Cummings, Muhammed Isa, Edgar Vidale, Kenny Joseph, Ian Porterfield, Jochen Figge, Zoran Vranes, Rene Simoes, and Bertille St Clair come and go from the coaches' bench.
Williams feels he has become a favourite because of his unassuming manner, punctuality and efficiency.
"I have a problem with no national team. I just do my work and that is it. I am very punctual and I make sure that no one can say I forget to bring some equipment or anything like that."
Married and living at Panka Street, St James, Williams said being with the national team has been rewarding in many ways.
With his wife, he has been able to see France, England and the Caribbean by his own means.
But, he does not know if he would have had the chance to visit places such as Central America, South Africa, Saudi Arabia and now Bahrain without being attached to the Trinidad and Tobago national team.
Like trainer Wayne Lawson, Williams also has a strong conviction that this national team will qualify for the World Cup, so next year, he should be in Germany to add to his list of countries visited.
George Joseph is a help to all on the Trinidad and Tobago football team. Joseph is the point man for the national squad and long before the players and coaches leave for an overseas assignment, he is on a plane making sure that arrangements are in place to make the team's stay as comfortable as possible.
Already, he has been to Bahrain with FIFA-vice-president and Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (T&TFF) special adviser Jack Warner to make arrangements for T&T's second leg play-off qualifier against Bahrain.
And today (Thursday November 10), Joseph leaves for Bahrain to make sure that initial arrangements are firmly in place for when the team gets there after Saturday's first leg game at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Port of Spain.
"It has been a lot of travelling. It has been tiring at times, but I have accepted the assignment and I do it the best that I can," said Joseph.
His commitment to the national team means that he sometimes misses out on some of the "treats", such as seeing the first leg play-off with Bahrain here in Trinidad.
Some do not know Joseph, but he has been around for some time. A former player with the Defence Force, from 1964 -1975, Joseph also coached the Army team from 1976-1979.
He was also once an assistant coach of the Trinidad and Tobago senior national football team, in 1997, under Bertille St Clair.
Since those days, Joseph has moved into administration and was manager of the 1999 Under-21 Pan Am Games team.
He feels that his stint as a coach and a manager serves him well in his current position with the national team.
"I have been a pretty successful coach at club level in the National League and I have also had the administrative experience, so that now in a way I see things from both sides."
He said his administrative role with the T&T team is reward in itself and he takes pride in making sure that training schedules, food and hotel arrangements are firmly put in place.
"When the players on the national team come into the hotel, they just have to go to their rooms. I make sure of that. Normally, a team can spend hours in a hotel lobby. If you have travelled on a long 16-hour flight, that can be most difficult to have to wait to get a room."
But that won't happen to the Warriors once George Joseph is there to help.