The national team competes in the World Cup, Gold Cup, and the Nations League, as well as other competitions by invitation. The Soca Warriors' lone appearance at the FIFA World Cup came in 2006, after the team defeated Bahrain 2–1 on aggregate in the CONCACAF–AFCintercontinental play-off. The team has qualified for the CONCACAF Gold Cup on 18 occasions with their best performance in 2000, after reaching the semi-finals, finishing third. However, the national team did experience great success at the defunct Caribbean Cup, having won the sub-continental competition ten times and runners-up on seven occasions.
The separate Trinidad and Tobago national football teams are not related to the national team and are not directly affiliated with the game's governing bodies of FIFA or CONCACAF, but are affiliated with the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association.
Historyedit
1970sedit
At the 1973 CONCACAF Championship, Trinidad and Tobago fell two points short of qualifying for the 1974 World Cup in controversial fashion. Trinidad and Tobago lost a crucial game on 4 December 1973 against hosts Haiti 2–1 after being denied five goals. The referee, José Roberto Henríquez of El Salvador, and Canadian linesman James Higuet were subsequently banned for life by FIFA for the dubious events of the match.[4][5][6]
1980s to 1990s: The Strike Squadedit
Trinidad and Tobago came within one game of qualifying for the 1990 World Cup in Italy. Nicknamed the "Strike Squad" during the qualifying campaign, Trinidad and Tobago needed only a draw to qualify in their final game played at home against the United States on 19 November 1989. In front of an over-capacity crowd of more than 30,000 at the National Stadium on "Red Day",[7]Paul Caligiuri of the United States scored the only goal of the game in the 38th minute dashing Trinidad and Tobago's qualification hopes.[8] For the good behaviour of the crowd at the stadium, despite the devastating loss and overcrowded stands, the spectators of Trinidad and Tobago were awarded the FIFA Fair Play Award in 1989.[9]
2000sedit
2006 FIFA World Cupedit
Trinidad and Tobago qualified for the 2006 World Cup in Germany, its first-ever qualification for the tournament. During their qualifying campaign, they sat at the bottom of the table in the final round of qualifying with one point from three. However, after the arrival of Leo Beenhakker as team coach and the recalling of veteran players Dwight Yorke and Russell Latapy, Trinidad and Tobago reversed its fortunes and placed fourth in the group. They qualified via a play-off against Bahrain, recovering from a 1–1 draw at home to win 1–0 in Manama, Bahrain to book a place in the finals. As a result, Trinidad and Tobago became the smallest country to qualify for the FIFA World Cup, a record they held until Iceland reached their first World Cup in 2018.
In Germany, Trinidad and Tobago were grouped with England, Sweden and Paraguay in Group B.They played their initial game, drawing 0–0 against Sweden, even though they were reduced to ten men early in the second half. They faced losses in their remaining matches against England and Paraguay, each by a 2–0 margin.
Trinidad and Tobago began their campaign in the second round against Bermuda. Trinidad and Tobago lost the first match 2–1 at home, but bounced back to win the away leg 2–0 to progress to the third round 3–2 on aggregate. The Soca Warriors entered Group 1 alongside the United States, Guatemala, and Cuba. They then progressed to the Hexagonal round, finishing second in the group with eleven points from six games. There they faced Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico and the United States. The group began badly for Trinidad and Tobago as they drew 2–2 with El Salvador after leading 2–0, and then drew 1–1 with Honduras. Three consecutive losses, to the United States, Costa Rica and Mexico, put the Soca Warriors in last place with two points from five matches. After defeating El Salvador 1–0, they suffered further losses to Honduras and the United States the following month, ending their hopes of qualifying, and they eventually finished bottom of the group.
2014 World Cup Cycleedit
Trinidad and Tobago entered qualification for the 2014 World Cup in the second round as a seeded team, with Guyana, Bermuda and Barbados also drawn in Group B. The Soca Warriors defeated Bermuda (1–0) and Barbados (2–0) in their first two matches. However, on 7 October 2011, they lost away to Bermuda in Devonshire Parish 2–1.[10] The team recovered four days later by defeating Barbados 4–0 in the Hasely Crawford Stadium with a hat-trick from Lester Peltier.[11] Entering the final two matches in the Second Round, Trinidad and Tobago were in second place, behind Guyana by one point. As only the group winners would advance to the third round, the Soca Warriors needed to take four points in the two matches against Guyana to advance. Trinidad and Tobago first traveled to Providence, Guyana to face the Golden Jaguars on 11 November 2011. With an early goal from Ricky Shakes and another from Leon Cort in the 81st minute, Trinidad and Tobago trailed 2–0 and faced elimination. Kenwyne Jones pull a goal back in the 93rd minute, but the match ended 2–1 to Guyana.[12] On 12 January 2012, Otto Pfister was sacked after the country's earliest exit from World Cup qualification since 1994.[13]
2018 World Cup Cycleedit
Trinidad and Tobago entered qualification for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in the fourth round and were drawn into Group C with Guatemala, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and the United States. The team finished second in the group with 11 points to qualify for the Hexagonal. However, they finished in sixth place in the final round with only six points, even though they eliminated the United States from World Cup contention with a 2–1 victory in the final match.
Team imageedit
Home stadiumedit
For the first eighty years of their existence, Trinidad and Tobago played their home matches all around the country with Queen's Park Oval, generally thought of as the most picturesque and largest of the old cricket grounds in the West Indies, as the most often used venue.[14] The cricket ground served as the country's largest stadium until the new National Stadium was built in Mucurapo, Port of Spain, to host the nation's athletics competitions and international football matches.
The stadium later was renovated and renamed after Hasely Crawford, the first person from Trinidad and Tobago to win an Olympicgold medal, prior to Trinidad and Tobago hosting the 2001 FIFA U-17 World Championship. The stadium currently has a seating capacity of 23,000 and is owned by the Trinidad and Tobagogovernment and managed through the Ministry of Sport via its special purpose state agency called SporTT.[15]
In recent years, the TTFA have hosted matches at the smaller 10,000 seat Ato Boldon Stadium in Couva, citing a problem with the lighting system at Hasely Crawford Stadium, lower expenses for matches at Ato Boldon, and fans being seated closer to the pitch.[16] Trinidad and Tobago hosted two games during "The Hex" in late 2017. They lost to Honduras 1–2 on 1 September 2017. On 10 October 2017, Trinidad and Tobago defeated the United States 2–1, causing the United States to fail to qualify for the World Cup for the first time since 1986. Ato Boldon Stadium has since hosted friendlies against Grenada, Guyana, and Panama.
The group's activities include promoting teams locally and globally, lobbying the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association as representatives of football fans, advocating fair pricing and allocation of event tickets, organising travel for fans to home and away matches, providing a family-oriented fans' organisation, and promoting football among the young people of Trinidad and Tobago.
Results and fixturesedit
The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.
Trinidad and Tobago first appeared at the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The Soca Warriors finished bottom of the group with one point from the team's three matches. Even though the team did not advance in the competition, Trinidad and Tobago recorded its first point from the FIFA World Cup after a 0–0 draw to Sweden in its first match.
Trinidad and Tobago failed to qualify for the FIFA World Cup between 1966 and 2002, then again from 2010 to 2022.
^"The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking". FIFA. 15 February 2024. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
^"Trinidad and Tobago – List of International Matches". Archived from the original on 2 December 2022. Retrieved 2 February 2023.
^Elo rankings change compared to one year ago. "World Football Elo Ratings". eloratings.net. 27 March 2024. Retrieved 27 March 2024.
^Trinidad and Tobago's Soca Warriors set to give them all in Germany Archived 19 September 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Guardian UK. Accessed June 23, 2008.
^Football: Carnival time and the Trinis are up for the party, The Independent. Accessed June 23, 2008.
^Trinidad Express – Haitian robbery: Trinidad and Tobago cheated W/Cup spot Archived 10 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Socawarriors.net. Accessed June 23, 2008.
^Red-Day, Nov, 19, 1989 Archived 14 February 2019 at the Wayback Machine, YouTube.com. Accessed: June 23, 2008.
^Pulse: Thank You Trinidad and Tobago Warriors Archived 17 November 2007 at the Wayback Machine, Trinidad Guardian. Accessed June 23, 2008.
^FIFA Fair Play Awards Archived 1 April 2009 at the Wayback Machine, FIFA.com. Accessed June 23, 2008.
^"2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™ – Matches – Bermuda-Trinidad and Tobago – FIFA.com". FIFA.com. Archived from the original on 21 November 2011.
^"2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™". FIFA.com. Archived from the original on 9 July 2014.
^"2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™". FIFA.com. Archived from the original on 28 November 2011.
^Inshan Mohammed. "Corneal appointed TTFF Technical Director, Otto Pfister axed". socawarriors.net. Archived from the original on 12 February 2012. Retrieved 3 June 2012.
^"Queen's Park Oval". Cricinfo Staff. 13 March 2007. Archived from the original on 4 February 2010. Retrieved 3 August 2009.
^"Hasely Crawford Stadium". Archived from the original on 23 March 2016. Retrieved 31 March 2016.
^"U.S.'s World Cup qualifier in Trinidad set for 10,000-seat stadium". ESPN. 15 September 2017. Archived from the original on 4 October 2018. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
^"𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙨 𝙤𝙪𝙧 23-𝙈𝙖𝙣 𝙍𝙤𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘾𝙤𝙥𝙖 𝘼𝙢𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙘𝙖 𝙋𝙡𝙖𝙮-𝙄𝙣 𝙌𝙪𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙞𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙩 𝘾𝙖𝙣𝙖𝙙𝙖 𝙤𝙣 𝙈𝙖𝙧𝙘𝙝 23𝙧𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙁𝙧𝙞𝙨𝙘𝙤". Trinidad and Tobago Football Association. 14 March 2024. Retrieved 14 March 2024.
^"Trinidad and Tobago – Record International Players". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 5 September 2015. Retrieved 15 October 2017.
^"Cuba 1 Trinidad & Tobago 0". Soccerway. 16 December 2012. Archived from the original on 16 February 2013. Retrieved 17 December 2012.
^"Trinidad & Tobago in the FIFA World Ranking". Archived from the original on 4 August 2021. Retrieved 23 December 2021.
External linksedit
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Trinidad and Tobago national football team.