TT record snapped as Iceland qualify

JOEL BAILEY

TRINIDAD AND Tobago qualified for their first, and only FIFA World Cup, on November 16 2005 when defender (now coach) Dennis Lawrence headed captain Dwight Yorke’s corner into the back of the net in the 49th minute to give the then “Soca Warriors” a 1-0 win over Bahrain, in Manana, for a 2-1 aggregate score, in the qualifying playoff.

That victory saw Trinidad and Tobago – at the time with 1.2 million persons, become the smallest nation, in terms of population, to book a spot in the World Cup when they advanced to the 2006 edition in Germany.

But that feat ended on Monday when Iceland defeated Kosovo 2-0 to finish top of Group I, in the European qualifying zone, to book a ticket to the 2018 competition in Russia.

Stern John, now assistant coach of the TT squad, was a key member of the national team who featured in Germany.

According to John, “It was a major feeling, coming up as a young lad in Trinidad. I think your dream is to play professional football and, one day, play for your country in the World Cup. For a small country like Trinidad (and Tobago), it was amazing. I think the guys really enjoyed it. We need something like that again. Unfortunately we have to wait another four years.”

Asked if he, or his teammates, were aware of what they were about to achieve at the time, John replied, “We (were) aware but we didn’t realise how massive it was. It was a historical moment for Trinidad and Tobago.”

Iceland, with 335,000 occupants, will become the first World Cup participants with a population of less than a million.

Before Trinidad and Tobago’s accomplishment, Northern Ireland (1.39 million) held the record for the least populous country to have qualified for the World Cup, when they sealed a place in the 1958 competition in Sweden.

To their credit, Northern Ireland still hold the record as the least populous country to have qualified for more than one World Cup, to have won a World Cup match, to have scored at a World Cup and to have advanced beyond the first round of a World Cup.