The FIFA World Cup, sometimes called the Football World Cup or the Soccer World Cup, but is normally referred to simply as the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the first tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946, due to World War II.
The tournament consists of two parts, the qualification phase and the final phase (officially called the World Cup Finals). The qualification phase, which currently take place over the three years preceding the Finals, is used to determine which teams qualify for the Finals. The current format of the Finals involves 32 teams competing for the title, at venues within the host nation (or nations) over a period of about a month. The World Cup Finals is the most widely viewed sporting event in the world, with an estimated 715.1 million people watching the 2006 tournament final.
Trinidad and Tobago have qualified for the final stages of the FIFA World Cup on one occasion, in 2006, when they qualified for the tournament in Germany, but were eliminated at the group stage.[1] Trinidad and Tobago became the smallest nation in terms of population to reach the finals of a World Cup tournament,[2] a feat previously held by Northern Ireland since their first World Cup appearance at the 1958 World Cup. This record was held until Iceland qualified for the first time in 2018.[3]
World Cup record
edit| FIFA World Cup record | ||||||||
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| Year | Round | Position | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA |
 1930
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Did not enter | |||||||
 1934
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 1938
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 1950
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 1954
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 1958
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 1962
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 1966
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Did not qualify | |||||||
 1970
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 1974
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 1978
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 1982
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| 1986
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 1990
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 1994
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| 1998
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  2002
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| 2006
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Group stage | 27th | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
 2010
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Did not qualify | |||||||
 2014
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 2018
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 2022
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 2026
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To be determined | |||||||
  2030
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 2034
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| Total | Group stage | 1/25 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
2006 FIFA World Cup
editQualification
editOn 12 October 2005, Trinidad and Tobago secured fourth place in the CONCACAF final qualification round, and therefore participated in a playoff with the fifth place Asian team Bahrain for a chance to enter the 2006 World Cup. After a 1–1 draw in Port of Spain, the team beat Bahrain 1–0, with a Dennis Lawrence header in Manama, to clinch their first ever qualification for the World Cup finals.
Squad
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Silvio Spann was originally in the squad, but had to drop-out after sustaining a hamstring injury in the run-up to the tournament. He was replaced by Evans Wise. Head coach of Trinidad and Tobago's 2006 World Cup squad was Leo Beenhakker.
Finals Matches
editTrinidad and Tobago were drawn in Group B along with England, Sweden and Paraguay.
In their first match, Trinidad and Tobago held a strong Swedish side to a 0–0 draw, despite having Avery John sent off less than 30 seconds into the second half. Team captain Dwight Yorke won Man of the Match honours.[4]
Trinidad and Tobago lost their second game of the group stage to England 2–0. Late goals from Peter Crouch and Steven Gerrard secured England a place in the second round.[5] Trinidad had hoped for a draw between Paraguay and Sweden for their best chances of getting second place but Sweden defeated Paraguay 1–0.[6]
Trinidad and Tobago lost their third and final game of Group B to Paraguay 2–0. An own goal from Brent Sancho put them behind early in the game, and Paraguay scored a second goal late in the match from Nelson Cuevas.[7]
Trinidad and Tobago finished last in Group B with one point, and were eliminated. They were the only team in the 2006 World Cup not to score a goal.[8]
Group B
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Trinidad and Tobago vs Sweden
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    Sweden
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Man of the Match:
Assistant referees:
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England vs Trinidad and Tobago
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     England
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 Trinidad and Tobago
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Man of the Match:
Assistant referees:
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Paraguay vs Trinidad and Tobago
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    Paraguay
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     Trinidad and Tobago
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Man of the Match:
Assistant referees:
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Support
editThe Tartan Army, supporters of Scottish football, lent their support to Trinidad and Tobago, partly since they were opponents to England and also due to six of the squad members playing for Scottish clubs.
Aftermath
editOn their return from Germany, the government awarded Leo Beenhakker and each member of the squad the country's second highest honour, the Chaconia Medal, Gold, plus TT$1,000,000 (one quarter in cash, the rest in unit trusts).[9] As captain, Dwight Yorke was awarded TT$1,250,000, while players who had participated in qualification but not in Germany were awarded TT$250,000. Ten members of the teams' technical staff were also later awarded TT$250,000.[10]
On 6 October 2006, thirteen of the players in the 2006 World Cup squad indicated their intention to retire from international football after friendly matches against St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Panama on 7 October and 11 October, respectively. The players alleged that the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation had reneged on various contractual commitments to the team.[11] This was upheld by the Trinidadian High Court in March 2011, who ordered that an interim payment of $1.14m should be made.[12]
Record players
editNine players were fielded in all three of Trinidad and Tobago's matches in 2006, making them record World Cup appearance makers for their country.
| Rank | Player | Matches |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chris Birchall | 3 |
| Carlos Edwards | 3 | |
| Cornell Glen | 3 | |
| Stern John | 3 | |
| Dennis Lawrence | 3 | |
| Brent Sancho | 3 | |
| Densill Theobald | 3 | |
| Aurtis Whitley | 3 | |
| Dwight Yorke | 3 |
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "FIFA World Cup Statistics for Trinidad and Tobago". FIFA.com. Archived from the original on June 26, 2008. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
- ^ "The World Cup's smallest team". BBC article. 11 May 2006. Retrieved 11 June 2006.
- ^ T.A.W. (12 November 2017). "How Iceland (population: 330,000) qualified for the World Cup". The Economist. Archived from the original on 13 November 2017. Retrieved 21 November 2022.
- ^ "Football - World Cup 2006 - Sweden 0-0 Trinidad & Tobago". BBC Sport. 10 June 2006. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
- ^ "Football - World Cup 2006 - England 2-0 Trinidad & Tobago". BBC Sport. 15 June 2006. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
- ^ "Football - World Cup 2006 - Sweden 1-0 Paraguay". BBC Sport. 15 June 2006. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
- ^ "Football - World Cup 2006 - Paraguay 2-0 Trinidad". BBC Sport. 20 June 2006. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
- ^ "Football - World Cup 2006 - Teams - Trinidad & Tobago - Beenhakker admits defeat was fair". BBC Sport. 20 June 2006. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
- ^ "Birchall and Bell up for award". BBC Sport. 21 November 2006. Retrieved 6 September 2021.
- ^ Trinidad and Tobago's Newsday : newsday.co.tt :
- ^ Vital Football, Scotland quits international scene., retrieved on 7 October 2006.
- ^ Trinidad & Tobago players to get 2006 World Cup cash, BBC Sport, 4 March 2011
External links
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