Warriors tame Swedish tiger

PLAYING ON the world’s biggest stage, against insurmountable odds and with two key starters on the bench, the Soca Warriors refused to let down a nation pulsating with hope and pride.

They held the mighty Swedish tiger by the tail yesterday and refused to let go, pulling off a stunning 0-0 draw in their opening Group B match at the FIFA World Cup Stadium in Dortmund.

But more importantly, to the swaying rhythm of thousands of TT fans in Germany and a little over a million back at home, the Warriors managed to send a clear message that they not only belong on the world stage but can entertain there as well.

Before a packed house of close to 63,000 fans, and playing the second half a man down after losing Avery John to a red card, skipper Dwight Yorke gave an inspired performance in a new defensive midfield role to earn the Busch World Cup “Man-of-the-Match’’ award.

“This was really quite an achievement for us,” Yorke said. “I am so proud to be a part of it and am thrilled for my teammates and the fans and everyone back home.”

But while Yorke worked hard all over the field, it was Trinidad and Tobago’s second choice goalkeeper Shaka Hislop, who was a last-minute replacement for regular starter Kelvin Jack, who may have stolen the show.

Hislop gave the finest exhibition of goalkeeping skills to keep out the marauding Swedish strikers and enable his team a share of the points to the dismay of football critics.

The result left group leaders England needing to beat the Caribbean side on Wednesday in Nuremberg to advance to the round of 16 knockout phase of the competition after they defeated Paraguay 1-0 on an own goal earlier yesterday.

“I don’t know about unbeatable, but I certainly enjoyed myself (yesterday),” Hislop said. “I didn’t have any really good saves to make because the team defended very well. This evening was a dream come true; it was very emotional. We hope this is just the beginning. The great thing is that we’ve made some new fans this evening.”

Hislop, who at 37 years and 108 days is one of the oldest players in the 2006 World Cup, was moved into the starting line-up after Jack was scratched off the starting list by coach Leo Beenhakker after the Dundee United ‘keeper suffered a relapse of a knee injury during the pre-match warm-up.

Hislop, one of two English-born players in the Trinidad and Tobago team — the other is midfielder Chris Birchall — made at least six spectacular saves to keep the Swedes out and was praised afterwards by Dutchman Beenhakker.

“It was a fantastic performance by Hislop. We had to pull Jack out. And in his cool composed way Hislop said he was ready to play and he showed he was,” said Beenhakker after the match.

In the first minute of the second half, defender John picked up his second yellow card of the match and was sent off for a brutal tackle on Swedish midfielder Christian Wilhelmsson. He became the first red card victim of the two-day-old tournament.

And it was substitute Cornell Glen who had the best chance for the Soca Warriors when he raced down the right flank and sent a sizzling right foot shot that rebounded violently off the post. Sweden who are yet to win a match after qualifying for the World Cup last October controlled the first half creating numerous chances but failed to finish off their plucky opponents who refused to be intimidated.

This fact was not lost on Swedish coach Lars Lagerback who said at the post-match media conference that he felt satisfied that his team played well but just couldn’t score.

“We played better and made most of the chances but could not get the ball into the net. The Trinidad and Tobago defence also played well but that’s football,” said Lagerback.

Sweden now need to beat both England and Paraguay to ensure that they are among the two teams to advance from Group B.

At the post-match media conference where he collected his Man-of-the-Match award Yorke said that Trinidad and Tobago earning their first points in their World Cup debut was his proudest moment in football.

The Tobago-born said he rated yesterday’s performance as better that the triple triumph of English Premier League side Manchester United of which he was an integral part in 1999.

Trinidad and Tobago — Shaka Hislop, Avery John, Brent Sancho, Dennis Lawrence, Cyd Gray, Chris Birchall, Carlos Edwards, Densill Theobald (Aurtis Whitley 66th), Collin Samuel (Cornell Glen 53rd), Stern John, Dwight Yorke.

Sweden— Rami Shabaan, Tobias >Linderoth (Kim Kallstrom 79th), olof Mellberg, Teddy Lucic, Erik Edman, Freddie Ljungberg, Niclas Alexandersson, Anders Svensson (Marcus Allback 62nd), Christian Wilhelmsson (Mattias Jonson 78th), Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Henrik Larsson

Red Card: Avery John (46th)

Yellow Cards: Averv John, Dwight Yorke