Fans hail Soca Warriors

“Win, lose or draw, we celebrating,” said Carlton George of Diego Martin, summing up the mood yesterday after the Soca Warriors were eliminated from the World Cup following a two-nil loss to Paraguay.

In the bars of St James, after an initial stunned silence following the final whistle which saw some sad patrons walk out before time, fans launched into an impromptu street party to hail the Warriors’ performance.

Fans seemed pleased not only with the spirited attacks on the Paraguayan goal by Warriors such as Carlos Edwards and Russell Latapy, but also by their overall performance in the World Cup against top-ranked teams like England and Sweden.

Fans lined the Western Main Road waving flags, blowing whistles and dancing to soca music blasting from speaker boxes. “I feel so good,” said Kenny Keil, “we had three lovely games.”

Cliff Alexis of Couva smiled: “I feel real nice, but it’s just hard luck. Everything is a love. We reached real far.” Nicholae Skeet from D’Abadie vowed to join in a party to welcome back the Warriors at Piarco Airport. Natalie Hamilton said: “They reached far and tried their best.”

Joanne Ollivierre of Laventille said: “I’m happy. They made the country proud to know we reached Germany. They played a very good game.”

Nikishelle Alexander of Diego Martin effused: “Win or lose, I’m happy for them.”

A woman giving her name only as Angie said despite the loss, she was still going for a jump-up, saying: “I’m proud of them.”

Some fans offered technical advice on how TT could have done better yesterday. St Clair Batson was sorry Russell Latapy was not brought on earlier. Earl Joseph, who had earlier predicted Paraguay would win, quipped: “The Warriors had spears, but Paraguay had bombs.”

In Bar 52 at half-time, Jeff Jones said this was TT’s best ever game as we were now attacking which we had not often done against England or Sweden. Fans differed over Brent Sancho’s own-goal with Deborah McIntosh saying it was not his fault, but Angie saying he should have been taken off immediately after the incident. So while fans are sad to see TT out of the World Cup, they are hailing the Warriors.