Warriors:

It will be written, that on this day, in this year, 23 young men and a coaching staff, all from varying backgrounds and professional attachments across the globe, stand united for one historic cause.

And a country is standing behind them.

Trinidad and Tobago’s Soca Warriors, the fighting spirit of the Caribbean, will make history today when they play Sweden in the opening match of Group B at the FIFA World Cup Stadium in Dortmund, Germany.

Only the second team from the English speaking Caribbean nation to make it to the World Cup, after Jamaica in 1998 (France), Trinidad and Tobago’s population of just about 1.3 million represents the smallest ever to compete at the quadrennial football fiesta.

“If we did not think we could win we would not have come to Germany,”coach Leo Beenhakker said. “My players are capable of matching any team when they play to the best of their ability.”

And facing the longest odds among the elite 32 teams in the month-long tournament, the Soca Warriors have won the hearts of all those who love rooting for the underdogs.

Grouped with perennial favourites England, Sweden and Paraguay, the Soca Warriors, led by former Manchester United star striker Dwight Yorke are being urged on by a legion of about 7,000 diehard fans from home the Caribbean, North America and Britain.

During the past couple weeks the red-shirted fans have been flocking to Rotenburg , the quaint northern German village now bedecked with the red, white and black which is serving as the official team base. Charter flights have also brought several thousands more to the metropolis of Hanover and Frankfurt, the closest points to the venues for the team’s three matches against Sweden (today); versus England on (June 15 in Nuremberg); and Paraguay (June 20 in Kaiserslautern).

The fans will likely be at their most vociferous today when the Soca Warriors go after their first points against Sweden who are based in nearby Bremen, a North Atlantic port city just north and east of Rotenburg.

Under the direction of Beenhakker, the Trinidad and Tobago footballers have been in camp for the past three weeks training and playing competitively.

Although beaten in warm-up matches against Wales (2-1), Slovenia (3-1) and the Czech Republic (3-0) Beenhakker said he was satisfied with the performance of the team discounting the importance of the results as having no bearing on the actual World Cup.

He has exhorted the team to play at their best and enjoy the experience — holding out hope that the minnows of 2006 Germany can do the impossible and emerge one of the two qualifiers from Group B to advance to the second round, 16-team knock-out phase.

In Yorke and midfielder Russell Latapy, the Soca Warriors have two very experienced players who will be counted on to provide the tactical edge needed to get past their opponents.

Opportunity is also there for a cadre of young stars to show that they do indeed belong on the world stage and that their qualification in a tense two-match home and away play-off last November against Bahrain was no fluke.

Among the youngsters who can steal some of the international spotlight are tenacious England-born midfielder Chris Birchall; new find Aurtis Whitley, one of the few home-grown talents; and speedy striker Kenwyne Jones.

While the goalscorers have done their part to take the team into the World Cup Finals for the first time, the defence which earned a reputation for being unreliable and porous will be hard pressed to hold back the prodigious talents of Sweden’s Zlatan Ibrahimgovic and Freddie Ljunberg; and more dauntingly a fit again Michael Owen and Wayne Rooney of England.

The Soca Warriors completed their pre-World Cup training yesterday at the match venue and are expected to play their strongest team

The Swedes who have labelled the opening match of the group against Trinidad and Tobago as their most important also completed their preparations on a cautious note careful not to underestimate their opponents. Their coach Lars Lagerback said earlier this week that they will be wary of the Trinidad and Tobago strikers who he observed were capable of scoring against the run of play which could prove fatal for opposing teams.