Through The Lens, Trinidad & Tobago

Soca Warriors - Wave Your Colours

June 28, 2006

Soca Warriors - Wave Your Colours

On November 15, 2005, Trinidad and Tobago became the smallest country (by population) to ever qualify for the FIFA World Cup when they won their playoff match against Bahrain, in Bahrain by the narrowest of margins.

For a Carnival and fete mad country like ours, you can imagine the chaos that ensued. Needless to say the entire country became wrapped in football-induced euphoria and patriotism, or at least the visual representations of it, rose to an all-time high.

Despite our minnow status our team acquitted itself admirably, drawing its first match against Sweden and holding an uninspired England team goalless for eighty minutes before succumbing 2-0 in the first two matches. Against all odds, this meant a mathematical chance of progressing to the second round if we managed a victory against Paraguay in our last group stage match.

Sadly it was not to be, though not through any lack of effort and we went down 2-0, beaten but by no means disgraced.

Tiny T&T, population 1.3 million, had been to the World Cup and we had every reason to hold our heads high. No surprises then that despite an almost 4-hour delay on the team's flight home, the airport was packed with fans eager to welcome them back.

This photo, one of my favourites, of our national flag in full flight begins a short series taken at the airport on the night of their return.

Thank you, Soca Warriors. You have done us all proud.

Posted by phototakeouter at 11:41 PM | Comments (0)

Comments are currently disabled. Blame the spammers. I would still love to hear your feedback. Please email me at: ttltt@qftt.com