Trinidad Is Thrilled to Tie Sweden
A draw never felt so good.
Led by captain Dwight Yorke, Trinidad and Tobago players paraded around the perimeter of the field, saluting their fans and savoring a moment few thought could happen.
Last-minute starter Shaka Hislop turned aside countless chances from heavily favored Sweden, and Yorke provided a steadying influence on a besieged defense to help Trinidad post the first real surprise of this World Cup, a 0-0 draw Saturday night at Dortmund, Germany.
“This is what football and dreams are all about,” Yorke said. “To come up against a mighty footballing country of Sweden’s status and obviously being a tiny country like ours -- it’s a massive result for us. Massive.”
Despite playing nearly the entire second half a man down, the Soca Warriors never gave in and sent the Swedes trudging off the field in dejection.
As the final whistle blew, the Trinidad players mobbed Hislop in his goal before celebrating with their fans, who had waited years for this game.
“This is like a win for us,” said forward Cornell Glen, who plays for the Galaxy. “We can finally get some respect from people. You have to earn it and I think we did that today.”
Trinidad and Tobago, the twin-island Caribbean nation with a population of 1.3 million, was the smallest country ever to reach the World Cup and needed to beat Bahrain in a playoff just to make the tournament.
England 1, Paraguay 0 -- Unable to find the net on its own, England used an own-goal for an early lead and held on to beat Paraguay at Frankfurt.
It was not pretty, and the English were helped by Paraguay’s reluctance to attack. Still, it was a victory that will have England’s boisterous fans celebrating -- at least until its next match.
“We know we can do a bit better, but we’ve got a bit of time to work on things -- and we’ll get better,” England’s Frank Lampard said. “Once the dust settles we’ll see what an important result this is.”
England got a perfect start when Paraguay captain Carlos Gamarra headed David Beckham’s curling free kick into his own net in the third minute. That was the only time the ball found the net, but it was enough to secure England’s first opening-match win in a major tournament since the 1998 World Cup.
