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The End Is The Beginning

June 23rd, 2006 | By: Stacy-Marie Ishmael | 19 Comments »

The Warriors bid farewell to Rotenburg on Wednesday, and last night they touched down in Piarco International Airport in Trinidad to a heroes’ welcome.

Jah Gol, a regular poster on the Soca Warriors Forums, describes the scene:

It was truly remarkable to hear the sound of the people screaming for the Warriors. I’ve never heard anything that loud before. The chants wouldn’t cease, even the formal ceremony was drowned out by an ocean of audible sentiment.

“Sancho, Sancho, Sancho” we shouted in support of the dreadlocked defender. The horrors of Kaiserslautern errors were erased by the fantastic reception at Piarco.

But Trinbagonians are a funny sort of people. Already we are asking, “what next?” Already there are undercurrents of bacchanal, as the inimitable JT describes it over at the Caribbean Beat blog:

Was Dutch coach Leo Beenhakker as good as people thought? Why didn’t he bring on Russell Latapy earlier, what does he have against Latapy (some very weird conspiracy theories here), why didn’t he drop Stern John, why didn’t he start with this one instead of that one? If only, if only … then surely things would have been different? The ominous sound of knives being sharpened. Why hasn’t the government delivered on its promises of largesse to the players, made after their World Cup qualification last November? What happens now, will Beenhakker be retained, will football be taken more seriously by the government?

Therein lies the root of the Trinbagonian psyche. We fete, we forget, we start again.

What next for the Warriors?

No one is quite sure. But rest assured - I’ll find out, and you’ll be able to find me somewhere in the murky depths of the blogosphere.

Ladies and gentlemen, it’s been emotional.

And so, au revoir.

Tags: Group B, World Cup 2006

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Comments

By Vin | June 23rd, 2006 at 10:06 pm

I hope we see them next World Cup.

Posted from United States

By Jamie | June 24th, 2006 at 4:47 am

Small ting, small ting.. We will be back and we will learn from our mistakes in the our first World Cup. I have no doubt that the Soca Warriors will be seen again at the World Cup Stage. 2010 WORLD CUP SOUTH AFRIKA. SOCA WARRIORS BELIEVE!

Posted from Canada

By Jamie | June 24th, 2006 at 4:49 am

Also, does anyone know when the next WC Qualification matches will begin, and where I will be able to get information about it on the net? Thanks in advance!

Posted from Canada

By Andre Sooklal | June 24th, 2006 at 6:05 pm

Nothing mysterious about our next step. We made progres and now we must continue the work that was done.
All *succesfull* football teams as soon as the world cup is over ..the planning the other one starts..this is where the development system that is far off fromwhat it should be is the solution.
Once we beging to have a structured youth to senior team cycle then things will be much easier…however the Trinidad policy to grab some players hire a coach and hopefully he gets it right and we qualify mentality is very old…
we need someone like Beenhacker or someone like him to continue what was done here.
What would be a terrible shame is if we end up like Jamaica and not progress..but spiral backwards….

Posted from Trinidad And Tobago

By Andre Sooklal | June 25th, 2006 at 6:12 am

Operation 2010 must start now..

Posted from Trinidad And Tobago

By Abz | June 25th, 2006 at 1:00 pm

OMG ITS NOT SOCCER ITS FOOTBALL!! Anyway it was obvious that they wouldn’t get throught the group with such giants as ENGLAND in there group!! lol see ya in the next world cup hope you are in our group next year your a easy 3 points!

Posted from United Kingdom

By Alex | June 25th, 2006 at 10:07 pm

You guys fought really good, I think you showed some real heart in the last game you played. Hope to see you back in four years.

Sports Betting

By Jamie | June 26th, 2006 at 12:08 am

To abz:

Too bad such a giant as England had to cheat against little Trinidad and Tobago in order to beat us… hand of the geek… haha

Posted from Canada

By Aadam | June 26th, 2006 at 1:34 am

As quoted in the Trinidad Guardian (all figures in TT dollars):

Included in the generous bounty announced by Prime Minister:

* The nation’s second highest award, the Chaconia Gold Medal, for the 24 footballers who represented T&T in Germany.

* $250,000 each for the 16 members of the national squad who were not selected for the matches, ($200,000 in units from the Unit Trust Corporation, $50,000 in cash)

* $250,000 cash for each of three assistants to Dutch coach Leo Beenhakker.

* $1 million for each of the 24 players who travelled to Germany. ($750,000 in UTC units and $250,000 cash).

* $1 million cash and the Chaconia Gold Medal for Beenhakker.

* $1.2 million for team captain Dwight Yorke ($1 million units, $250, 000 cash), along with the title of His Excellency as a Sports Ambassador of T&T.

Posted from United States

By Andre Sooklal | June 27th, 2006 at 10:27 am

Hey Abz…England gloats about that spectacular display of football against Trinidad.
You allare supposed to beat a side that you all deem a walkover 5-0? right
superpower team?…yet you all struggled ..got a goalfrom literally tearing out Sanchos hair?
haha and you guys want to beat Brazil and Argentina?
haha
get real
The only people that think the Brits can win anything are Brits
*Can’t stop laughing*

Posted from Trinidad And Tobago

By Indi | June 27th, 2006 at 12:03 pm

Abz… get a life!!! our boys put up a great battle against you Brits… so i really don’t think its was such an easy 3 points as you seem to think … they represented T&T Well in all our matches.. Go back and look at them play then join you little League Football club cause you don’t know squat bout Football!!!!

Posted from United States

By crabbie | June 27th, 2006 at 8:58 pm

Oh Abz - how sad I am for you. England is looking so … so … what’s the word …? Dreadful? The game against us didn’t look at all like an easy 3 points; seemed to me like they were fighting for it. Good luck against the big boys - Germany, Argentina and Brazil. Anyway, I hope we can continue the work we’ve started here and not backslide. Looking ahead to 2010.

Posted from United States

By bailey alleyne | June 28th, 2006 at 3:15 pm

Glad we have bloggers like “U” keep it up and send me your updates

Posted from United States

By Dr.Oriel La.Borde | July 2nd, 2006 at 7:07 am

T$T SPORTING ASSOCITION THE END OF THIS ERA IS OVER.PLAN THE ROAD TO 2010 FOR SOCA WORRIORS AND REMEMBER TO WORK THE PLAN.

Posted from United States

By Dickon Springate | July 9th, 2006 at 1:17 am

Abz … you are a complete moron.

I bet you wept and cursed when C.R. had shrek send off.

Pity that you can’t see it’s no more than we deserved for cheating the more exciting “little team” in the first place!!!

Firstly, its Socca not Soccer, and Socca Warriors is to do with their location and not their version or pronouncement of football ( as anyone who frequents this or any other T&T website would already know ).

Secondly, with a decent ref the 3 points will only be going in one direction … away from England.

And Thirdly, we’ve not even reached the final of either the World Cup or even the European Championship since 1966 and that was 40 YEARS ago!!!

We played terrible throughout the tournament, scored half the number that Germany, Spain or Argentina did and was so bad that after our last game Beckham quit as captain.

No, Football Giants we aint!!!

The rest of the world is fast overtaking us and its already got to the stage where our “beloved” own premiership league has more foreign stars than domestic.

But enough about our failures and correcting you, this is about T&T.

The Warriors played with more heart and determination than most teams this time round.

Just like Ivory Coast who were unlucky enough to be put up against some very stiff opposition, playing as well as they did they could have easily progressed if they had been drawn in a different group.

Next time round, with more preparation and with further backing from their supporters and government alike I look forward in 2010 to seeing them reaching the second round … at least.

Vibe it up, things are just beginning to get interesting !!!

Posted from United Kingdom

By saurasaurabh | August 5th, 2006 at 6:18 pm

T&T HAD A VERY REMARKABLE DEFENCE.KEEP IT UP!

Posted from India

By noah | September 8th, 2006 at 12:57 am

Question: Does anyone know anything about Serginho Sandy’s status? Is he a professional in soccer and where can I find out his amature/professional status?

Posted from United States

By Firecracker | September 15th, 2006 at 11:02 am

So when are you going to write about the Warriors again???

Posted from France