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.
"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," forward Cornell Glen said. "We can finally get
some respect from people. You have to earn it and I think we did that today."
Sweden held a decided edge in experience and world-class talent, as well as
the one-man advantage after Avery John was sent off in the 46th minute. But the
Swedes couldn't end their opening-match funk.
Sweden, which has more players on its current squad from the 2002 World Cup
than any other team in Germany, is winless in seven opening matches sine 1958,
with two losses and five draws.
"I'm really disappointed," forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic said. "We played so
well for 90 minutes, created so many chances. Only the goal was missing. But
this is only the first game, we have two games left."
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 get here.
