Fantastic! A thrilling match to watch as Trinidad's Soca Warriors, ranked 47th in the world, held off Sweden, ranked 16th, and that was with one man less than Sweden for almost the entire second half of the match today in Dortmund, Germany. This is the first time ever for Trinidad & Tobago at the World Cup, and they started their round in Group B undefeated. The match's final score of 0-0 earned them one point.Back in January, Cristo Adonis, the shaman of the Carib community in Arima, Trinidad, told me that he and other members of the Carib community were called upon to perform a smoke ceremony for an inter-religious ceremony to bless the Soca Warriors on their path to the World Cup. They were the first to perform, in honour of their being Trinidad's first peoples. I am sure that Cristo will be beaming at the thought that his service may have somehow guided, blessed or otherwise aided the Warriors.
A Trinidadian fan welcomes the World Cup trophy to Trinidad
The Warriors themselves did a brilliant job: calm, confident, solid, professional, great control of the ball, perfect passing, none of the cry baby melodrama and fake dives (perhaps Sweden should take a hint about how real men play the game), precision and no prima donna attitudes. This is some of the best playing I have seen at the World Cup since I saw my first match back in 1978.
Congratulations Trinidad & Tobago! Let's see some more great play!
