The Trinidad and Tobago football team of the late 1980s, nicknamed the Strike Squad, was but a single point away from qualification to the 1990 World Cup in Italy. Needing only a draw and playing at home, Trinidad and Tobagolost1-0 to a Paul Caligiuri goal, allowing the US national team to qualify for the first time in 36 years and giving a much needed boost to their football pedigree ahead of their hosting of the 1994 World Cup.
The FIFA Fair Play award for 1989 would go to the spectators at the National Stadium in Port-of-Spain for their good behaviour despite the loss. The supporters were so unable to process the disappointment that they could not make a sound. This is the story as told by those who claimed to be at the stadium that day (and as the stadium was overcrowded, a great many people claim to have been there).The scoreboard operator even found time to flash the message “Congrats, USA. Do well in Italy.”
But if one of the many shots on goal had resulted in Trinidad scoring or if Caligiuri had pulled his shot wide, Trinidad and Tobago would have established their record as the smallest country to qualify for a World Cup 16 years earlier than they eventually do in 2006.
The Trinidadian supporters were confident. The government had awarded a public holiday days in advance of the match for the day after to celebrate. Local legend also narrates that the players were tired from pre-emptive celebrations. The team had left their training camp in the south of the country on a motorcade lasting several hours in the tropical heat, before getting to the capital in the north.