Connecting in Trinidad

The first major upset of the year - at least in this part of the world - happened tonight. Chivas lost to W Connection 2-1 in a CONCACAF Champions Cup match.

Despite my fondness for Guadalajara, I can't help but feel some joy for the Trinis. I spent three weeks there in 2001 for the FIFA Under-17 World Championship Trinidad & Tobago 2001 Presented by JVC. As a member of TEAMTalk back in the day, all of my stories ended up on FIFA's web site for the tournament and that long name was what we had to write on first reference in each of our stories. Man, that was a beast.

Anyway, Trinidad was a blast. I loved the laid-back style of the Trinidad people, the beautiful Maracas Bay and the weather of course. Highs of 86, low of 78 with a chance of rain. That's the forecast for 365 days a year there. The humidity was something odd for me. I'd never really been in a humid place like that.

Tonight's game was played in Marabella, in the Manny Ramjohn Stadium. I didn't actually get to go there. I covered games at the Larry Gomes Stadium in Arima and went to the Hasely Crawford Stadium a couple of times. I covered the group with Costa Rica, Paraguay, Iran and Mali. There were several interesting games and I developed an affinity for Paraguay during that tournament, especially Edgar Barreto who was a kind and gracious kid back then. I was glad to see him play in the 2006 World Cup.

Anyway, Trinidad is a great place to visit. It's a bit of a flight compared to Jamaica. It's like 4 hours or so from Miami to Port-of-Spain. But it's worth it. I've never been to Jamaica or any other Caribbean country but I did not get the feel that Trinidad was touristy at all. It is what it is and not what they think Americans would like it to be. When I went to Maracas Bay with three other colleagues, it was absolutely fantastic. I swam in the warm water and was the only person swimming there at the time.

So W Connection won and it's party time in Marabella.