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The Trinidad and Tobago national senior men and women teams have ended 2014 as FIFA’s top ranked Caribbean teams according to the latest ranking by the global football body.
(Courtesy CONCACAF)
The “Women Soca Warriors” began the year unranked due to their prolonged absence from international competition but quickly made their mark as they clinched the inaugural Caribbean Cup at home in August before advancing to the semifinal of the CONCACAF Championship.
The Trinidad and Tobago women came within a whisker of a Canada 2015 Women’s World Cup berth but were edged out by South American outfit, Ecuador, after a 1-0 aggregate defeat in their two legged FIFA Play Off.
Ironically, captain Maylee Attin-Johnson’s team, which shot up 79 places to 46th in FIFA’s rankings, is three spots higher than World Cup-bound Ecuador.
The men’s team dropped one place in the final 2014 FIFA rankings to 55th spot but remains the Caribbean’s top ranked nation despite losing on penalties to Jamaica in the Caribbean Cup final.
The FIFA rankings share points equally between the two nations when penalties are used to settle a match.
The “Soca Warriors” are fourth in CONCACAF too behind new end of year leader, Costa Rica, Mexico and the United States. Panama is fifth at 57th place in the world while the next best Caribbean nations are Haiti (72) and Caribbean champions Jamaica (75).
(Courtesy Mysanantonio.com)
The flattering FIFA rankings follows individual accolades for women’s attacker Kennya “Yaya” Cordner and men’s goalkeeper Jan-Michael Williams and coach Stephen Hart who were named on CONCACAF shortlists for the confederation’s annual award ceremony. Fans can vote for any of the trio or all three by clicking HERE.
Neither the men’s or women’s senior teams have any scheduled international matches on the horizon.
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Including Latapy, John Gill
But Tim Kee, “the Heartless” is not impressed. Pay our national footballers their money, Tim Kee, they’ve done us proud!
Go Team T&T, Take a Bow We Salute You Win, Lose or,Draw We Support You….#IAmASocaWarrior!!!