Warriors slip six spots in rankings; T&T friendly against Guyana fails to get FIFA sanction

The Trinidad and Tobago National Senior Team slipped six spots in the latest FIFA rankings today, after failing to record any wins in the last international match window against Grenada and Guyana at the Ato Boldon Stadium in Couva.

The Soca Warriors are now 89th in the world—some five places lower than they were when Dennis Lawrence was appointed head coach in February—and ninth in CONCACAF, where they are behind regional outfits, Jamaica, Haiti and Curaçao.

FIFA calculates its rankings using a formula that considers result, importance of match (whether friendly or competitive), strength of opponent and strength of confederation. The South America confederation is ranked highest, followed closely by Europe while Africa, Asia, Oceania and North and Central America and the Caribbean are tied last.

Only one of Trinidad and Tobago’s last two outings was considered  a full international and counted towards the rankings, though.

There has been debate as to which football body should bear responsibility for failing to submit paperwork to FIFA for the friendly between Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana on 14 November.

Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) general secretary Justin Latapy-George assured Wired868 that the host organisation did its job.

“The Grenada game received full sanctioning from FIFA,” said Latapy-George. “Guyana didn’t submit info in a timely manner [so that match] could only be played as a practice game. There was a challenge on their end in getting the full documentation to FIFA.”

Whether a 1-1 home draw to Guyana—then ranked 165th in the world—would have benefitted Trinidad and Tobago is another story.

Ironically, Guyana still climbed one spot to 164th while Grenada, who drew 2-2 with the Warriors, dropped three places to 160th.

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Lasana Liburd

Lasana Liburd is the managing director and chief editor at Wired868.com and a journalist with over 20 years experience at several Trinidad and Tobago and international publications including Play the Game, World Soccer, UK Guardian and the Trinidad Express.