MANAMA, Bahrain - Bahrain is a breath-taking country. It's beauty of old world charm and contemporary styles is an intoxicating mix. The people here are friendly and kind - too good to be true. It would be ruthless if this wonderful nation of remarkable people was to be the ones shedding tears following this evening's World Cup qualifying play-off between their team and Trinidad & Tobago at the Ali National Stadium at 7:00 pm (11:00 am local time).

But they have the edge at the moment, having secured a 1-1 draw in the first leg at the Hasely Crawford Stadium on Saturday in Port of Spain, Trinidad. The away goal counts as two in the event of a 0-0 tie today, so technically, Bahrain lead this tie 2-1.

Russel Latapy (left) of Trinidad and Tobago vies for the ball with Abdulla Rahman from Bahrain during their play-off qualifying soccer match last Saturday. (Photo: AFP)

This means, the Soca Warriors must score goals in this crucial contest which will determine whether they join Jamaica in the history books as the only English-speaking nations from the Caribbean to qualify for football's most prestigious tournament.

A 0-0 scoreline will see the Bahrainis through, a 1-1 draw would force the match into extra time, but a 2-2 result would see Trinidad through, which would have added another place to CONCACAF in Germany next year.
But that's a long way away and the tension here his high from both camps, as they look towards what must be the greatest moment in the lives of these athletes.

There is not much fanfare in the streets of Manama, and if one were not aware, you wouldn't know that an important sporting event is about to take place.

Although Bahrain is a free country, their idea of celebrating is certainly different from that of Trinidad. Or perhaps they are saving the big hoorah until the final whistle. "We never think of celebrating as we are cautious; after the game we will see as we know what football can do," noted president of the Bahrain Football Federation (BFF), sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al-Khalifa.

Both teams are keeping their starting line-ups top secret and have held closed sessions since they arrived here on charter flights from Port of Spain.

But word coming out of these training sessions is that both teams looked business-like and appeared ready to do battle.

Trinidad coach Dutchman Leo Beenhakker said he will continue with his plan to play possessional football, as the aim is to keep the ball for long periods to control the flow. "We want to continue to keep the ball because when we do that we control the game," he said.

And the Trinis are quite capable of possessing the ball, as they have demonstrated in the first game. Often skipper Yorke, Russell Latapy, Stern John, Christopher Birchall and Aurtis Whitley were involved in a number of promising passing moves as they pursue goals.
Carlos Edwards was also a very effective player down the right side and another good show down the flank will auger well for Beenhakker's Warriors.

Stern John had his fair share of play in game one and a lot depends on him coming up big today.

Bahrain's coach Croatian Luka Peruzovic is a man of few words, but he outlined that his team aims to do much of what was done in Trinidad. "We are a good team as we have shown in Trinidad and we will try to be better today." he noted.

Ninety minutes is all that remains between two small nations on the verge of creating history, and it is expected that the players will battle to the bitter end for a glory each craves.

The 35,000-capacity Ali National Stadium is expected to be filled and the 170 Trinidad spectators, who journeyed from the Caribbean, are expected to be a mere dot in a sea of Bahraini spectators, but the Trini Posse will make a lot of noise for the team as they brought their own soca band to the Middle East.

Teams: Trinidad (from) - Kelvin Jack, Marvin Andrews, Avery John, Christopher Birchall, Dennis Lawrence, Carlos Edwards, Russell Latapy, Jason Scotland, Aurtis Whitley, Dwight Yorke, Silvio Spann, Stern John, Kenwyn Jones, Shaka Hislop, Cornell Glen, Brent Sancho, Cyd Gray, Densill Theobald.

Bahrain (from) - Ali Hassan Ali, Salman Ghuloom, Faouzi Aaish, Sayed Adnan, Hussain Hasan, Mohamed Ahmed Hubail, Sayed Jalal, Ahmed Taleb, Rashed Rahman, Talal Mohamed, Husain Ahmed, Alaa Hubail, Sayed Jaffar, Mohamed Abdulla, Ghazi Al-Kwari, Ebrahim Meshkhas.

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