9 July 1989 - The Cream Of The Caribbean Crop

On 9 July 1989, Trinidad and Tobago won the inaugural Caribbean Cup, beating Grenada 2-1 with a brace from 17-year old striker Dwight Yorke, making his first appearance for the Soca Warriors.

Six teams qualified for the tournament and were split into three groups, with the two group winners paying for the title. In Group A, all three teams finished on two points with a win and a loss each. Trinidad and Tobago and Guadeloupe both had the same goal differential (+1), but T&T claimed the top spot by virtue of having scored three goals to Guadeloupe's two (hosts Barbados were at the bottom thanks to a goal differential of -2).

The winner of Group B was more straightforward, as Grenada managed a win and a draw to finish with 3 points, ahead of the Netherlands Antilles (2 points) and St. Vincent and the Grenadines (1 point).

The teams met in Bridgetown, Barbados for the final, where Trinidad & Tobago took a first-half lead with a 24th-minute goal from Yorke (pictured, holding that year's T&T Secondary Schools Football League trophy). They held onto the lead for most of the match, but Grenada's Wayne Hood equalized in the 84th minute. Yorke then provided the match-winner five minutes later. It was the first of their record eight titles.

Yorke, who played for his high school, Signal Hill, at the time, went on to sign with Aston Villa later that year and spent nine seasons there, scoring 73 goals in 232 league appearances. He spent a total of 18 years in England and also played for Manchester United (1998-2002), Blackburn Rovers (2002-04), Birmingham City (2004-05), and Sunderland (2006-09), as well as one season with Australia's Sydney FC (2005-06).

24 February 2004 - The US Women Go Boxxing

On 24 February 2004, the US women opened their Olympic qualification campaign by beating Trinidad and Tobago 7-0. They went on to win their second gold medal.

After winning the competition in 1996, they finished in a relatively disappointing second place in 2000, losing 3-2 to Norway in the final. That was followed by a third-place finish at the 2003 World Cup, creating questions whether the once-dominant US women would be able to regain their former standing in the sport they helped popularize.

Kicking off their Olympic campaign against Trinidad and Tobago in Costa Rica, the Yanks rolled to a comfortable 7-0 victory thanks in part to Shannon Boxx's first international hat-trick (22', 37', 81'), a brace from two-time FIFA World Player of the Year Mia Hamm (41', 44'), and goals from Kristine Lilly (25') and Abby Wambach (42').

They kept up the pace through qualification, going undefeated and outscoring their opponents 19-0, then sailed undefeated through the tournament itself.

19 November 1989 - The Yanks Return To The Big Time

On 19 November 1989, a goal from midfielder Paul Caligiuri qualified the United States for their first World Cup in forty years.

The US had a short but interesting tournament history, including a third-place finish in 1930 and a famous upset victory over England in 1950. But they failed to qualify for the next nine competitions from 1954 to 1986.

Then in 1989, they entered their last day of CONCACAF qualification with a match against Trinidad and Tobago, whom they trailed by a single point for the last ticket to Italia '90. The two teams drew 1-1 in their first meeting, then met for the rematch at the National Stadium in the Port of Spain, with the hosts needing only a draw to advance to what would have been their first World Cup appearance.

Unfortunately for them, they conceded a critical goal in the 30th minute, when midfielder Paul Caligiuri received the ball, beat a defender, then launched a high arcing shot that just snuck into the goal past the diving keeper. That proved to be the difference as the US held on for the 0-1 victory and a trip to Italy.

Although they fell out of the tournament in the group stage, losing all three matches, they have qualified for every tournament since and advanced to the quarterfinals in 2002. Trinidad and Tobago eventually reached the World Cup as well, making it to Germany in 2006.

9 July 1989 - The Cream Of The Caribbean Crop

On 9 July 1989, Trinidad and Tobago won the inaugural Caribbean Cup, beating Grenada 2-1 with a brace from 17-year old striker Dwight Yorke, making his first appearance for the Soca Warriors.

Six teams qualified for the tournament and were split into three groups, with the two group winners paying for the title. In Group A, all three teams finished on two points with a win and a loss each. Trinidad and Tobago and Guadeloupe both had the same goal differential (+1), but T&T claimed the top spot by virtue of having scored three goals to Guadeloupe's two (hosts Barbados were at the bottom thanks to a goal differential of -2).

The winner of Group B was more straightforward, as Grenada managed a win and a draw to finish with 3 points, ahead of the Netherlands Antilles (2 points) and St. Vincent and the Grenadines (1 point).

The teams met in Bridgetown, Barbados for the final, where Trinidad & Tobago took a first-half lead with a 24th-minute goal from Yorke (pictured, holding that year's T&T Secondary Schools Football League trophy). They held onto the lead for most of the match, but Grenada's Wayne Hood equalized in the 84th minute. Yorke then provided the match-winner five minutes later. It was the first of their record eight titles.

Yorke, who played for his high school, Signal Hill, at the time, went on to sign with Aston Villa later that year and spent nine seasons there, scoring 73 goals in 232 league appearances. He spent a total of 18 years in England and also played for Manchester United (1998-2002), Blackburn Rovers (2002-04), Birmingham City (2004-05), and Sunderland (2006-09), as well as one season with Australia's Sydney FC (2005-06).

1 June 2008 - England's Eight-Minute Man

On 1 June 2008, 26-year old Blackburn Rovers left back Stephen Warnock made his first international appearance in England's 0-3 friendly win over Trinidad and Tobago at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Port of Spain. To date, it remains his only cap and it lasted all of eight minutes, tying him with two other players for the shortest career of any English international.

Warnock was first called up for the national team by Sven-Göran Eriksson in 2005 while at Liverpool, but he never got off the bench. In 2008, new manager Fabio Capello named him to the squad for friendlies against the United States and Trinidad and Tobago. He finally took the pitch in the latter match, replacing Wayne Bridge in the 84th minute with England already up 0-3. There were two minutes of added time, raising his total time on the pitch to 8 minutes.

Two other players ended their international career for England at 8 minutes - West Ham's Jimmy Barrett, who came off injured in his one cap in 1928, and Brighton and Hove Albion's Peter Ward, who played the last 8 minutes of a 1980 match against Australia.

Warnock, who currently plays for Aston Villa, has a chance to separate himself from Barrett and Ward, as Capello named him to the 30-man provisional squad for the 2010 World Cup. Capello has to trim the side to the final 23 players today.

[2012 Update: Warnock made his second appearance for England in November 2010, playing the last 20 minutes of a friendly against France.]