Trinidad and Tobago will appear in their first ever World Cup finals after staging a remarkable comeback to beat Bahrain 1-0.
Dennis Lawrence's 49th minute goal sealed a 2-1 play-off aggregate win after last month's first leg ended 1-1 in Port-of-Spain.Trinidad are the first Caribbean country to play in a World Cup since neighbouring Jamaica's appearance in the 1998 edition.
They won this final error-strewn and physical inter-continental playoff much to the disappointment of a packed home crowd, erasing bitter memories of losing out on a place in the 1990 World Cup held in Italy.
Coach Leo Beenhakker praised his team for a "battling performance".
"It was a very tough match and it was difficult logistically to get the players ready for such an important match after all that travelling," said the 63-year-old Dutchman.
"But the team played hard and I am very proud of them. They deserve to play in the World Cup."
Bahrain were also battling for their first-ever World Cup slot after having come through two Asian qualifying rounds and surviving a close and controversial play-off against Uzbekistan.
Bahrain coach Luka Peruzovic admitted disappointed but gave full credit to Trinidad saying they played very well in the first 30 minutes.
But the Croatia-born Belgian did not rule out appealing to world soccer govering body FIFA against a controversial injury time goal which was disallowed.
"I want to make myself 100 percent sure of what happened before advising the Bahrain Football Association," said Peruzovic. "We will watch the action replay before taking any decision."
This second leg playoff for Germany 2006 will be remembered more for the spills rather than thrills.
Trinidad dominated the first-half pressing hard and deep but time and again they failed to cap their moves with a goal as they found tall and lanky defender Sayed Mohammed Adnan and goalkeeper Ali Hassan almost impossible to beat.
Bahrain, on the other hand, seemed under immense pressure in front of a packed house and took time to settle down. The persevering Trinidad midfielders did not make their task easy either, hustling and harrassing constantly for that vital goal.
Kenywne Jones made the first attempt at goal midway through the first-half when his long ranger went over the Bahrain goal.
In the 31st minute, another Trinidad move came to grief as Stern John did well to control a Marvin Andrews pass from the right.
The Derby county striker also did well to beat Adnan but at the moment of reckoning he fumbled and his shot crashed into goalkeeper Hassan.
Trinidad also got three set-piece free kick opportunities from three different angles on the edge of the penalty area in the first-half, but all three were wasted due to lack of proper planning and precision.
Trinidad almost threw away the match in the 40th minute when goalkeeper Kelvin Jack made a complete hash of judging a long ball from Adnan with Bahrain striker Hussain Ali lurking dangerously close in the penalty area.
But Andrews saved Trinidads day by heading the ball out and the Caribbeans continued to press forward with renewed vigour.
Trinidads perseverance finally paid off four mintues after the restart when the Wrexham defender Lawrence headed home a Yorke corner much to the delight of coach Leo Beenhakker.
Goalkeeper Hassan kept a glimmer of hope alive for Luka Peruzovics team by making a couple of fines savs later in the second-half but the hosts still could not find the equaliser.
All Bahrain managed was a controversy when Hussain Ali kicked the ball out of goalkeeper Jack's hands and scored even though referee Oscar Ruiz had already blown the whistle.
A free-for-all ensued as the referee was pushed around by Bahrain players resulting in a red card for Hussain Baba.
Still, Bahrain made one final attempt through Talal Yousef. But Trinidad goalkeeper Jack rose to the occasion and fisted out a brave effort from the top of the box.
