German Chancellor Angela Merkel met FIFA vice-president Jack Warner and former FIFA boss Joao Havelange made special reference to the national flag on what was yet another proud day for Trinidad and Tobago in Germany.
Though the "Soca Warriors" have long left German soil, their name seems to have been embedded on the minds of those there as Merkel and World Cup Organising Committee chief Franz Beckenbauer made mention of how delighted they were to have tiny T&T create such a stir as the Organising Committee held a farewell function in Berlin ahead of the final weekend of competition."The German Chancellor said thanks to FIFA for organising and conducting such a successful World Cup as this one. She thanked Mr Beckenbauer and the members of the LOC and when she was introduced to me, she and Beckenbauer were not short of words for Trinidad and Tobago. And then, of course, you had Joao Havelange pointing and smiling at our country's flag as it flew proudly among the 32 countries at the Chancellery," a beaming Warner told Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF) media officer Shaun Fuentes.
"The Chancellor also thanked the previous government of Germany for having successfully laid the foundation for this event, which foundation her new Government followed scrupulously," Warner added.
Some 50,000 volunteers, security personnel and others who contributed were also thanked, including the fans, who numbered 3.2 million.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter was also presented with Germany's highest award.
Warner, in his capacity as CONCACAF president, also made a statement about the confederation being able to hold its own, despite the fact that only one of the four qualifiers advanced beyond the first round.
Special mention was made of T&T's fighting performance which continues to get rave reviews, and the showing of the Mexicans in their narrow loss to Argentina.
"CONCACAF still has a lot to be thankful for, especially over the fact of how T&T performed and this is still the talking point here in Germany and all over the world. It is on the basis of that that several offers have been made by countries for matches against T&T-all of which are being considered now," Warner said.
"While it is true that we in CONCACAF are disappointed in the performance of the USA and Costa Rica, Mexico still made us proud in proceeding to the next round and playing valiantly against Argentina ...so, in a word, CONCACAF's stocks are still very high," he added.
And even though coach Leo Beenhakker's team had to play almost all of the second half against Sweden without defender Avery John after a red card, the "Soca Warriors" were listed as the "Best Behaved" team of the tournament.
This is according to an analysis done by the staff at the British office of Information Builders (IBI), which tracked a string of alternative statistics during Germany 2006, including dives, feigned injuries, referee intimidation, and tantrums, even players who didn't sing their national anthem.
Dwight Yorke and his T&T teammates had the best behaviour record with a Foul Play Index of just 14.
Next were Brazil, Costa Rica and Sweden (all 15) and the US (16).
T&T were caught for just four dives, three tantrums, two fake injuries and three players not singing the anthem.
Angola, Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and Spain all scored perfect marks in anthem participation.
According to their findings from watching TV broadcasts of the 32 teams' games, Italy lead in dives (32), France in tantrums (28), Paraguay in fake injuries (12), and Serbia and Montenegro in players not singing the anthem (31).
Croatia, France, Italy and Portugal are tied in bullying the referee incidents with five, although Croatia played half the games (three) than the others did.
FIFA have their own Fair Play Index, but declined to provide it when asked yesterday.
