T&T’s dom­i­nant 4-0 vic­to­ry over Cu­ba in the Gold Cup Pre­lims at the Ato Boldon Sta­di­um in Bal­main, Cou­va on Tues­day night, was more than just a foot­ball match—it was a cel­e­bra­tion of uni­ty, re­silience, and na­tion­al pride. The out­pour­ing of sup­port from fans, the ca­ma­raderie among play­ers, and the sheer pas­sion on dis­play showed what foot­ball can do for a na­tion: bring peo­ple to­geth­er.

The road to the sta­di­um was not with­out its chal­lenges. Heavy traf­fic made get­ting to the match dif­fi­cult for many, but fans per­se­vered, demon­strat­ing their un­wa­ver­ing sup­port for the team. The T&T Foot­ball As­so­ci­a­tion (TTFA) recog­nis­es these lo­gis­ti­cal hur­dles and will con­tin­ue to make ef­forts to im­prove the match­day ex­pe­ri­ence for sup­port­ers and stake­hold­ers. En­sur­ing a smoother process for every­one in­volved re­mains a pri­or­i­ty as we move for­ward in this cam­paign.

It was heart­en­ing to see fans ar­riv­ing in dozens as ear­ly as 4.30 pm—some­thing we have not wit­nessed in a long time. The ex­cite­ment and an­tic­i­pa­tion were pal­pa­ble, as sup­port­ers took pho­tos in the des­ig­nat­ed self­ie zone and penned well wish­es to the team on the mon­tage. These mo­ments of in­ter­ac­tion and en­gage­ment show­cased the re­newed pas­sion and deep con­nec­tion be­tween the team and its sup­port­ers.

Be­yond the game it­self, the tim­ing of this match was sig­nif­i­cant. In a pe­ri­od of height­ened po­lit­i­cal ten­sion and na­tion­al dis­course sur­round­ing the gen­er­al elec­tions, foot­ball pro­vid­ed a wel­come dis­trac­tion—a mo­ment for the coun­try to col­lec­tive­ly ex­hale. It re­in­forced the idea that sports, at their core, are more than just com­pe­ti­tion; they are a means of heal­ing, of find­ing com­mon ground, and of re­mind­ing us of the pride that unites us all.

In­ter­act­ing with key fig­ures and stake­hold­ers re­mains a cru­cial part of the mis­sion. En­gag­ing with lead­ers and de­ci­sion-mak­ers is not just a du­ty but a re­spon­si­bil­i­ty, as we con­tin­ue to push for the growth and de­vel­op­ment of our foot­ball and by ex­ten­sion coun­try. I had the op­por­tu­ni­ty to per­son­al­ly en­gage with Prime Min­is­ter Stu­art Young SC, Na­tion­al Gas Com­pa­ny (NGC) chair­man Dr Joseph Khan and NGC pres­i­dent (Ag) Ed­mund Sub­ryan, dis­cussing the im­por­tance of on­go­ing sup­port for the sport. These in­ter­ac­tions were not about per­son­al judge­ment or pick­ing sides but about en­sur­ing that foot­ball re­mains a uni­fy­ing force and re­ceives the back­ing it needs to flour­ish.

The team’s per­for­mance against Cu­ba was an­oth­er in­di­ca­tion of steady progress. With each game, the squad has shown im­prove­ment, demon­strat­ing bet­ter co­he­sion, sharp­er ex­e­cu­tion, and an in­creas­ing con­fi­dence that bodes well for the chal­lenges ahead. This vic­to­ry was a state­ment, but there is still work to be done.

The cam­paign ahead is a de­mand­ing one. The Gold Cup jour­ney con­tin­ues, and be­yond that, the World Cup qual­i­fiers loom on the hori­zon. The im­me­di­ate hur­dle, how­ev­er, comes on June 6 against St Kitts and Nevis—a cru­cial test that will de­ter­mine our next step. Hope­ful­ly, that game will be host­ed at the larg­er Hase­ly Craw­ford Sta­di­um in Mu­cu­rapo, Port-of-Spain, where lo­gis­tics will hope­ful­ly be smoother, and fans will have a more seam­less ex­pe­ri­ence.

The work does not stop here. The team will con­tin­ue its de­vel­op­ment, sharp­en­ing its game as we progress through the tour­na­ment and be­yond with the sup­port of TTFA pres­i­dent Kieron Ed­wards, the ex­ec­u­tive and sup­port staff of the gov­ern­ing body. The ded­i­ca­tion of our play­ers, coach­ing staff, and sup­port per­son­nel en­sures that we are on the right path. There is still much to be done, but the com­mit­ment to el­e­vat­ing T&T foot­ball and the coun­try re­mains un­wa­ver­ing.

A spe­cial thank you must be ex­tend­ed to our spon­sors, whose sup­port has been in­valu­able in this jour­ney. Like­wise, the me­dia de­serves recog­ni­tion for their re­newed in­ter­est, as ev­i­denced by the over­whelm­ing pres­ence at Tues­day’s press con­fer­ence. The post-match ses­sion with Dwight Yorke last­ed near­ly 20 min­utes, longer than usu­al in lo­cal set­tings and the en­gage­ment with play­ers in the in­ter­views mixed zone went even longer—both a tes­ta­ment to the ex­cite­ment and at­ten­tion sur­round­ing the team’s per­for­mance.

This win was not just a step for­ward in the Gold Cup—it was a state­ment. T&T foot­ball is alive and thriv­ing, and with con­tin­ued sup­port from fans, stake­hold­ers, and the wider com­mu­ni­ty, the jour­ney ahead looks bright. To­geth­er, we press on.

This week the at­ten­tion switch­es to the Women Un­der-17s and the Con­ca­caf Fi­nal Round of World Cup qual­i­fiers be­gin­ning to­mor­row (Mon­day) at the Ato Boldon Sta­di­um.

Shaun Fuentes is the head of TTFA Me­dia and mar­ket­ing. He was a FI­FA Me­dia Of­fi­cer at the 2010 FI­FA World Cup in South Africa and 2013 FI­FA U-20 World Cup in Turkey. He has trav­eled to 88 coun­tries dur­ing his jour­ney in sport. The views ex­pressed are sole­ly his and not a rep­re­sen­ta­tion of any or­gan­i­sa­tion. shaunfuentes@ya­hoo.com