On 10 June at 18:00 CET, Sweden will open their account against first-timers Trinidad and Tobago at the FIFA World Cup Stadium Dortmund. The Europeans will surely be considered heavy favourites, but the Caribbean debutants, led by their experienced coach Leo Beenhakker, will be keen to spoil the party.

The players
Tiny Trinidad’s hopes will be pinned squarely on their two ageing stars, Dwight Yorke and Russell Latapy. Still considered driving forces, the pair will be doing their all to set the table for top scorer Stern John while imposing Rangers centre-back Marvin Andrews tidies up at the back. He and goalkeeper Shaka Hislop are bound to have plenty of work to do with Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Henrik Larsson and Freddie Ljungberg leading the attacking threat for the Swedes. In all, the match should represent something of a baptism of fire for T&T – the smallest nation ever to qualify for a FIFA World Cup™ finals and only the fourth participant from the Caribbean.

How they qualified
After the decision was made to award the fourth team in the CONCACAF Zone spot a play-off against Asia's fourth team, Trinidad and Tobago jumped on the opportunity. After finishing behind the USA, Mexico and Costa Rica, they were victorious in a two-legged play-off with Bahrain for a spot in Germany. Sweden, on the other hand, roared to the top of European qualifying Group 8 to finish level on points with Croatia. Although they finished second in the group, their impressive points return - they won eight of their ten games - earned them one of the automatic qualifying places for best runners-up.

Previous meetings
As this will be T&T’s first finals, the two sides have clearly never met on the world’s top stage. But the two did square off once before, in November 1983 in Port of Spain when the home side were beaten 5-0. They will be hoping for better things this time around as they aim to become the first finals debutant from CONCACAF to win their opening match.

Tournament history
Previously, the closest T&T came to reaching the finals was in 1990 when they needed only a draw at home against the United States to reach Italy. Yorke and Latapy were both in the team that lost out that day. Sweden, for their part, have an impressive finals history. In 1958 they reached the Final on home soil. They also finished fourth in 1938 and reached the semi-finals again in 1994. In all they have qualified for ten instalments of the FIFA World Cup and are never an easy opponent.

Key contest
The responsibility of keeping a lid on the Swedish strike force of Ibrahimovic and Larsson will fall to Andrews. But if he and Hislop stand firm, Trinidad have a chance as John, Yorke and Latapy could give Olof Mellberg and Co a hard time at the other end.

The coaches
Dutchman Beenhakker took over for Trinidad midway through a stop-start qualifying campaign. The team’s fortunes immediately improved with the former Real Madrid, Ajax and Netherlands boss on board. He commands the respect of the players and seems to have brought a little discipline to a team not short of skill. Sweden coach Lars Lagerback, meanwhile, is known as a pure player’s manager. Now alone after the departure of Tommy Soderberg, he is keen on meticulous preparation and keeps a database of potential opposition players.

Key players for this game imo: YORKE Dwight, LJUNGBERG Freddie, IBRAHIMOVIC Zlatan & LARSSON Henrik. ;D