Trinidad and Sweden draw

Trinidad and Tobago held on for a draw and that happened despite playing the whole of the second half with only 10 men. The result means that Sweden failed to win their opening match at a World Cup for the seventh consecutive time.

The last time they won in an opener was back in 1958 when they beat Mexico 3-0.

Sadly the match saw the first red card of the World Cup as Soca Warriors defender Avery John was carded after two reckless tackles.

Cornell Glen had Trinidad and Tobago's best chance with a thumping drive that hit the bar, but they were pinned back for much of the game.

Interestingly the result was almost perfect for England who now only need to beat Trinidad and Tobago on Thursday to progress to the next round. In Group B only England have a goal to their name even though they didn't score it.

Sweden who will also play on Thursday are yet to pick up a win in 2006 so they will need to beat Paraguay to keep their World cup hopes alive.

In the match Sweden looked the more likely of the two teams to find the net and Larsson had a header drift inches over after a Freddie Ljungberg cross and Christian Wilhelmsson drove a stinging shot straight at Hislop.

Marcus Allback should have given Sweden the lead 10 minutes before time but Hislop again pulled off a fine save to keep the score level.

But in the end both teams pick up a point and England are on top of the group with 3 points. Shaka Hislop became the oldest player at the 2006 tournament at 37 years and 108 days.

Trinidad and Tobago: Hislop, Avery John, Sancho, Lawrence, Gray, Birchall, Edwards, Theobald (Whitley 66), Samuel (Glen 53), Stern John, Yorke.
Subs Not Used: Andrews, Charles, Cox, Jack, Ince, Jones, Latapy, Scotland, Wise, Wolfe.

Sent Off: Avery John (46).

Booked: Avery John, Yorke.

Sweden: Shaaban, Linderoth (Kallstrom 79), Mellberg, Lucic, Edman, Ljungberg, Alexandersson, Anders Svensson (Allback 62), Wilhelmsson (Jonson 78), Ibrahimovic, Larsson.
Subs Not Used: Alvbage, Andersson, Elmander, Hansson, Isaksson, Nilsson, Rosenberg, Stenman, Karl Svensson.

Booked: Larsson.

Att: 65,000

Ref: Shamsul Maidin (Singapore).