Trinidad & Tobago became the seventh team from the region of Concacaf to win its first-ever FIFA World Cup qualifier after defeating visiting Suriname, 4:1, at the Queen's Park Oval in Port of Spain on 7 February 1965 during qualification for the World Cup in England, 1966.

The Soca Warriors joined Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, Jamaica, Mexico and the United States as CONCACAF sides to win a qualifying match on the first try.

Founded in 1908 and one of the oldest football federations in the region, the Trinidad & Tobago Football Federation (TTFF) did not become an official member of FIFA until the 1964 Ordinary Congress in Tokyo, Japan. Already a Concacaf member two years earlier, Trinidad & Tobago had already played a total of 90 international matches, winning 50, since its formation prior to its first World Cup qualifier.

"It was an historic time for Trinidad & Tobago as we had just earned our independence from being a English colony (in 1962) and the Trinidad & Tobago Football Federation had just become a FIFA member so it was a great experience and joyful moment for all of us,"

These words are from Alvin Corneal in 2012, who scored the Soca Warriors' game-winning goal on that day in February 1965.

"We had a great expectation leading up to the match as we knew Suriname was a very strong team with many players coming from clubs in the Netherlands. We were able to prepare for the challenge by playing against several English clubs prior to the qualifier and our standard style of play enabled us to work well in dominating the match (against Suriname) in order to obtain a favorable result."

After forward Jeff Gellineau opened the scoring for Trinidad & Tobago in the first 60 seconds of the Group 2 match thanks to a Corneal assist, Siegfried Haltman leveled it three minutes later for Suriname.

In the 28th minute, Corneal scored to the delight of a home crowd in excess of 32,000.

"I had been on the national team for the last 10 years so this was a special moment for me in front of such a large crowd of spectators to watch a football match at the Queen's Park Oval, which is normally a cricket stadium,"

Corneal, who went on to become a FIFA Instructor and member of the FIFA, CONCACAF Technical Committees, recalls further:

"Along with scoring the second goal for us, I assisted on the first and fourth."

After Andrew Aleong increased the lead in the 38th minute, Corneal assisted on Aleong's second tally early in the second half, ensuring a Soca Warriors' victory.

Trinidad & Tobago's quest to reach the 1966 World Cup ended as it was eliminated from group play after losing its remaining three encounters.

“We didn't expect to qualify or want to overshadow anyone. We had a great experience competing and were fortunate winning the first match, however, we had never been at a World Cup Qualifying match away from home and there were many different situations. As our coach (British Native - Conrad Brathwaite) at the time said 'away encounters are another cup of tea.'"

The Soca Warriors lost twice to Costa Rica (4:0 in San José; 1:0 in Port of Spain) and then were beaten in the return match against Suriname (6:1). Corneal continued:

"We had very difficult crowds and we especially learned a hard lesson of the usage of substitutions as we paid the penalty for it in both Costa Rica and Suriname, but we took the most positive from the experience out of them. In the return encounter against Costa Rica, we had another full house at the Queen's Park Oval as we controlled the game, and I even missed a goal (just before Ticos scored the game-winner). Costa Rica was smart and maintained possession, while they took advantage of their opportunities as we didn't."

Two years later, Corneal joined eight other World Cup Qualifying teammates (Goalkeeper - Lincoln Phillips; DF - Tyrone De La Bastide; MD - Victor Gamaldo, Sedley Joseph; AT - Andrew Aleong, Gerry Browne, Jeff Gellineau, Pat Small) as the Soca Warriors competed in their first Pan American Games Men's Tournament in Winnipeg, Canada, where the squad claimed the bronze medal.

"The team took the learning experience from World Cup Qualifying and in our first appearance at the Pan American Games where we defeated Argentina (1:0) and Colombia (5:2) and later captured the bronze (defeated Canada 4:1), which to this day is the only medal Trinidad & Tobago has won in the Pan American Games."

Trinidad & Tobago would finally realize its FIFA World Cup dream, when it qualified for Germany 2006 after winning a two-game playoff against Bahrain.