10 things you didn't know about--.

Trinidad and Tobago are one of the best teams in the Caribbean, having won the region's cup competition eight times, but 2006 will be their first World Cup. They played their first recorded international in 1934 ( a 3-3 draw with Dutch Guiana ( but they were playing as early as 1923.

Trinidad and Tobago is the least populated country ever to qualify for the World Cup finals.

The national team are nicknamed the Soca Warriors, a moniker which refers not to soccer but a popular brand of music. Soca is a fusion of Trinidad's traditional calypso and Indian music, a style devised by an artist called Lord Shorty in the 1960s. Famous soca songs include 'Who Let The Dogs Out', which was recorded by Anselm Douglas but made a hit by the Baha Men.

Shorty himself grew disillusioned with soca in the 1980s, feeling too many were using the genre to "celebrate the female bottom" rather than compose uplifting music. He changed his name to Ras Shorty I and created a new style of music, fusing reggae and gospel, called jamoo in the 1980s.

As well as calypso and its derivative soca, Trinidad and Tobago is also the home of several other forms of music, including chutney, parang and pichakaree, and limbo-dancing.

Trinidad, which had principally been held by Spain, and Tobago, which had changed hands a number of times, were first brought together when made a colony of Great Britain in 1889. It became independent in 1962 and severed links with the British monarchy in 1976.

Crab and callaloo is the national dish and is often served for Sunday lunch. Callaloo is a spicy, creamy sauce made with dasheen leaves, okra, pumpkin, coconut milk and wild coriander.