Trinidad and Tobago women's skipper Karyn Forbes and her teammates brought joy to an almost capacity Dwight Yorke Stadium in Bacolet, Tobago, on Tuesday, when they secured a berth in the final phase of the CONCACAF Zone 2023 FIFA World Cup qualifying series.
They joined the United States, Canada and five other teams still vying for places in the next tournament next phase in Mexico in July. The top two teams from the Mexico playoffs will automatically advance to the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, while the third-placed teams from the two group phases will have another chance in an inter-confederation playoff.
Tuesday's feat was no easy task for Forbes' women, however, as they needed to come from behind twice against a determined Guyana, including a deciding goal from substitute Lauryn Hutchinson in the final minutes, to secure the 2-2 draw they needed to move on as the only Group F team.
That effort alone is worthy of applause.
Of course, the journey has only just begun and the T&T Football Association's main goal now must be to give coach Kenwyn Jones and his team all the tools they need to be successful in the next phase.
Even while the other five qualifiers are unknown at this point, defeating Canada and the United States, a women's powerhouse in CONCACAF, in the next phase will be a Herculean task for T&T.
Coach Jones has spoken about the team's improvement along the most recent journey. Yet, to get the team where it should be to compete with the likes of CONCACAF's best, Jones will need an extensive training camp and warm-up matches against teams of similar strength or better than those they expect to meet in July.
That, however, is easier said than done given the TTFA's current state.
The association remains under the stewardship of the FIFA Normalisation Committee headed by Robert Hadad, with no end in sight to the financial woes which caused the world governing body to form the committee in 2020 with a mandate to revive local football. The Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs has also been unable to provide the financial support in the range it previously did due to the economic strain brought on by the global economic downturn and COVID-19 pandemic.
As such, funding for all national teams has been severely hampered, which has impacted the training and preparation of teams for various competitions.
But this is where the business community must come in.
It is this media house's hope that the business sector will pick up where the TTFA and Government cannot and offer the team the support it desperately needs to properly prepare for the next phase, which is effectively just over three months away.
The men's team has only qualified for a FIFA World Cup once in its history in 2006. Karyn Forbes' team now stands on the verge of a possibility of doing the same. But just as the fans filled the stadium in Bacolet on Tuesday, they need now the support of the 12th man more than ever to give themselves a fighting chance of achieving that goal.