Tobago

Trinidad and Tobago, along with the Czech Republic, advanced to the World Cup for the first time yesterday, the final day of qualifying that began 26 months ago. Spain qualified for its eighth consecutive tournament as the final five berths in the 32-nation field were filled. Switzerland ousted Turkey, and Australia beat Uruguay to advance for the first time since 1974 and become the first nation to qualify for a World Cup in a penalty-kick shoot-out. The qualifiers will be drawn into eight four-team groups Dec. 9 in Leipzig, Germany.

Overhead, the inky sky is spangled with more stars than I think I have ever seen. In the distance and far below me, I can hear the soft lapping of the Caribbean. It is after midnight and the gentle, rhythmic kiss of sea on sand is the only sound, save for the rustling when an occasional zephyr wafts up the hillside and rattles the fronds of nearby palms. I am sitting on the patio of the Crow's Nest, the single deluxe cottage at the Arnos Vale Hotel, a 29-room mini-resort on the southwest coast of this island situated less than 30 miles off the coast of Venezuela.

Last night, a crowd of 10,483 at HersheyPark Stadium saw exactly how wide the gap is between the haves and the have-nots of women's soccer. In an onslaught by the United States against Trinidad and Tobago, the fans also saw Mia Hamm back-heel in a goal off a back-heel pass from Cindy Parlow. Even Hamm, who has scored more international goals than anyone in soccer, conceded that she hadn't seen one quite like that before. It came late in the Americans' 11-0 victory in their opening game in the CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup. "Any time you try something like that, where you're being creative and trying something new and it actually works, it's exciting," said Parlow, who scored three goals of her own. When Parlow headed in a 25-yard pass from Brandi Chastain in the 72d minute, she had her third hat trick in a month and her fourth of the year.

The U.S. men's national soccer team will open the final round of regional qualifying for the 2002 World Cup with a home game against Mexico in February. A draw conducted yesterday called for the United States, trying to qualify for its fourth straight World Cup, to host Mexico on Feb. 27 or 28 at a site and time to be determined. The United States will play a home-and-home series with each of the five other finalists, with the top three finishers qualifying for the World Cup finals, to be played in South Korea and Japan.

The Caribbean isn't known to be cheap, but you can stretch your dollar on these islands, shermanstravel.com says. Look for all-inclusives or locally owned villas and inns. 1. Aruba 2. The Bahamas 3. Dominican Republic 4. Jamaica 5. Montserrat 6. Puerto Rico 7. St. Kitts 8. St. Maarten 9. Trinidad & Tobago 10. St. Thomas, USVI

For pregame hype, even Super Bowl officials could learn a few things from this Caribbean island. Today's decisive World Cup qualifying match between the soccer teams of the United States and Trinidad and Tobago is not being regarded here as a mere sporting event. "It is the biggest moment in the history of the country," said Eustace Ward, a former sports editor of the Trinidad Guardian. Ward is not alone in his opinion. Unemployment in Trinidad and Tobago is at 25 percent and its dollar has been severely devalued since the oil boom ended in the early '80s.

THE UNION selected Eric Schoenle (West Virginia), Uriah Bentick (Liberty), Mark Linnville (Princeton), Jake Keegan (Binghamton) and Leonardo Fernandes (Stony Brook) in the supplemental draft Tuesday. With the No. 12 pick, the Union selected Schoenle, 21, a defender and local product from Yardley who attended Pennsbury High School and played for the Yardley Makefield Soccer youth club. At No. 17, the club picked Bentick, 23, a senior defender and native of Trinidad and Tobago.

Coach April Heinrichs has tried to ingrain in the minds of the U.S. women's soccer players that their toughest competition might come from themselves. It's working so far. Two days after routing Trinidad and Tobago, 11-0, in their Gold Cup tournament opener, the Americans overpowered Costa Rica, 8-0, yesterday in front of a crowd of 7,043 at Cardinal Stadium in Louisville, Ky. "Today, and against Trinidad and Tobago, we didn't have to be on the cutting edge of our game, but we played on the cutting edge of our game," Heinrichs said.

Steel audiences curious about steel-drum music will find no shortage of material in record stores. There are performances by solo pan players, small limbo-lounge groups and steel-drum ensembles that number up to 100 drummers plus a small percussion section. Some concentrate on European classical music, while others re-invent calypso hits in elaborate arrangements designed to show off the ensemble's agility in the yearly Panorama steel-band competition held in Port-of-Spain, capital of Trinidad and Tobago.

ABC and ESPN will broadcast their fourth straight World Cup next year and will televise all 64 games in high definition. The networks will not decide until after the draw on Dec. 9 how to split the games among ABC, ESPN and ESPN2, they said yesterday. All games of the tournament, which will be played in Germany from June 9 to July 9, will be broadcast live. For the 2002 World Cup, in Japan and South Korea, 58 games were televised live, with the final on ABC, 16 on ESPN and the rest on ESPN2.