Trinidad and Tobago is hot right now and not only because the tiny island in the Caribbean has such a warm tropical climate.
Coming off the countries' first ever trip to the FIFA World Cup in Germany, Trinidad and Tobago soccer is becoming more established on a national stage and its players are becoming more and more noticeable.
Fortunately, for the University of South Florida, deep-seeded ties and some coincidences have gone a long way to make Trinidad a pipeline of talent for the Tampa school.
The No. 16-ranked Bulls (5-3-2) boast four players with Trinidad citizenship. Sophomore midfielder Jason Devenish attended high school in Trinidad at Queen's Royal College, sophomores Yohance Marshall (defender) and Kevon Neaves (midfielder) both attended St. Anthony's College and senior defender Kareem Smith was born and raised in Boston but has dual citizenship as his father is a native Trinidadian.
Add assistant coach Ryan Anatol, a former Bulls standout player and native Trinidadian, and USF has a decidedly Caribbean style.
Not only are these players important members of South Florida's team, they are starters who dominate on the field and lead off the field, according to head coach George Kiefer.
"They are key players to the group," Kiefer says. "Yohance is a captain as a sophomore and right when he got here, you could tell he was a leader. He is a real vocal guy. Then, Kevon, for me, is one of the best left-sided players in the country. He is very dynamic and he can beat you off the dribble. Kareem is having his best year this year.
"And then you have Jason who we stumbled upon late last year. All four guys play good minutes. They are all key players."
Marshall, Neaves and Devenish were all best friends growing up in Trinidad. Neaves and Marshall were high school teammates and they took pride in beating Devenish's team time and time again. In fact, in four years of high school, Devenish's team only managed to win one game, a very important game he pointed out, but then went on to lose to Neaves and Marshall's team in the championship.
They have yet to let Devenish live that down.
Devenish was the first Trinidadian player recruited by Anatol after he was named assistant coach. The two had a pre-existing relationship.
"I knew Jason before he got here," Anatol says. "Both coach Kiefer and I were working on recruiting Jason for here. I think partially, me being here, helped his decision to come here. I think it was easier for him and his family because they knew I was over here and they knew there would be someone looking out for him when he got here.
"I think the success we've had with Trinidadians in the past helped as well in getting them all over here."
The reasons for USF's success recruiting in Trinidad are many, but they have been built over the years through relationships.
Kiefer attributes the origin of Trinidad recruiting to a man named Alvin Corneal, who, Kiefer says, began a soccer academy in Trinidad that paved the way for universities in the US to begin looking at Trinidadian players as possible recruits.
Current UConn head coach Ray Reid is the man responsible for Kiefer's ties to Trinidad.
"I've been fortunate to work for coach Reid, who I also played for," Kiefer says. "At Southern Connecticut where I played, some of my better friends on the team were Trinidadian players and they were some of the better players on the team. That right there gives you a connection with some of your better friends who went back to Trinidad to keep you up to speed with what is going on over there.
"And then through working for coach Reid at UConn we never had a team that won a national cfhampionship that didn't have at least two Trinidadian players."
Anatol, a USF player from 1997-2000, joined the Bulls by coincidence and was not recruited by Kiefer who didn't become coach of USF until 2002.
Kiefer, already an advocate of Trinidadian players, hired Anatol back as an assistant coach in 2005 after already recruiting Smith, Marshall and Neaves and the stage became set for the Trinidadian pipeline to grow.
There is another major incentive for Trinidadians to play soccer at USF - the weather.
"Just from a geographical stand point it makes perfect sense for guys from Trinidad to come over here," Anatol explains. "The weather is the same, it's not like they are going up north where they have to play in the cold. And the culture, you look at Florida, you have so many people from the Caribbean and from South America so I think it is a little bit easier for them to come over to Florida and adjust."
Anatol continues, "Then you have the guys on the team from Trinidad, you have myself as one of the coaches, so I think for guys from Trinidad who are looking to come over to the US, it's easier for them to choose USF because they know we look out for guys from Trinidad.
"There is always an adjustment to be made, but I think it is a little bit easier for them here."
And the players all agree that having each other on the team helps in every aspect of their college transition, on and off the field.
"It allows you to play your game," Neaves says. "I played with them in high school, they know how I like the ball. The runs I make and plays I make, we have an understanding.
"He [Marshall] could close his eyes and kick the ball and find me on the field because he always knows where I am."
Coming from overseas to a place where you are the minority can take a toll on any 18-year-old, but having your countrymen by your side helps infinitely.
"On a personal level, off of the field, being away from family and everybody, these guys from Trinidad, they are like your closest family up here," Neaves explains. "You have somebody to speak to if you have a problem or just to have fun and relax when you are stressed about school or something like that."
Marshall says his Trinidadian teammates are like his family, without them his collegiate experience would not have been the same.
Smith is the elder statesman of the group and the younger players look up to him as a big brother, although he balked at this comparison and said he is just a really good friend.
"His roots are from Trinidad," Marshall says. "He just fell in line with us. It is not a problem for him to do anything for us, anything we ask him to do. He has no problem understanding our accent. He makes our same kind of jokes. He plays just like us. He's like the older brother."
With the Florida climate and short plane ride alone, USF is an attractive option for Trinidadian players. Throw in a Trinidadian assistant coach, a head coach with many ties to Trinidad and four star players and you have a recipe for recruiting success.
"When we go recruiting we are looking for the best possible student-athlete and we will go anywhere to find them," Anatol explains. "Coach Kiefer has had a lot of success, both at Southern Connecticut and UConn and now here with guys from Trinidad so we have been able to get that reputation in Trinidad so that the best players in Trinidad want to come to USF."