THE real terror was supposed to have been Costa Rica, but Trinidad and Tobago's national footballers got a major scare on their way home from San Jose when their American Airlines flight developed trouble and had to be diverted to another airfield.
Hours after their 2-0 loss to Costa Rica at the Ricardo Saprissa Stadium on Wednesday night, the "Warriors" departed San Jose International Airport at 8 a.m. (10 a.m. T&T time) headed for Miami, USA.
But soon after take-off, the AA crew detected smoke in the cabin, after which the captain, John Morrison, made the decision to divert the plane to Liberia on the other side of Costa Rica.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, I kindly ask you to stay in your seats with your belts fastened. Obviously, this is not a normal situation," Morrison announced over the intercom.
"I will have to leave the plane to conduct the inspection," he said on landing.
It had become apparent after take-off that all was not right aboard AA Flight 1700 after it had taken longer than usual to reach cruising speed.
Alarms in the plane soon went off and the flight crew scurried to the aft of the airplane searching for the problem.
Eventually, the captain announced that smoke had been detected in the cabin.
Among those on the flight with the T&T "Warriors" were Americans Jim and Camy Couples, who are regular globe-trotters. The elderly couple were on their way back home, on the outskirts of New Orleans, which they were told was not affected by devastating Hurricane Katrina.
Their return flight, already scheduled to be a long one, was made even longer because of the delay.
It was later discovered that the captain made a decision to head to another landing strip as he would have been forced to endure circling for an hour and a half in order to touch back down at busy San Jose airport.
At one point, Captain Morrison seemed to be battling to control the aircraft, which had dipped low enough at one stage for everyone to see Costa Rican terrain before climbing back above the cloud cover.
Shortly after that scare, the Warriors comforted each other.
"Scottie, are you alright," one team member, who I could not identify, asked T&T striker Jason Scotland.
"Nah! You alright," Scotland retorted.
Once on the ground in Liberia, Warriors goalkeeper Shaka Hislop made a statement with which everyone agreed.
"We're not going back on that plane!" he exclaimed.
Later, it was announced that AA Flight 1961 would arrive in Costa Rica at 3.31 p.m. (5.31 p.m. T&T time).
However, because it would be a smaller aircraft, only some of the passengers would be able to make the trip to Miami.
Until then, none of those aboard AA Flight 1700, including the T&T Warriors, knew whether they will be on the other flight or when they will be going home.