With granulated sugar in short supply, things just had to go sour.
Wednesday night's defeat to Costa Rica leaves Trinidad and Tobago even more heavily reliant on a favourable combination of results over the final two days of qualifying action to make the painfully elusive dream of a place in the World Cup football finals a glorious reality.
It was bad enough that the national team went down 0-2 in San Jose, but for Guatemala to earn a potentially vital point in a goalless home draw with the already qualified United States compounds a dilemma that will, perversely, reassure the skeptical and the faint-hearted that getting all nervous and anxious about the prospect of going to Germany next year is just a waste of energy.
With only the final two series of games to come, there are still a number of permutations to be considered in the desperate scramble for the third automatic qualifying spot in CONCACAF, or a chance to take on either Uzbekistan or Bahrain by finishing fourth in the region and then being involved in a home-and-away playoff in November to claim the 32nd and last place in the finals.
Mexico, who thrashed cellar-placed Panama 5-0 on Wednesday to confirm their qualification, are now shaping up as the team that could make or break the effort to get into the finals.
Before tackling the national team at the Hasely Crawford Stadium on the last day of qualifying on October 12, the Mexicans will be hosting Guatemala four days earlier.
It is demeaning to rely on the slip-ups or inadvertent generosity of others, but at a time when hope is fading fast, long-suffering fans are prepared to accept anything tossed their way.
An emphatic victory by Mexico over the Guatemalans followed by a Trinidad and Tobago triumph against the men in green and white will be enough to get at least fourth spot and a last chance in the playoffs.
All of this assumes that Dwight Yorke's men will hammer the Panamanians when competition resumes four weeks from tomorrow. Given that they are at the bottom of the standings with no realistic chance of getting to the finals, Panama may be lacking in motivation.
The perpetually hopeful will also be trying to convince themselves that the Mexicans will not be as hungry given that they are already through to Germany '06.
Then you have the conspiracy theorists who will be working out how the Central American nations, and by extension their match officials, will help each other out and keep the Trinis off the grand football stage.
Yet rather than worry about what our neighbours are getting up to in their kitchen gardens, we should again be examining why we are once more on the verge of reaping another crop of broken promises.
For all of the high-intensity drama of the late and dramatic rearguard victory over the Guatemalans last Saturday, the setback experienced in Costa Rica once more exposed fundamental weaknesses in the structure of the national team.
Nothing is more glaring than the defensive frailties. Even if the perennial optimists are rushing to point out that T&T had more than their fair share of scoring chances at the Saprissa Stadium, especially through substitute Scott Sealy in the second half, the embarrassing fact remains that the defensive line is hopelessly inadequate.
To say that it was not as bad as in the game against the Americans almost a month ago is hardly any consolation.
A secondary school team's back four could not have played as poorly as the defenders wearing the national colours in East Hartford.
On the bouncy, artificial surface in San Jose, the Costa Ricans' superior ball control in all areas of the field gave them a decisive advantage, especially as they were often allowed to sprint almost unchallenged into the edge of the penalty area before desperate tackling and blocking eventually kept them at bay.
If possession is nine-tenths of the law, then our national team is, like the general citizenry, a lawless bunch, frequently making a gift of the ball to their hosts.
Our continuing reliance to a disproportionate degree on the contribution of one or two key players is haunting us now and will leave us struggling for years to fill the gap when they are gone.
Russell Latapy (will he be back for the last two games?) had his moments, but was not given the room to impose himself to the extent that he did against the Guatemalans.
Dwight Yorke had to forage deeper and deeper into his own half of the field to try to develop something useful, and Stern John could not capitalise on the half-chances that fell to him.
This cyclical ritual of abandoning proper planning and making radical changes for the sake of instant do-or-die results has failed before and is on the verge of failing again.
Given that there is still a flickering hope of qualification, no one of influence at this stage is interested in that sort of talk right now anyway. We all have to shut up, paint our faces and shout "Go team!" or do whatever else we are told should be the way true supporters behave.
Well, at least the trip to San Jose was not a total loss. I understand every returning passenger on the chartered flight was allowed two bags of Costa Rican sugar to sweeten our mood back home.