Court ruling saves England's friendly with T&T

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (AP) - A judge ruled on Friday that Trinidad's soccer federation must pay US$24,000 (€15,300) in stadium fees, guaranteeing that the sold-out friendly between Trinidad and England will take place.

Judge Carol Gobin said the Ministry of Sports cannot charge 10 percent of gate receipts as it had been demanding.

"The game will go on," she said.

Both sides said they would honor the ruling, which stated the payment must be made by next Tuesday.

The June 1 friendly at Hasely Crawford Stadium was under threat of being canceled because the federation accused the government of charging a higher stadium fee than agreed to.

Sports Minister Gary Hunt said this week the government was charging US$24,000 (€15,300) or 10 percent of the gate receipts, and said federation officials knew it could increase the fee at any time.

"We're happy that this matter has been resolved, and we're sorry that it has come to this point," said Om Lalla, attorney for the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation.

Earlier on Friday, he had refused to meet with government officials to talk about the disputed stadium fee, and accused them of deliberately trying to embarrass the federation.

Lalla requested that Trinidad's High Court settle the matter.

All 23,000 tickets have been sold for the match.