Brief thoughts on second-round action

Some quick thoughts on what I have seen, read, and heard during the second round of qualifying:

• Everyone is happy at the end of Puerto Rico-Honduras.  Honduras is happy that they're in the semifinal group stage, and Puerto Rico is happy because they've shown how far they've progressed in the last four years.
• Grenada had Costa Rica on their heels, and then self-destructed.  Looks like Costa Rica will survive and advance to the semis.  Again.
• You know, maybe this Guyana team is for real after all.  I don't think Suriname did enough in Paramaribo to give them a chance for the return in Georgetown.
• Guatemala performed the way you'd expect a mid-level Central American team to play against a weak Caribbean side.
• The USA performed the way you'd expect the top team in the region to play against a weak Caribbean side.
• Jamaica's performance against the Bahamas -- okay, that was a bit of a surprise.
• You have to wonder how the Belize-Mexico match would have ended up if they were able to play the first leg in Belize.
• Bermuda has a golden opportunity for a major upset, and after all of the off-field turmoil it would be no more than what T&T deserve.
• Group 3 has the potential for upsets in every tie.  Way too close for comfort for Guyana, Costa Rica, Haiti, and Panama.

More tomorrow, and if you watched the matches this weekend please leave your impressions in the comments.

Comments

[Steven Englert]

• Yanks-Barbados After watching Euro2008 you realize the big difference in the USA Barbados game. The open space Barbados gave the US was ridiculous. The Yanks would just pass the ball wide instead of attacking. Yes the US kept the ball and the other team can not score if you have the ball and maybe that was the coach’s game plan but PLEASE! The yanks should have ran right at Barbados with all that open space in the middle. The 1st half was too close. Barbados just was not fit enough to play against "professional" players and the fitness open major room for the US. 8-0 is what it would have been. Not that impressed.

• Honduras-Puerto Rico I am glad Puerto Rico is improving. A draw against one of the top teams in CONCACAF is impressive in WC qualifying. I wish they entered the Caribbean Cup to see how they have progressed against the Caribbean nations. Without being in the Caribbean Cup automatically cancels them out of any chance for the Gold Cup. Hopefully they can make some money and play the next cycle.

• Jamaica score was nice to see. Everyone always likes to see goals and attacking soccer. Glad to see Jamaica back in form. The colorful and buoyant fans are fun to watch. They have a great soccer atmosphere in Kingston.

• CR-Grenada has a tough opponent in Grenada. Sharlie Joseph is a very good holding MF player. He is tall and powerful and can win many balls there. CR better be prepared to play their asses off at home.

• Suriname-Guyana I wish one of these teams could rise in CONCACAF and maintain a quality team that could challenge the top team in the region. They are both located in South America and I thought every country field quality teams there……

• T&T –Bermuda I do not like T&T because of Warner. Hopefully losing to Bermuda will shake thing up are T&T can rid themselves of him

• Belize-Mexico This would have been a treat in Belize to play Mexico in Belize. The Belize federation made 1.5 Million by playing in the States and that $ should go directly to funding a qualified FIFA field/ facilities for their national team.

• Guatemala-ST. LUCIA 24,000 turned out to see Guatemala plat St Lucia. That is impressive because Guatemala has not shown any offense in recent years and this is not a “big” time opponent. Guatemala fans like the game none the less and were finally treated to some goals by their nation team.
• Haiti-Netherlands Antilles Looking at the rosters people this Haiti is the favorite. I disagree….the roster would indicate The Netherlands Antilles will win out. Even if is against the Caribbean Champion.
• Can-St Vincent Canada won 3-0. Canada has a good defensive tea, They are fit and have a creator in their midfield. St Vincent always punched above their weight and have numerous “giant” kills on their record. 3-0 is about right.
• Did anyone defect from the Cuban club?

[Eric]

I'm excited to see some new threats. It would be awesome if T&T were knocked out, but I have too much 'faith' in Warner's power.

While I have had tons of beefs with USL, the simple existence of the Hogges and Islanders have done wonders for their national teams. If that drives more Caribbean nations to join the USL, I won't complain a bit.

[Kab]

Everyone keeps talking about how Puerto Rico has "improved." What's really happening is the introduction of a whole bunch (about 6) naturalized players that play for the Islanders. They have no real history with Puerto Rico! They even hold only American passports. The federation has an established policy of building the team up for a few years by integrating B-level mainland talent, then gradually "phasing these out." What looks to happen, though, is that the Puerto Rico the team will end up being a USA B squad, half-filled with Americans not good enough for the USMNT, and the rest with mediocre homegrown talent.

How is this good for Caribbean football? How is this fair to other countries? It's a sham... It's one thing to naturalize a Brazilian or two, a whole other to field a team half of which half lived in the "country" something like 3 years. Really shameful... and yet people call this "progress."

[David V.]

As a dedicated Australian fan of the game I have to say that we faced teams in Oceania who are actually weaker than many Caribbean sides, and likely will never have the opportunities that are presented to them in CONCACAF. The magnitude of the USA's win over Barbados is interesting, from the perspective that Barbados did have 4 English-based pros in their team (Paul Ifill being most notable).

Grenada would appear to have made a great deal of progress, despite its small base, giving a reasonable account of themselves against the USA in the '06 qualifiers and now against Costa Rica.

Bermuda are reaping the rewards of the efforts of Shaun Goater and Kyle Lightbourne through the Hogges.

Cuba and Suriname have no pros in their national side, for different reasons:
- football, as with other sports in Cuba, is strictly amateur. Now during the Communist era football was nominally amateur in the Soviet Bloc and China but in reality it wasn't. Cuba seems to more stritcly enforce amateurism in team sports than those did.

- Suriname might theoretically claim to have a large pool of talent, of Dutch-born or Dutch-based players with Surinamese roots. However, these players end up playing for the Netherlands, and they can't play for Suriname anyway- it appears that foreign-based pros are barred from playing for Surianme.

This isn't even a new phenomenon, for years the Scandinavian nations had enforced a similar "amateur only" rule, while South American countries apparently followed an unwritten rule of not selecting players who went abroad, before the 1970s changed all that.