HexagonalBlog

How did Canada concede eight goals?

Canada's 8-1 capitulation to Honduras in San Pedro Sula today defied all expectation.  Canada's task wasn't easy -- they had to hold the catrachos to a point in a hostile environment and a must-win match for Honduras.  But the manner in which the Canadians lost must be extremely dismaying to their supporters north of the border.

CONCACAF lays out the Third Round roadmap

CONCACAF, with uncharacteristically fast speed, announced the schedule of the Third Round of World Cup qualifying within 24 hours of the conclusion of the last matches in the Second Round.  (CONCACAF's press release announced the schedule up to Round 4; you can find the full calendar at the Wikipedia page.)  The Third Round, which to long-time CONCACAF observers is also called the Semifinal Round, will take place between 8 June and 16 October, which will stretch out the Group Stage schedule in the CONCACAF Champions League.  It is very possible that a MLS team will have to finish its final CCL group matches and play a MLS Cup playoff game in quick succession.

Everything settled in CONCACAF semifinal groups

Heading into last night's matches, two of the six second round group winners were known.  The two teams that needed only a point were playing on the road; while the pair that required a win to advance were playing at home.  In the end, all of the group leaders won the points that they needed to settle the second round of World Cup qualifying with a match to spare.

Pre-qualifier roundup: Groups D-F

This is a continuation of a press roundup heading into the critical pair of World Cup qualifiers, focused on action in Groups D, E, and F.

GROUP D

After a training session in Florida, the Canadian national team travelled to St. Kitts and Nevis for their qualifier tonight.  A point will clinch first place in the group; if they lose, they still would require a point in the return match in Toronto.  The match will be streamed live by Canadian media company Sportsnet.

I'm a little incredulous when I read the CBC Sports headline "Canada faces tough test in St. Kitts".  I know that SKN have the highest FIFA ranking of the three opponents in Canada's group, but a side that sees itself as a competitor to Mexico, Honduras, and the USA should not view St. Kitts and Nevis as a challenging game, proper respect to opponent aside. 

Keith Gumbs, who has carved out quite a reputation for himself in southeast Asia, is still representing the Caribbean team at age 39, but he will be isolated in attack now that Vancouver's Atiba Harris is unavailable due to injury.  There will be a small but spirited crowd at Warner Park in Basseterre.

Puerto Rico finish their qualifying campaign against St. Lucia, building upon their goalless draw against Canada while laying the grounds for the future.  Coach Jeaustin Campos has given 18-year-old Jackie Marreno a start up front and placed three other U-20 players on the substitutes' bench.  The federation also decided to play the home match against St. Lucia in Mayagüéz in an effort to promote the game throughout the county.

GROUP E

Guatemala have won the group, and will finish the second round group stage with a home-and-away series against Grenada.  With passage to the semifinal round secure, Ever Almeida decided not to call up most of the foreign based players; only Guillermo Ramírez (Motagua) and José Castillo (University of Virginia) were named in the squad.  Ramírez has been the surprise callup as he has not started for Motagua in the Honduran league. 

The Grenadans had complications entering Guatemala because several players did not have a visa (why was this not handled in advance by the Grenada FA?), which forced half of the team to remain in Panama City while the visa processing was completed.  The full squad was able to enter the country and perform training sessions at Estadio Mateo Flores. 

St. Vincent are in Belize for their World Cup qualifier tonight.  There is a gushing profile on one of the Belizean news sites on striker Deon McCauley, who is tied for the goalscoring lead in the CONCACAF qualifiers.  He's only 24 and plays for Deportes Savio in Honduras, so who knows, maybe he'll get a look by one of the Big Five in Honduras in the future.

GROUP F

Antigua and Barbuda meet Haiti in another winner-take-all series.  Antigua have zoomed up the FIFA rankings on the basis of some lopsided results in their group matches, while Haiti have had relatively less impressive scorelines.  When you look at their previous matches, their respective performances against Curaçao stand out.  Antigua defeated Curaçao on the road 1-0, but Haiti had to fight back from two goals draw to rescue a point at home to the Antillan nation.  So now Haiti must win at least four points to go through to the next round. 

Antigua's squad, as you might expect, has a strong English flavor.  Haiti's squad is from all over -- Jean Alexandre is from Florida (from my high school in fact) and plays for Real Salt Lake -- but they have incorporated several players who play in Ligue 1 or Belgium's Pro League.  This qualifying campaign has already turned out to be an expensive one for the Antiguan/Barbudan FA -- at least EC$500,000 (Eastern Caribbean dollars), which is around US$180k. 

The other match features US Virgin Islands and Curaçao, the two battered teams in the group.  USVI's NFL player turned goalkeeper has had a rough introduction to international play, and it's been a learning experience for the rest of the team and federation as well.  Curaçao haven't been good enough, but they will attempt to preserve some honor in their final two games.

Pre-qualifier roundup: Groups A-C

With the decisive series of World Cup qualifiers over the next five days, it's time to look around the region and find out how preparations are going.

GROUP A

El Salvador left for Suriname yesterday, needing just a point to win passage to the third round of the qualifiers and a win to set a new record for consecutive victories in World Cup qualifiers.  Part of the players' minds is focused on the game, but the other part is thinking of Rodolfo Zelaya, who suffered knee and leg injuries in a league match for his Russian club over the weekend.  Zelaya will be out for at least six months, and his absence will be felt in the national team, although it probably won't stop them from advancing to the next group stage.  El Salvador's captain Luís Anaya has been barred from leaving the country while he handles a court case (domestic dispute I gather from reading the papers).

In the Surinamese camp, the mood is of cautious optimism, but everyone knows that the country's World Cup hopes are hanging by a thin thread.  Only two wins will suffice for them.

Incidentally, tonight's qualifier will be broadcast in El Salvador and the USA through Traffic Sports.

Dominican Republic and Cayman Islands will meet in the first of two dead matches, but both sides are taking the match seriously.  The Dominicans want to finish strongly so as to improve their FIFA ranking, while the Caymans want to play and have fun.  It's difficult for an amateur side to progress any further than the Caymans already have. It's also difficult to finish a six-match group series and break even, something that the DR's federation is experiencing.

GROUP B

Tonight is the biggest match in Guyanese football history.  Defeat the Soca Warriors (who are undefeated head-to-head versus Guyana), and the Jaguars will advance to the semifinal round of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying for the first time.  Any other result will set up a winner-take-all situation in Port-of-Spain next week.  The level of excitement in Georgetown approaches that of other famous qualifiers in the region, like T&T-USA in 1989 or Jamaica-Mexico in 1997. 

Guyanese players have a long history of participation in Trinidadian leagues, but not so much today and at any rate their two highest-profile players are based overseas. Leon Cort has played defender for a number of English teams over his career (currently on loan at Charlton Athletic), while Gregory Richardson has played for a couple of teams in the North American Soccer League (with a very brief audition at the Colorado Rapids in between).  T&T's team are not as experienced in this cycle as in previous qualifying editions, and their preparation remains to be a subject of criticism, but when you look at the relative difference between the teams, Trinidad & Tobago still come out ahead.  This is also the first time that Guyana has played a truly high-stakes match, while several members of the Soca Warriors played in the World Cup playoff against Bahrain six years ago.  Will it be another "November moment" for T&T?

The other match in the group is the B-list derby between Bermuda and Barbados.  The home-and-away series has now become two home matches for Bermuda after the Barbadian FA forfeited their home match in order to save on transportation costs.  Bermuda captain Khano Smith says that his team's goal is a spot in the FIFA Top 100, which two wins could help achieve.  Given the financial constraints of the participating teams, there is the serious risk of going into a deep hibernation after next week, which would ruin any momentum generated during the group stage.

GROUP C

Panama have clinched first place in the three-team group. 

Nicaragua will wrap up their World Cup qualifying campaign with a home match against Dominica. Team colors have been sorted out, and the Nicaraguans will want to exit on a high after the 5-1 defeat to Panama in their last match.  There will be no financial incentives to the Dominican players this time.

Handicapped two-legs to finish CONCACAF WCQ second round

With the exception of the contracted Group C, all of the second round groups in CONCACAF's World Cup qualifying will finish with home-and-away matches between the same two teams.  It is quite odd that CONCACAF chose to schedule the games this way instead of the usual double round-robin, but the schedule has created two-leg series with a twist in four of the six groups.

Matchday 2 of CONCACAF Second Round as it happened

Joined in progress, it's the second matchday of the second round of  CONCACAF World Cup qualifying.  Here we go:

[Group B] Barbados 0-2 Trinidad & Tobago F
[Group A] Dominican Republic 1-1 Suriname F
[Group F] US Virgin Islands 1-8 Antigua & Barbuda F
[Group E] Belize 1-2 Guatemala F
[Group D] St. Lucia 2-4 St. Kitts & Nevis F
[Group B] Guyana 2-1 Bermuda F
[Group D] Puerto Rico 0-3 Canada F
[Group F] Curaçao 2-4 Haiti F
[Group A] Cayman Islands 1-4 El Salvador F
[Group C] Nicaragua 1-2 Panama F

Commentary after the jump.  Your comments in the comment section of this post or in reply to my Twitter handle (@hexablog).

Matchday 1 of CONCACAF Second Round as it happened

Today CONCACAF World Cup qualifying starts for 19 more national associations in the confederation, with matches going on from Toronto to Georgetown.  (Or is Paramaribo further south?)  This post will be updated throughout the day with results and events as they come in, but I'll be working so it will be more of a semi-live blog.  Matches have kicked off in some places, so here we go:

[Group F] Haiti 6-0 US Virgin Islands F
[Group E] Grenada 0-2 Belize F
[Group B] Trinidad & Tobago 1-0 Bermuda F
[Group A] Suriname 1-0 Cayman Islands F
[Group C] Dominica 0-2 Nicaragua F
[Group F] Antigua & Barbuda 0-0 Curaçao ?
[Group A] El Salvador 3-2 Dominican Republic F
[Group B] Guyana 2-0 Barbados F
[Group D] Canada 4-1 St. Lucia F
[Group D] St. Kitts & Nevis 0-0 Puerto Rico F
[Group E] Guatemala 4-0 St. Vincent & Grenadines F

Kickoff times in Eastern time (GMT -4).

Commentary will be under the jump.  You are welcome to make comments on today's matches in the comments section, or to my Twitter account (@hexablog).

A hurried preview of the CONCACAF second round

Hopes for a detailed preview went out of the window thanks to business matters, and with the first qualifiers kicking off in a little over an hour right now there won't be much time for an in-depth analysis.  Nevertheless, here is a look at the six groups and my expectations for how things will shake out.

Bahamas withdraws from 2014 World Cup qualifying!

Shocking news coming out of the Caribbean this afternoon.  News outlets in Panama are saying that the Bahamas FA have announced that they have withdrawn from the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying tournament.  The announcement came in the form of a memorandum sent by FIFA's head of Qualifying Competitions to the Panamanian FA.  No official confirmation has been made by FIFA at this writing, but if you look at the fixture list for the next three months, no matches involving the Bahamas are listed. 

The withdrawal means that Group C now becomes a three-team group, composed of Panama, Dominica, and Nicaragua.  Only six matches are needed to play the double round-robin, so we will see one group match on the six international matchdays between September and November.

I have to wonder if there are other CONCACAF minnows who are giving a hard look at their capabilities of carrying out a six-match qualifying program.  If so, I fear that the Bahamas may not be the only withdrawal from the CONCACAF qualifiers.

UPDATE: About two hours ago there was a news release from CONCACAF that communicated Bahamas' withdrawal from the competition, but now I cannot find any mention of it on their website.  It's hard to find anything on CONCACAF's website but could there be a reversal? (Here it is. -H)

Whatever the excuse is from the FA, it can't have anything to do with the lack of an international stadium.

UPDATE #2: This article from the Nassau Guardian explains the main issue behind the reported withdrawal.  Bahamas' national stadium was rebuilt thanks to financing and construction funded by the Chinese (PRC) government.  The Chinese part of the project was completed on time, but the Bahamian part of the project -- construction of roads, sewer systems, parking and landscaping -- started at least four months late.  Worse, the stadium operation teams, which have to be staffed by Bahamaians, have not yet been formed. 

As a result, Bahamas has a gleaming new stadium that is inoperable, like a sports car with no gas or tires.  What a profound embarrassment.  The costs to Bahamian football could be severe, at minimum a CHF20,000 fine up to and including exclusion from future World Cup qualifying cycles. (cf FIFA World Cup regulations)