Leading pack climbs in CONCACAF
Wednesday 7 September 2011
© AFP
Fancied sides Canada, El Salvador, Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago and Guatemala all kept up the form in matchday two of CONCACAF group-stage qualifying for Brazil 2014. The leading quintet all won their second consecutive games of the campaign and are looking likely to stroll into the third round. Join FIFA.com for a tour of all the Tuesday-night action in the New World.
Match of the day
Puerto Rico 0-3 CanadaCanada’s 4-1 win at home last week against St. Lucia looked better on paper than it did on the pitch, but their gritty victory on the road in Bayamon against a tricky Puerto Rico outfit on Tuesday seems to tell the true tale of this crafty Canuck outfit. The first goal of the game came from former youth standout Iain Hume, who has made a miraculous return to club and international football after suffering a life-threatening skull fracture in 2008. The fiery striker, who now plays his club football for Preston North End in England, found the back of the net four minutes before the interval. New standout striker Simeon Jackson and Toisaint Ricketts sealed the deal in the last five minutes as Canada, hoping to reach only their second FIFA World Cup™, are looking comfy at the summit of Group D.
In other actionThe Dominican Republic, usually associated with baseball rather than football, raised a few eyebrows by holding Suriname to a 1-1 draw at home for their first points in Group A. El Salvador, who made heavy weather of their win over the Dominicans last week, picked up their second victory, this time beating Cayman Islands handily 4-1 away from home.
Group B favourites Trinidad and Tobago kept up the form by beating island neighbours Barbados 2-0 on the road in Bridgetown thanks to goals from Keon Daniel and Darryl Roberts. With two wins from two games, Otto Pfister’s Soca Warriors are sitting comfortably atop the group, alongside Guyana, who beat Bermuda 2-1 in Georgetown with both goals coming from Vurlon Mills.
CONCACAF Gold Cup semi-finalists Panama struggled in their opening Group C contest against Nicaragua, but goals from Luis Tejada and Blas Perez eventually led them to a 2-1 victory in Managua.
St. Kitts and Nevis pulled off an impressive result, besting minnows St. Lucia 4-2 for their first win of the campaign. Four different scorers hit the net during the first half for the island side as they move into second place in Group D, two points behind Canada, who put on an impressive winning display in Puerto Rico.
Group E favourites Guatemala didn’t have things all their own way away from home against up-and-comers Belize, but they still managed a 2-1 win with the goals coming from Gustavo Cabrera and Mynor Lopez. The other two teams in the group – St. Vincent and Grenadines and Grenada – meet on 18 September.
Antigua and Barbuda kept up their prolific charge in Group F with an 8-1 win over outgunned US Virgin Islands, whose recent rise in the world ranking is looking little more than an anomaly. The Antiguans are the highest-scoring team in CONCACAF qualifying with 13 goals scored and only three conceded. Haiti aren’t far behind with ten goals overall; their 4-2 win in Curacao sees them tangled for top spot in the section.
Player of the day – Peter Byers (Antigua and Barbuda)Peter Byers, who plays his club football in the USA lower Leagues with LA Blues, is in the mood for goals. After picking up two in the Antiguans 5-2 opening win last week at home against Curacao, the 26-year-old hit-man was on song again on Tuesday, hitting the net three times in less than 20 minutes to put US Virgin Islands to the sword as Antigua and Barbuda roar to the top of top of an all-Caribbean Group F, alongside Haiti. With five goals in two games, Byers is top scorer in CONCACAF qualifying for Brazil 2014.
What they said“We have to go back to the drawing board. Our backs are now firmly against the wall. If we are to have any chance of qualifying, we have to win all of our remaining matches,” Barbados coach Colin Forde on his side’s dwindling hopes after two straight losses.
The number
4 – Say what you will about lightweight St Lucia, but at least they are consistent. The men from the picturesque island nation have conceded the same number of goals in both of their qualifying group games so far – four against Canada and four against St. Kitts and Nevis.
CONCACAF Second Round, Matchday Two
US Virgin Islands 1-8 Antigua and Barbuda
Dominican Republic 1-1 Suriname
Barbados 0-2 Trinidad and Tobago
Belize 1-2 Guatemala
St. Lucia 2-4 St. Kitts and Nevis
Nicaragua 1-2 Panama
Cayman Islands 1-4 El Salvador
Guyana 2-1 Bermuda
Puerto Rico 0-3 Canada
Curacao 2-4 Haiti
Match of the day
Puerto Rico 0-3 CanadaCanada’s 4-1 win at home last week against St. Lucia looked better on paper than it did on the pitch, but their gritty victory on the road in Bayamon against a tricky Puerto Rico outfit on Tuesday seems to tell the true tale of this crafty Canuck outfit. The first goal of the game came from former youth standout Iain Hume, who has made a miraculous return to club and international football after suffering a life-threatening skull fracture in 2008. The fiery striker, who now plays his club football for Preston North End in England, found the back of the net four minutes before the interval. New standout striker Simeon Jackson and Toisaint Ricketts sealed the deal in the last five minutes as Canada, hoping to reach only their second FIFA World Cup™, are looking comfy at the summit of Group D.
In other actionThe Dominican Republic, usually associated with baseball rather than football, raised a few eyebrows by holding Suriname to a 1-1 draw at home for their first points in Group A. El Salvador, who made heavy weather of their win over the Dominicans last week, picked up their second victory, this time beating Cayman Islands handily 4-1 away from home.
Group B favourites Trinidad and Tobago kept up the form by beating island neighbours Barbados 2-0 on the road in Bridgetown thanks to goals from Keon Daniel and Darryl Roberts. With two wins from two games, Otto Pfister’s Soca Warriors are sitting comfortably atop the group, alongside Guyana, who beat Bermuda 2-1 in Georgetown with both goals coming from Vurlon Mills.
CONCACAF Gold Cup semi-finalists Panama struggled in their opening Group C contest against Nicaragua, but goals from Luis Tejada and Blas Perez eventually led them to a 2-1 victory in Managua.
St. Kitts and Nevis pulled off an impressive result, besting minnows St. Lucia 4-2 for their first win of the campaign. Four different scorers hit the net during the first half for the island side as they move into second place in Group D, two points behind Canada, who put on an impressive winning display in Puerto Rico.
Group E favourites Guatemala didn’t have things all their own way away from home against up-and-comers Belize, but they still managed a 2-1 win with the goals coming from Gustavo Cabrera and Mynor Lopez. The other two teams in the group – St. Vincent and Grenadines and Grenada – meet on 18 September.
Antigua and Barbuda kept up their prolific charge in Group F with an 8-1 win over outgunned US Virgin Islands, whose recent rise in the world ranking is looking little more than an anomaly. The Antiguans are the highest-scoring team in CONCACAF qualifying with 13 goals scored and only three conceded. Haiti aren’t far behind with ten goals overall; their 4-2 win in Curacao sees them tangled for top spot in the section.
Player of the day – Peter Byers (Antigua and Barbuda)Peter Byers, who plays his club football in the USA lower Leagues with LA Blues, is in the mood for goals. After picking up two in the Antiguans 5-2 opening win last week at home against Curacao, the 26-year-old hit-man was on song again on Tuesday, hitting the net three times in less than 20 minutes to put US Virgin Islands to the sword as Antigua and Barbuda roar to the top of top of an all-Caribbean Group F, alongside Haiti. With five goals in two games, Byers is top scorer in CONCACAF qualifying for Brazil 2014.
What they said“We have to go back to the drawing board. Our backs are now firmly against the wall. If we are to have any chance of qualifying, we have to win all of our remaining matches,” Barbados coach Colin Forde on his side’s dwindling hopes after two straight losses.
The number
4 – Say what you will about lightweight St Lucia, but at least they are consistent. The men from the picturesque island nation have conceded the same number of goals in both of their qualifying group games so far – four against Canada and four against St. Kitts and Nevis.
CONCACAF Second Round, Matchday Two
US Virgin Islands 1-8 Antigua and Barbuda
Dominican Republic 1-1 Suriname
Barbados 0-2 Trinidad and Tobago
Belize 1-2 Guatemala
St. Lucia 2-4 St. Kitts and Nevis
Nicaragua 1-2 Panama
Cayman Islands 1-4 El Salvador
Guyana 2-1 Bermuda
Puerto Rico 0-3 Canada
Curacao 2-4 Haiti
Big names prove out in CONCACAF
Saturday 3 September 2011
© AFP
Match of the day
Trinidad and Tobago 1-0 Bermuda
Group B favourites and Caribbean powers Trinidad and Tobago, led by new German coach Otto Pfister, had their hands full on home soil at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Port of Spain. Up against Caribbean neighbours Bermuda, the Soca Warriors, on paper at least, should have had an easy day. However, the 2006 FIFA World Cup participants met stiff resistance from skipper Khano Smith and the rest of the Bermudans, who defended stoutly and were unlucky not to escape with a point for their efforts. The only difference on the day was a goal from T&T’s Stoke City striker and newly named captain Kenwyne Jones who blasted home a volley on the stroke of halftime. Bolstered by their positive performance, Bermuda will surely fancy their chances in the return leg at the National Stadium in Hamilton, the very same venue where they shocked Trinidad and Tobago 2-1 in South Africa 2010 qualifying.
In other action
Suriname opened their Group A account with a steady, if unexciting, 1-0 win over the Cayman Islands at home in Paramaribo. Long-time coach Kenneth Jaliens had scorer Friso Mando to thank for the three-point haul, but the gaffer will certainly be hoping for much better in the contests to come. Two-time World Cup finalists El Salvador endured quite a scare before beating a dogged Dominican Republic side 3-2 in San Salvador.
In Group B, Guyana made the most of their home-field advantage to beat Barbados 2-0 in Georgetown and now share top spot with Trinidad and Tobago.
Nicaragua went to the top of Group C with a straightforward 2-0 win on the road against Dominica. Raul Leguias scored early on in Roseau and Felix Rodriguez added another 10 minutes before the interval.
Group D saw Canada ease past island side St. Lucia with a minimum of fuss, a 4-1 result coming thanks to goals from Josh Simpson (2), talismanic midfielder Dwayne De Rosario and Will Johnson. In the section’s other contest, Puerto Rico held on for a share of the spoils in a goalless draw with St. Kitts and Nevis on the road in Basseterre.
Grenada have reached the last two instalments of the CONCACAF Gold Cup and are considered among the top upward-movers in the Caribbean region, making their shock 2-0 loss to Belize at home in St. George’s all the more surprising. The Group E meeting was settled thanks to first-half goals from Honduras-based pair Deon McCaulay and Harrison Roches, seeing Belize move from strength to strength after eliminating Montserrat in the previous round. Guatemala join Belize at the top of the section after their 4-0 win over St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
Haiti, unsurprisingly, hit the ground running in Group F, making light work of perennial strivers US Virgin Islands. Goals were shared throughout the team in the 6-0 drubbing in Port au Prince, with James Marcelin, Jean Eudes-Maurice, Kennel Pierre-Louis and Jean Alexandre (2) all getting on the scoresheet in a humbling of USVI, who had gone into the game with an improved world ranking and higher-than-usual hopes. In the other clash in the group, Antigua and Barbuda made easy meat of Curacao (formerly the Netherlands Antilles) 5-2, Peter Byers leading the way with a pair of well-taken goals.
Player of the day – Josh Simpson (CAN)
Former Canada youth national team standout, Simpson was a constant threat in Toronto against St. Lucia. Up against stiff resistance from a Caribbean side with little to lose, the Turkey-based Manisaspor man offered the hosts a cutting edge, carving out dangerous openings throughout the contest and laying claim to a pair of the Canucks’ goals.
What they said
“It’s a win and we’re happy with it. Of course we would have liked to put in a better performance and play better football, but at the end of the day the three points are the most important thing,” Simpson reflects on the less-than-convincing nature of Canada’s win over St. Lucia.
The number
1 – The number of minutes it took Nicaragua’s Raul Leguias to silence the crowd in Roseau. The coolly struck goal got the ball rolling on the Central Americans’ road win against lightweight Caribbean side Dominica.
CONCACAF Second Round, Matchday One
Suriname 1-0 Cayman Islands
Dominica 0-2 Nicaragua
Trinidad and Tobago 1-0 Bermuda
Grenada 0-2 Belize
Haiti 6-0 US Virgin Islands
El Salvador 3-2 Dominican Republic
Guyana 2-0 Barbados
St. Kitts and Nevis 0-0 Puerto Rico
Canada 4-1 St. Lucia
Guatemala 4-0 St. Vincent and the Grenadines
