2010 World Cup CONCACAF Qualification Section - Update

March 27, 2008

Already, nine nations have missed out on the chance to qualify for the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa, although nine teams booked passage to the second round of CONCACAF qualifying on Wednesday.

Grenada were the biggest winners of the round, thrashing the US Virgin Islands 10-0 to setup a second round clash with Costa Rica. Grenada, who included Blackburn Rovers striker Jason Roberts, were in front early on in a very one-sided contest - Brooklyn based striker Ricky Charles stealing the show with four goals.

In Bridgeton, Barbados setup a showdown with the United States although they left it late to overcome a stubborn Dominican Republic side. Barbados included Wigan Athletic’s Emerson Boyce but needed a goal just six minutes from time to defeat their 10 man opponents.

St. Lucia needed late drama as well to book their place in the second round. After losing 2-1 in their first leg at Turks and Caicos, Kenwin McPhee’s strike on the half-hour in Vieux Fort looked like sending the tie into extra-time. But Titus Elva, who missed the first leg, had other ideas and popped up with a goal in the 83rd minute to make it 3-2 for St. Lucia on the aggregate. The islanders will now move on to play Guatemala in June.

Antigua are also through after they completed the formalities at home to Aruba, having taken a 3-0 away win into the second leg. They found it considerably more difficult on the night, winning just 1-0, but are comfortably through to face Cuba in the next round.

Surinam are also through, having thrashed Volcano-ravaged Montserrat 7-1 in Trinidad & Tobago. Wensley Cristoph and Kenzo Huur each scored twice for the Surinamese while Cleon Wondel, Melvin Valies and Raydell Schuurman added tallies of their own to render Vladimir Farrell’s goal little more than consolation for the islanders. Surinam now meant Guynea in the next round of the 2010 World Cup qualifying.

Belize, once one of the worst teams in World football, kept up their mini-revival, knocking out St Kitts after a plucky 1-1 draw at Warner Park was enough to secure their 3-1 win in Guatemala City last month. Their progress is likely to end in the next round, however, when they face the might of Mexico in round 2 of the CONCACAF Qualification section.

El Salvador will meet Panama in the next round, expecting a tougher test than the one handed to them by Anguilla, who went down a whopping 16-0 on aggregate. In Willemstad, the Netherlands Antilles defeated Nicaragua 2-0 on the night and 3-0 on aggregate thanks to goals from Tyronne Loran and Angelo Zimmerman. They now meet Caribbean champions Haiti.

CONCACAF second-round series (to be played in June)
As of Wednesday 26 March
Grenada-Costa Rica
Barbados-USA
St. Lucia-Guatemala
Antigua & Barbuda-Cuba
Suriname-Guyana
Belize-Mexico
El Salvador-Panama
Netherlands Antilles- Haiti
Puerto Rico-Honduras