Play-off-matches in CONCACAF The North, Central America and Caribbean Zone will contest play-off matches in June 2011 in order to reduce the number of teams included in the Preliminary Draw for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™ in Rio de Janeiro on 30 July 2011. The region’s ten lowest ranked teams according to March’s FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking were paired against each other to produce a series of five play-off matches which will be played on a two-legged, home and away basis. Montserrat-Belize Anguilla-Dominican Republic US Virgin Islands-British Virgin Islands Aruba-St. Lucia Bahamas-Turks and Caicos The winners of these fixtures will join the remaining 25 higher-ranked teams from the region in the Preliminary Draw. The first leg will be played on Friday 3 June, with the return leg scheduled for Tuesday 7 June. The teams taking part in this extra preliminary round of fixtures and their rank in the region according to March’s FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking are as follows: 26. Belize 27. Dominican Republic 28. British Virgin Islands 29. St Lucia 30. Turks and Caicos 31. Bahamas 32. Aruba 33. US Virgin Islands 34. Anguilla 35. Montserrat http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/news/newsid=1424713/index.html?cid=twitter_voiceofthesite
It doesn't say if and how the draw was seeded. If it was five seeded and five unseeded countries then it was a big coincidence that the pairings featured best vs. worst, second best vs. second worst, and so on to the middle two countries. CONCACAF's website hasn't written anything about the draw yet.
The teams that I am most interested in seeing during the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers are Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago, Costa Rica, and Mexico
Honduras I am actually excited to see them play, the US not so much, but mostly all the teams in the hex I am looking forward to see who qualifies out of CONCACAF
http://concacaf-futball.blogspot.com/2011/05/fifa-now-has-concacaf-preliminary-match.html and http://concacaf-futball.blogspot.com/2011/05/battle-of-virgins.html are blogger James Lagrange's comments on two of the five pairings.
http://concacaf-futball.blogspot.com/2011/05/concac-af-preliminary-draw-aruba-vs-st.html is James Lagrange's preview of Aruba vs. St. Lucia.
This guy doesn't have any idea what he's talking about, all he does is reel off a few stats about the teams.
Bahamas on road towards World Cup qualification http://www.tribune242.com/sports/05172011_WorldCupQualifier_sports_pg
Bahamas got the playoff matches postponed to 2. and 9. July , maybe other playoffmatches been postponed from June to July ?
St Lucia will face Martinique next Wednesday http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/carlis...rnational-friendly-1.838796?referrerPath=home
http://www.apenntouchenoula.fr/article.php?id_art=4526&PHPSESSID=cb47e7360639915b346c32c4f9db0cf9 The match will be in La Lamentin, but it will be Martinique U-23 v St.Lucia.
why don't they play matches on suggested dates ? in Asian qualifiers, participating teams must follow AFC-regulated fixtures
Here is the schedule according to Wikipedia: Friday June 3: Anguilla-Dominican Republic (Leg 1) Sunday June 5: Aruba-St. Lucia (Leg 1) Tuesday June 7: Dominican Republic-Anguilla (Leg 2) Thursday June 9: St. Lucia-Aruba (Leg 2) Sunday June 12: Montserrat-Belize (Leg 1) Sunday June 19: Belize-Montserrat (Leg 2) Saturday July 2: Bahamas-Turks and Caicos Islands (Leg 1) Sunday July 3: U.S. Virgin Islands-British Virgin Islands (Leg 1) Saturday July 9: Turks and Caicos Islands-Bahamas (Leg 2) Sunday July 10: British Virgin Islands-U.S. Virgin Islands (Leg 2)
I wouldn't believe anything there that hasn't been changed from 3/7 June as it really just means noone has heard anything (or been bothered to change). That said, I wouldn't trust any of the other dates either. J
Belize FA replied me also with another match dates : "The games are schedule to play on the 15th June in Trinidad & Tobago and on the 19th June in Belmopan City."
Correction : Anguilla FA (not Montserrat FA) replied me about matches on 8 and 10July. Dominican FA confirmed today that both matches against Anguilla will be played on 8. and 10. July In Dominican Rep . "Ambos partidos entre República Dominicana Vs. Anguila serán celebrados los días 08 y 10 de julio a las 15:30 en el Estadio Panamericano de Futbol en San Cristóbal, Rep. Dom."
Possible match dates : Sunday June 5: Aruba-St. Lucia (Leg 1) Thursday June 9: St. Lucia-Aruba (Leg 2) June 15: Montserrat-Belize (Leg 1) in T & T Sunday June 19: Belize-Montserrat (Leg 2) Saturday July 2: Bahamas-Turks and Caicos Islands (Leg 1) Sunday July 3: U.S. Virgin Islands-British Virgin Islands (Leg 1) July 8: Anguilla-Dominican Republic in Dominican Rep July 10 Dominican Rep - Anguilla Saturday July 9: Turks and Caicos Islands-Bahamas (Leg 2) Sunday July 10: British Virgin Islands-U.S. Virgin Islands (Leg 2)
Thanks for all the great updates, Jonny! Do you have any word on times for these games -- specifically this Sunday's Aruba @ Saint Lucia match?
