[NDR]CONCACAF World Cup qualifying: New and Improved

Mexico usually has a harder time with the Concacaf semifinal round that the actual WC first round.

Grant Wahl just tweeted the exact dates for the US group. (I thought I had them copied to paste here, but I'm on my phone and must've missed something.)

Ok here we go:

Grant Wahl (@GrantWahl)
11/16/11 11:18 AM
US WCQ: June 8 vs Antigua; June 12 at Guatemala; Sept 7 at Jamaica; Sept 11 vs Jamaica; Oct 12 at Antigua; Oct 16 vs Guatemala

Hmmm.

Friday, June 8 - open
Tuesday, Sept 11 - Astros' home game
Tuesday, Oct 16 - open

June 8 is probably our only shot at hosting a game.

Unless USSF thinks they can get a significantly larger crowd than 22K I don't see why we couldn't host against Guatemala.

Maybe. I just sort of assumed that they would stay away from Central American opponents here in Houston. Houston has the 5th largest Guatemalan ex-pat community in the U.S.

I think the only team they try to manage the crowd for is against Mexico. In the last cycle they played Honduras at Soldier Field and Costa Rica at RFK, playing those games in smaller stadiums probably would have made for a better home field advantage, instead they went for the money.

I think it has more to do with trying to manage a home field advantage.

Good point. We shall see.

Now I really want the Dynamo 2012 schedule to come out and the location of these USA games so I can start planning trips in 2012.

You want to assure a good home crowd? Sell tickets to AO and Houston SGs first, then have a USSoccer.com pre-sale. Whatever is left sell to the General public. That should do it.

sooo

Number of Central American ex-pats
1. Mexico
2. El Salvador
3. Honduras
4. ???????
5. guatemala

I think he meant:

1. ??????
2. ??????
3. ?????
4. ??????
5. Houston

Correct:

1. Los Angeles
2. New York
3. Miami
4. Washington, DC
5. Houston

Would it not be cool if away to Jamaica and Antigua were on days close to each other? I really want to go to those games.

According to their website it is white sand beaches, quant villages, lots of resorts, and only 118 mi2.

I am soooo there.

Well, September 7 to October 12 is only 35 days. Subtract out the weekends and that's only 25 vacation days.

OR....quit my job. Decisions, decisions.

3rd Round.

Matchday 1:

Friday, June 8
Cuba v. Canada 1:00 pm
USA v. Antigua & Barbuda 6:00 pm ESPN/Galavision
Mexico v. Guyana 7:00 pm Univision
Jamaica v. Guatemala 8:30 pm
Honduras v. Panama 8:30 pm
CostaRica v. El Salvador 9:00 pm

Matchday 2:

Tuesday, June 12
Antigua & Barbuda v. Jamaica 6:00 pm
Canada v. Honduras 6:45 pm
Guyana v. Costa Rica 7:00 pm
Panama v. Cuba 8:00 pm
El Salvador v. Mexico 8:30 pm Univision
Guatemala v. USA 9:00 pm PPV

What the heck! pay per view, when did this happen?

I think it's a bunch of crap. Hopefully we can find a stream for that one.

It happens. The host country owns the rights and they can sell to whoever they want. Honduras did the same thing back in 2009 for the game down there in the Hex.

First result from June 8:

Cuba 0-1 Canada

Scoring:
CAN - Occean (55')

Disciplinary:
CAN - Jazic (61') - yellow
CAN - Hirschfeld (65') - red
CUB - Gomez (68') - yellow
CAN - Johnson (76') yellow

Hirschfeld was the Canadian goalkeeper. He got a straight red for handing the ball outside the area.

Terrible red card, but good to see Canada hold on. Hainault played fairly well I thought as a CB (no surprise).

Look for it here on that night..

http://www.rojadirecta.me/

shhhhh, don't tell anyone.

Mum's the word...and I won't mention that you can see Honduras and OBG tonight at the same link.

Don't forget firstrowsports.eu

After viewing the last three performances by the USMNT, Guatemala may be a pretty exciting match up.