WCQ CONCACAF, Semi-Final Round Schedule(R)

[beachesl]

Revised as of October 10, 2004

Group 1
Team MP W D L GF GA Pts
USA 3 1 2 0 4 2 5
Jamaica 3 1 1 1 5 3 4
Panama 3 1 1 1 4 4 4
El Salvador 3 1 0 2 2 6 3

Group 2
Team MP W D L GF GA Pts
Guatemala 3 2 1 0 6 3 7
Honduras 3 1 2 0 8 5 5
Costa Rica 3 1 0 2 4 7 3
Canada 3 0 1 2 1 4 1

Group 3
Team MP W D L GF GA Pts
Trinidad and Tobago 3 2 0 1 5 4 6
Mexico 2 2 0 0 10 1 6
St. Vincent / Grenadines 3 1 0 2 1 9 3
St. Kitts and Nevis 2 0 0 2 1 3 0



C 18-Aug-2004 St. Vincent/Grenadines 0 - Trinidad and Tobago 2
B 18-Aug-2004 Costa Rica 2- Honduras 5 -Alejandro Mojera Soto
Stadium, Alajuela
A 18-Aug-2004 El Salvador 2- Panama 1 - San Salvador (1730)
B 18-Aug-2004 Canada 0- Guatemala 2 - Vancouver (Burnaby),
Swangard Stadium, 7:00 PDT
A 18-Aug-2004 Jamaica 1- USA 1 Kingston, 6:30 pm
C 18-Aug-2004 St. Kitts & Nevis- Mexico Basseterre (2000)*
POSTPONED TO NOVEMBER 13

A 04-Sep-2004 Jamaica 1- Panama - 2 Kingston (1900)
C 04-Sep-2004 St. Kitts and Nevis 1 - Trinidad and Tobago 2 - Basseterre (2000)
B 04-Sep-2004 Canada 1 - Honduras 1 - Edmonton
B 05-Sep-2004 Guatemala 2 - Costa Rica 1- Guatemala City
Estadio "Mateo Flores", Ciudad de Guatemala 12:00
A 04-Sep-2004 USA 2- El Salvador 0 - Foxboro, Mass. 4:00 pm
C 04-Sep-2004 Mexico-St. Vincent/Grenadines - Pachuca, Hidalgo
POSTPONED to OCOBER 6[/blue]

(SATURDAY/SUNDAY/MONDAY)

C 08-Sep-2004 St. Vincent/Grenadines - St. Kitts and Nevis -
POSTPONED TO FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 10 DUE TO HURRICANE
B 08-Sep-2004 Honduras 2- Guatemala 2- San Pedro Sula, Hond.
Stadio Olimpico (1930)
A 08-Sep-2004 El Salvador 0- Jamaica 3- San Salvador (1930)
B 08-Sep-2004 Costa Rica 1- Canada 0 - Saprissa Stad, San Jose, (2000) Sportsnet, 2 hour delay everywhere
A 08-Sep-2004 Panama 1- USA 1- Panama City
8:00 pm /
C 08-Sep-2004 Trinidad and Tobago 1- Mexico 3 Port of Spain (1930)
(WEDNESDAY)

C 10-Sep-2004 St. Vincent/Grenadines 1- St. Kitts and Nevis 0
(FRIDAY)

C 06-OCT-2004 Mexico 7 -St. Vincent/Grenadines 0- Pachuca, Hidalgo
Referee: LIU Hu (CAN)
(WEDNESDAY)

C 10-Oct-2004 Trinidad and Tobago - St. Kitts and Nevis -
MARABELLA (Trinidad and Tobago) 15:30
Referee: VALENZUELA Ricardo (USA)
B 09-Oct-2004 Costa Rica - Guatemala - Saprissa (San Jose)
19:30 Referee: ARCHUNDIA Benito (MEX)
A 09-Oct-2004 Panama - Jamaica - Panama City 20:00
Referee: PINEDA Jose (HON)
B 09-Oct-2004 Honduras - Canada - Olympico,
San Pedro Sula Sportsnet, tape delayed to evening only only, 15:00
Referee: STOTT Kevin (USA)
A 09-Oct-2004 El Salvador - USA - San Salvador, 19:30 ES,
9:30pm ET/6:30pm PT
LIVE on DISH Network, DirecTV, and iNDemand PPV in US: $24.95
Referee: BATRES Carlos (GUA)
C 10-Oct-2004 St. Vincent/Grenadines- Mexico , Kingstown
16:00 Referee: ALFARO Nery (SLV)
(SATURDAY AND SUNDAY)

B 13-Oct-2004 Canada -Costa Rica - 7:00 PDT, Sportsnet, mainly delayed
Referee: PRENDERGAST Peter (JAM)
B 13-Oct-2004 Guatemala - Honduras
Guatemala City 20:00
Referee: BRIZAN Neal (TRI)
A 13-Oct-2004 Jamaica - El Salvador - Kingston 19:00
Referee: QUESADA CORDERO Walter Enrique (CRC)
C 13-Oct-2004 St. Kitts and Nevis - St. Vincent / Grenadines - Basseterre 20:00
Referee: WHITTAKER Alfredo (CAY)
A 13-Oct-2004 USA - Panama - Washington DC, RFK Stad,
7:30 pm EDT....match will be broadcast delayed on ESPN2 until 10 p.m. ET and on Telemundo until 11:30 ET/PT. Fans can also follow the match live on ussoccer.com’s MatchTracker, presented by Philips
Referee: GORDON Ted (TRI)
C 13-Oct-2004 Mexico -Trinidad and Tobago, Puebla 20:30
Referee: SIBRIAN Rodolfo (SLV)
(WEDNESDAY)

C 13-Nov-2004 St. Kitts & Nevis- Mexico Basseterre (time?)
Referee: MORENO Roberto (PAN)
(SATURDAY)

C 17-Nov-2004 Trinidad and Tobago - St. Vincent / Grenadines - 19:00
Referee: BATRES Carlos (GUA)
B 17-Nov-2004 Honduras - Costa Rica - Olympico
San Pedro Sula 20:00
Referee: SIBRIAN Rodolfo (SLV)
B 17-Nov-2004 Guatemala - Canada
Guatemala City 20:00 TV?
Referee: RODRIGUEZ Marco (MEX)
A 17-Nov-2004 Panama - El Salvador - Panama City 20:00
Referee: ARCHUNDIA Benito (MEX)
A 17-Nov-2004 USA - Jamaica - Columbus, Ohio, Crew Stad.,time 20:00 / TV Delayed: 9:30 ET on ESPN, 11:30 ET/PT on Telemundo
Referee: NAVARRO Mauricio (CAN)
C 17-Nov-2004 Mexico - St. Kitts and Nevis, Monterrey, Estadio Tecnológico (17:00)
Referee: STOTT Kevin (USA)
(WEDNESDAY)

2005 Final Round: The "Hex"
9 February – Game 1
26-27 March – Game 2
30 March – Game 3
4-5 June – Game 4
8 June – Game 5
17 August – Game 6
3-4 September – Game 7
7 September – Game 8
8-9 October – Game 9
12 October – Game 10

4th Playoff with 5th Asia
November 12 and 16, 2005

[beachesl]

http://www.ussoccerplayers.com/game_time/419135.html

..assuming the US make it past Grenada ( almost certain) and Jamaica makes it past Haiti (certainly less certain) in June.

[ZeekLTK]

Columbus, sweet! I'm only 15 minutes from the Ohio border, hopefully I'll be able to get tickets to at least one of those games. :)

[Atouk]

Assuming the US makes it past Grenada, the US's first home game of the semifinal round has been confirmed as taking place at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., on September 4th, against the winner of the El Salvador/Bermuda series.

http://www.ussoccer.com/news/fullstory.sps?iNewsid=58264
(Foxborough was also awarded a US friendly against Honduras on 6/2).

[Ronaldinho11]

It is gonna be very interesting to see the teams in the "B" group go at it.

[Knave]

I put together the tables below for my own purposes – mainly to cut through my own confusion. Then I posted a version of this in response to a question on the MNT board. And then I thought maybe I should post it here because some on this board might be interested too.

I'd really appreciate it if you could post corrections and clarifications below. I think I've got the procedures down, and I'm pretty sure I recorded the results correctly. But if there's a problem please let me know.

------------------------
------------------------
CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying Procedures

Currently we’re in the First Stage. (Some teams had to play into the First Stage. We’ll skip over that since it’s already done with, but if you're interested then click here (http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/t/group/ncc.html) for that information.) The Second Stage is actually ALREADY divided up into three groups with an eye to the Third Stage – the first of two group stages. The winner of each home and away series in the First Stage goes onto the Second Stage. I’ve divided up the First Stage results below according to the Second Stage groupings.

For example: The USA is playing Grenada (who had to qualify for the First Stage, but that’s another thread) in the First Stage. In the Second Stage the winner of the USA-Grenada series will play in a group with the winners of the El Salvador-Bermuda series, the Haiti-Jamaica series, and the Panama-St. Lucia series.

The top two teams in each of the three Second Stage groups go onto the Third Stage – The Hexagonal. That’s another group stage. The top three teams in The Hexagonal qualify for the World Cup. The fourth place team will have a home and away World Cup qualification playoff against the fifth place Asian team.

Easy!

Current CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying Results

Please let me know if I’ve got any of the results wrong.


------------------------
Second Stage Group 1 :: First Stage Results
------------------------

USA Grenada 0 @ 3 USA
Grenada USA @ Grenada

El Salvador Bermuda 1 @ 2 El Salvador
Bermuda El Salvador @ Bermuda

Haiti Jamaica 1 @ 1 Haiti (played in USA)
Jamaica Haiti @ Jamaica

Panama St. Lucia 0 @ 4 Panama
St. Lucia Panama @ St. Lucia

------------------------
Second Stage Group 2 :: First Stage Results
------------------------

Cuba Costa Rica 2 @ 2 Cuba
Costa Rica Cuba @ Costa Rica

Surinam Guatemala 1 @ 1 Suriname
Guayana Suriname @ Guatemala

Netherlands Antilles Honduras 2 @ 1 Netherlands Antilles
Honduras Netherlands Antilles @ Honduras

Canada Belize 0 @ 4 Canada
Belize Canada @ Belize (played in Canada)

------------------------
Second Stage Group 3 :: First Stage Results
------------------------

Mexico Mexico @ Dominica (played in USA)
Dominica Dominica @ Mexico

Barbados St. Kitts and Nevis 2 @ 0 Barbados
St. Kitts and Nevis Barbados @ St. Kitts and Nevis

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago 2 @ 0 Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic Dominican Republic @ Trinidad and Tobago

Nicaragua St. Vincent/Grenadines 2 @ 2 Nicaragua
St. Vincent/Grenadines Nicaragua @ St. Vincent/Grenadines

[Jabinho]

Did you make this thread sticky for the continually confused? ;)

[ZeekLTK]

So does anyone know where the USA-Panama game will be? I've heard DC but nothing official.

[JoeSoccerFan]

So does anyone know where the USA-Panama game will be? I've heard DC but nothing official.

Announced at today's game that it would be in DC. However, during yesterday's game, they mentioned that today's US/Grenada game was at 1pm :rolleyes:

So take it with a grain until USSF officially announces.

[beachesl]

hint: all the locations for the three Canada WCQ home matches
are wrong, and the two women's matches against Germany
are actually in 2005

from today's
http://www.soccertravel.com/search.php?which=nat&team=00853

"August 18, 2004 - Toronto, ON, Canada
FIFA World Cup 2006: Canada vs. Guatemala [custom order match]

September 01, 2004 - Burnaby, BC, Canada
Women's International Friendly: Canada vs. Germany [custom order match]

September 04, 2004 - Edmonton, AB, Canada
FIFA World Cup 2006: Canada vs. Honduras [custom order match]

September 04, 2004 - Edmonton, AB, Canada
FIFA World Cup 2006: Canada vs. Honduras [custom order match]

September 04, 2004 - Edmonton, AB, Canada
Women's International Friendly: Canada vs. Germany [custom order match]

September 08, 2004 - TBD, Costa Rica
FIFA World Cup 2006: Costa Rica vs. Canada [custom order match]

October 09, 2004 - TBD, Honduras
FIFA World Cup 2006: Honduras vs. Canada [custom order match]

October 09, 2004 - TBD, Honduras
FIFA World Cup 2006: Honduras vs. Canada [custom order match]

October 13, 2004 - Edmonton, AB, Canada
FIFA World Cup 2006: Canada vs. Costa Rica [custom order match]

November 17, 2004 - TBD, Guatemala
FIFA World Cup 2006: Guatemala vs. Canada [custom order match]"

:D)

[beachesl]

Actually, I made a mistake...they did get the one match right....Sept 4, Canada - Honduras, Edmonton. Doesn't that restore your confidence in soccertravel (formerly soccerVacations, formerly?)

[beachesl]

C 18-Aug-2004 St. Vincent/Grenadines - Trinidad and Tobago
B 18-Aug-2004 Costa Rica - Honduras - ALAJUELA Stadium? *
A 18-Aug-2004 El Salvador - Panama - San Salvador
B 18-Aug-2004 Canada - Guatemala - Vancouver (Buranaby),
Swangard Stadium, 7:00 PDT , Sportsnet
A 18-Aug-2004 Jamaica - USA - Kingston, time and telecast TBD
C 18-Aug-2004 St. Kitts & Nevis- Mexico Basseterre *
(WEDNESDAY)

*Note: After the draw last February, Costa Rica and Mexico both made a request for their Aug, 18 matches to be moved due to participation in the Aug 12 to 29 Olympic Football Tournament (U-23 + 3 overagers). The request has yet to be dealt with, so the dates of these matches are really TBD.

A 04-Sep-2004 Jamaica - Panama - Kingston
C 04-Sep-2004 St. Kitts and Nevis - Trinidad and Tobago - Basseterre
B 04-Sep-2004 Canada - Honduras - Edmonton, Alberta, Commonwealth
7:00 MDT (currently set for 2:00, but probably changed to 7:00
MDT), Sportsnet
B 04-Sep-2004 Guatemala - Costa Rica - ?????????????
A 04-Sep-2004 USA - El Salvador - Foxboro, Mass. , Gillette Stad.,
timeTBD / Engl BroadcastTBD & Telemundo
C 04-Sep-2004 Mexico-St. Vincent/Grenadines ??????????
(SATURDAY)

C 08-Sep-2004 St. Vincent/Grenadines - St. Kitts and Nevis -
B 08-Sep-2004 Honduras - Guatemala - ???????????????
A 08-Sep-2004 El Salvador - Jamaica - San Salvador
B 08-Sep-2004 Costa Rica - Canada - ALAJUELA??????? TV?
A 08-Sep-2004 Panama - USA - Panama City
timeTBD / Engl BroadcastTBD & Telemundo
C 08-Sep-2004 Trinidad and Tobago - Mexico
(WEDNESDAY)

C 09-Oct-2004 Trinidad and Tobago - St. Kitts and Nevis -
B 09-Oct-2004 Costa Rica - Guatemala - ALAJUELA?
A 09-Oct-2004 Panama - Jamaica - Panama City
B 09-Oct-2004 Honduras - Canada - ????????????? TV?
A El Salvador - USA - San Salvador timeTBD/TV TBD
C 09-Oct-2004 St. Vincent/Grenadines- Mexico , Basseterre
(SATURDAY)

B 13-Oct-2004 Canada - Costa Rica - Edmonton or Vancouver, 7:00 local
Sportsnet
B 13-Oct-2004 Guatemala - Honduras - ??????????
A 13-Oct-2004 Jamaica - El Salvador - Kingston
C 13-Oct-2004 St. Kitts and Nevis - St. Vincent / Grenadines - Basseterre
A 13-Oct-2004 USA - Panama - Washington DC, RFK Stad,
7:00 pm EDT....match will be broadcast delayed on ESPN at 9 p.m. ET. Fans can also follow the match live on ussoccer.com’s MatchTracker, presented by Philips.
C 13-Oct-2004 Mexico -Trinidad and Tobago , Azteca?????????
(WEDNESDAY)

C 17-Nov-2004 Trinidad and Tobago - St. Vincent / Grenadines -
B 17-Nov-2004 Honduras - Costa Rica - ?????????
B 17-Nov-2004 Guatemala - Canada - ?????????? TV?
A 17-Nov-2004 Panama - El Salvador - Panama City
A 17-Nov-2004 USA - Jamaica - Columbus, Ohio, Crew Stad., timeTBD / ESPN2 & Telemundo
C 17-Nov-2004 Mexico - St. Kitts and Nevis, ???????????
(WEDNESDAY)


Since this post can't be edited later on, please post changes and updates below.

[sidspaceman]

I can edit it later on beachesl, just let me know what to change.

thanks for all your help.

[Autogolazo]

Will Telemundo be showing the US-Panama match live in October?

This is world cup qualifying, after all--"tape delay" on ESPN is simply not good enough.

[beachesl]

Will Telemundo be showing the US-Panama match live in October?

This is world cup qualifying, after all--"tape delay" on ESPN is simply not good enough.

Don't know. All my info is from the following USSoccer website article:

http://www.ussoccer.com/news/fullstory.sps?iNewsid=74146&itype=113&iCategoryID=0

It may be that because it is on ESPN1 as opposed to ESPN2, they (ABC) may
have made a deal for delayed but exclusive TV coverage in the US, and it may be delayed so as not to collide with baseball playoff coverage.

I agree that tape delay is not good enough, especially given the panoply of broadcast options available.

Good luck, I'll be in the stands watching Canada play Costa Rica at the time, and this should be live here in Canada on Sportsnet unless the unthinkable happens and the Blue Jays make it that far.

Question: Where does Deportivo Chochotenango play?

[beachesl]

It looks like the sites for the Honduran home matches have been more or less set. Canada will probably be playing it's Saturday, October 9 or 10 match in San Pedro de Sula, a sweaty and dirty city near the Carribean coast of Honduras (my bet is that it will be the 9th, as the Hondurans will want the time to recover before going to Guatemala on the 12th). Honduras has decided that this will give them an advantage over Canada (and Costa Rica) that the mountain capital of Tegucigalpa won't provide.

This will probably not be made official for a while, as the WC Competition Regulations state that notification of nominated venues and dates need not given until 2 months before (and notification of kickoff times need not be given until 1 month before).

While doing my Saturday morning Spanish surfing, I came across an article in a Costa Rican media website:

http://www.prensalibre.co.cr/2004/junio/23/deportes04.php

(my loose translation)
note: The Central Americans usually refer to themselves and their neighbours using national nicknames: "Ticos" means Costa Ricans, and "Catrachos" means Hondurans
---------------------------------------------------------------------
(excerpt)

Ticos to San Pedro Sula!

The setup of the semifinal stage qualifiers for CONCACAF now has all the countries set.

According to La Prensa of Honduras, in an article published in this newspaper, the Catrachos will likely play thier home match with Costa Rica in the premises of the Olympico Metropolitano Stadium in San Pedro Sula.

As for Tiburcio Carías Andino [Stadium, Tegucigalpa], this will not be the location of the next encounter in the qualifying between the Hondurans and the Costa Ricans, as it is with the Group of Four match against Guatemala; and, Canada also will play in San Pedro Sula.

"Against Guatemala, good results have been obtained in qualifiers in Tegucigalpa, the last time we defeated them 2-0 with goals by Caesar Obando and Nicholas Suazo", said the head of the Honduran federation to La Prensa.

As far as Canada goes "they will really get bothered by the crowd pressure and the heat that will overwhelm them in San Pedro Sula. Like Costa Rica, Canada as well has been successful in getting points from us while playing in the stadium in Tegucigalpa", he added to the Catracho newspaper.

The date for the first encounter between Costa Rica and Honduras is this 18th of August, in Alejandro Mojera Soto Stadium [in Alajuela, Costa Rica]. The return match is in Honduras, set for Wednesday, 17th of November."

[beachesl]

It looks like FIFA MAY have reconsidered and allowed Saprissa, with its new FieldTurf, to host some matches in the WCQ's. This is according to some Tico posters on another thread in this section, who did not provide links. The reasoning is supposed to be that a FIFA technical team did a visit there during the last week in May and were bought by the argument that the tropical rains there, especially during the winter period, rendered the use of natural grass fields problematic. Thus, FIFA may have reversed itself.

I did some surfing to check this out. There appears to be nothing on any English-language sites concerning this possible reversal. There are some Costa Rican media sites that refer to this. These same sites also refer to references on the FIFA and Costa Rica Football Federation sites, but when I checked these sites, they weren't there anymore (maybe taken off because they are inaccurate).

We know that the August 18 game Costa Rica is scheduled to host Honduras in has been tentatively set for Alajuela, not Saprissa (I say tentatively, because FIFA still has to rule on Mexico and Costa Rico's request to move the match because of the conflict with the Olympic tournament).

My theory is that the Costa Ricans have inaccurately interpreted FIFA approval of the new FieldTurf at Saprissa for International A
matches generally with the approval for staging WCQ matches. One cannot , I think, technically get blanket approval for WCQ matches at certain sites, as under the WC Competition Regulations the site for each specific match must be nominated two months beforehand and be given individual approval. My passing familiarity with the Central American media sites are that they can be highly unreliable.

On the other hand, maybe the CR Federation did get an approval, or thought they did, for use of Saprissa for the WCQ's, and are waiting to spring it on unsuspecting visitors at the last possible moment.

Here are the Spanish-language articles:

http://www.cr.terra.com/mundial2006/noticia/0,,OI319749-EI1786,00.html

http://www.unafut.com/asp/Noticias/detallenoticia.asp?id=3279

http://www.cronica.com.ar/article/articleview/1086387667/1/20

http://www.monumental.co.cr/Deportes/200407/20040701.asp?c=9269
(just put out a few days ago)

Here is my loose translation of the the relevant excerpt of the first article:
---------------------------------------------------------------
June 3, 2004

FIFA authorized the synthetic field of "Ricardo Saprissa" Stadium, in San Jose, installed two months ago, for matches of the National Team of Costa Rica in relation to the Qualification for the World Cup in Germany, 2006.

The approval, signed by the Secretary General of the FIFA, Urs Linsi, and sent to the President of the Costa Rican Federation of Football (FCF), Navarrese Hermes, indicates that, according to the discussion at the Congress convened in Paris [mid-May, 2004], the use of the Ricardo Saprissa Stadium is authorized for qualifying encounters. The approval of this field was also announced today by FIFA at its web site, after an inspection made the last week by the French specialists Lionel Sind and Ivonne Depelteau on the condition of the pitch. In principle, FIFA had expressed doubts about this type of surface for World Cup qualifying.

After learning the news, Costa Rican Coach Steve Sampson [this was written before he was fired], stated to the media that this available venue is vital for the team, because "many of our rivals feel a lot of fear in playing there", including himself when he had to face Costa Rica as coach of his country’s team [the US, before]. "Now we have an additional advantage ", confirmed this strategist [Sampson} and he pointed to the possibility that they will face Honduras at this location [if Sampson set this, he was mistaken, as the draw had already been made to say that if Honduras made it, they would face Costa Rica on August 18], next October, providing they are victorious in the series against Cuba, 12 and 20 of June.

"The FCF are overjoyed at this news, since in winter an suitable field can be used for the National Team matches " added Navarrese, on the web site of the Costa Rican Federation.
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Me again.....
One reason why I think that the media in Costa Ria may be confused, is the language used in the fax sent tio the FCF, and the way that the last two articles seem to mix up that fax with the latest pronouncemnt of FIFA concerning the Laws having been changed to generally allow matches to be played on approved surfaces. Look at this article from July 1, at
http://www.monumental.co.cr/Deportes/200407/20040701.asp?c=9269

(again, my loose translation of relevant excerpt)...
--------------------------------------------------------------------
The artificial grass of Saprissa has been approved for qualifiers.

-FIFA has authorized world-wide all fields with synthetic turf for official matches, friendly and World Cup Qualifying [this is an over generalization of Blatter's latest pronouncement, which mentions nothing of WCQ].

FIFA, in an official notice on their official page, has approved the use of fields with artificial turf for the qualifying stages to the World Cup in Germany 2006. Reason why the Stage Ricardo Saprissa Aymá, unique in Costa Rica that counts on one gramilla artificial is authorized legally. The "Web" of FIFA states: "As of Thursday 1º of 2004 July, official matches will be able to be contested on natural or artificial turf, in agreement with the regulations of the competitions." At its meeting of the 28 of February of 2004 in London, International Football Association Board (IFAB), guardian of the Laws of the Game of soccer, has decided to make this amendment to the Laws of the Game. The IFAB also decided that artificial turf must fulfill certain norms of quality (as per the Quality Concept for artificial turf, FIFA, or the "International Seal of Artificial Turf Standard"). "The incorporation of artificial turf in the Laws of the Game is an important amendment but and represents the beginning of a new era in the history of soccer. Millions of players everywhere in the world will benefit from this decision, because they will be able to practice more often thier favorite sport and, in difficult climatic conditions that normally they are not able to do on natural turf", Joseph S. Blatter, the President of the FIFA, said. He ended with the following confirmation: "These amendments will anywhere in the world take effect 1º of 2004 July"

(end of excerpt)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
I guess all we can do is keep posted.

[Concacaf]

Beachesl, the turf has been approved for world cup qualifiers as you translated in that first article. I think it was a press release from the CRFF cause Ive seen it in several newspapers and online websites.

Its clearly stated in there CR can play in Saprissa class a games if it so desires. Here your translation, which is quite accurate.

"The approval, signed by the Secretary General of the FIFA, Urs Linsi, and sent to the President of the Costa Rican Federation of Football (FCF), Navarrese Hermes, indicates that, according to the discussion at the Congress convened in Paris [mid-May, 2004], the use of the Ricardo Saprissa Stadium is authorized for qualifying encounters"

Ive listened to this same issue being discussed several times on Costa Rican radio and read all about it on the official Saprissa forum.

[LATL]

putting this in my mental rolodex

[beachesl]

The Guatemalan Federation has announced their home matches:

Domingo 5-Sep-2004:
Guatemala - Costa Rica
Estadio "Mateo Flores", Ciudad de Guatemala
(safe, unless there is another mega-death stampede)

Miercoles 13-Octubre-2004:
Guatemala - Honduras
Estadio "Mario Camposeco", Quetzaltenango
(highlands)

Miercoles 17-Noviembre-2004:
Guatemala - Canada
Estadio "Carlos Salazar", Mazatenango
(lowland hell: major products rubber, bananas, cocoa and mosquitos)