My update article on the CONCACAF qualifiers is now up at Planet World Cup, here: www.planetworldcup.com/CUPS/2006/concacaf_update01.html If you've been looking at all the links people have provided on this thread, you know a lot of this stuff already, but hopefully there'll be a few new items. By the way, the URL the article lists for the Grenada song is wrong, at least for the moment. I've asked the Webmaster to change it, but until he does, you can find it at the URL provided by The Creeper a few comments ago.
It defintally was a 'bath of cold water'. From what I had been reading, the Netherland Antillies were entirely confident that they were going to win the first round with ease. I got the impression that they were already looking ahead to Honduras, who I think they also believe they will be able to at least 'hang with' if not beat. This quote pretty much sums up the confidence level that the Netherland Antillies had going into Qualifying: Hubert Isenia (General Secretary, ANT): We'll go out there expecting to win. Our coach spent plenty of time working with Guus Hiddink last year and he's ready to do the job. We'll be able to call on our players from Holland and the team will be stronger. If we win we'll be ready for Honduras. If Bora Milutinovic comes up against us he won't enjoy it much. Also I totally disagree about the 'fairness' of a draw (on page 1 of this thread). That's what makes the World Cup the greatest sporting event in the world... every country in the world has a chance to make it! We shouldn't (and I'm glad they don't) try to stack it so that the best teams have an even bigger advantage or 'easier' road to get there. The scenerio you posted about the USA, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Honduras all in the same group for the semi-finals... that wouldn't be so bad. Not only would we see some incredible matchups at such an early stage in qualifying, but it also opens the door for some of the 'smaller' nations to have a shot at going through to not only the CONCACAF finals, but to the World Cup Finals as well. Sure it's better for CONCACAF and our continent if the top 3 or 4 teams make it, but for the fans... I dunno about you, but I'd love to see a team like Trinidad & Tobago or St. Vicent / Grenadines run the table and make it to the World Cup Finals. That would be awesome. And since CONCACAF has more bids than ever before (3.5) it's an even more realistic dream for these nations.
I too would love to see St. Vincent and the Grenadines make the World Cup, but it wouldn't be anywhere near as meaningful if they did it mainly because of the draw. The problem with allowing a USA-Mexico-Costa Rica-Honduras group so that lesser countries have a better chance is that there's nowhere clear you can draw the line. One might just as well have a completely random draw, in which the USA and Mexico could meet in the first knockout round, and British Virgin Islands and Bahamas have a bye to the second round. As soon as you allow past performances to affect the draw, you're saying that certain teams have earned an advantage. As a result, over the years, confederations have developed systems which seed teams by the strength they've shown in prior matches. That does two things: 1) it creates the likelihood that the regions' best teams will qualify; 2) it gives the lesser teams a chance to qualify if they can beat the better teams. It's not a perfect system, but it makes for a good competition, and has pretty much worldwide support. But it works if and only if teams of the same class are seeded roughly the same.
Interview with the Grenada coach, looking forward to the games against USA: http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/040310/1/t31.html
Sestanovich says No to Grenada Sestanovich says No to Grenada for now, at least. I don't know if this merits it's own thread, but the last thing the US needs is a team with that one "special" player who can turn what should be a "walkover" into the shock of the round. Thx, Jay!
Re: Sestanovich says No to Grenada Grenada has a couple decent players besides what this guy would bring. Jason Roberts is the fellow to watch out for.
Guyana-Grenada under way..Ricky Charles puts Grenada up with a 15th minute goal. Jason Roberts starting at striker for Grenada.
FT Guyana-Grenada 1:3 First leg was Grenada-Guyana 5:0 Grenada wins on aggregate 8:1. The results were almost identical to those in the 1998 qualifiers, when Grenada beat Guyana 2:1 on the road and 6:0 at home for the same aggregate 8:1.
That's because their keeper got a red card in the first match (where they lost 5-0) and then their backup got injured. I think they had ANOTHER backup get injured too, so that Durant guy might have been 4th string, hehe. Anyways, congrats to Grenada, but their run will end when they come up against us.
They (and French Guiana as well) have a great deal more in common with CONCACAF than CONMEBOL. They're small, they're non-Spanish-speaking, and they can't compete effectively against the South American nations. They've always been associated with Caribbean sports confederations. But I confess I don't know whether they ever tried to be a part of CONMEBOL.
Surprise in Santo Domingo: FT Dominican Republic-Anguilla 0:0 Great result for Anguilla. The second leg is on Sunday, officially the home game for Anguilla, but also played in the Dominican Republic.
A shame that Anguilla decided to give up their home leg. The Dominicans have never generated much offense (only six goals over two legs against Montserrat in 2000) but still a surprise result...according to the AP "The Dominicans dominated but squandered a host of chances".
Second leg final: Dominican Republic-Anguilla 6:0 Dominican Republic wins 6:0 on aggregate, and advances to play Trinidad & Tobago.
Bermuda: 7, Montserrat: 0 Bermuda wins 20-0 on aggregate and will play El Salvador next. Montserrat retains the title of 'worst team in the world'.
The 0:20 score was the worst defeat in a two-leg qualifier in World Cup history. (There have been worse scores in individual games, as with Australia-American Samoa.)
Very interesting article on British Virgin Islands and their preparations for the second leg against St. Lucia: http://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/index.pl/article_sports?id=4463895
Surinam-Aruba article, in a language I don't understand: http://www.dwt.net/Archief/2004/Maart/25-03-04/sport a selectie.htm
My Dutch isn't very good, but it looks as if most of the article deals with a confusion about when the national squad was going to train, because of stadium conflicts and the local cup competition. The most important piece of news appears to be that striker Carlos Loswijk, the leading scorer in the Surinam league, is injured, and may not play in the return leg.
Suriname and Guyana have always done trade with the rest of the Caribbean. Guyanese players represent the West Indies in cricket, and Suriamese would too if they could ever produce quality... in addition they have always been considered caribbean... although it is strange because Belize is also considered to be a Caribbean country but they arent in concacaf... Hi guys... i will try to post here often... does anyone have news about T&T's team.. I am depressed with our sports on a whole but I hope we can pull something off... we have more talented players than all of the caribbean and I think we have the skills to be an equal with the US and Mexico but our politics gets in the way... our coaches are always being fired and cant do their job with Jack Warner always screwing things up some how...