Gerson Torres scored his first goal for Costa Rica in the 90+5th to give them a 2-1 win hosting Honduras. They did not gain on Panama, who came back to win 2-1 hosting El Salvador, who scored 15 seconds in. Panama scored close together in their last two games. Tonight they scored in the 50th and 52nd. Cyle Larin scored the only goal of the half in the 45+2nd as Canada is winning hosting Mexico. If Canada holds on, they will be in first! Mexico did not take any shots. Canada took 5 shots, of which 3 were on goal. If Mexico loses 3-0 or by more than 3, Panama will pass Mexico. If Mexico loses 4-1, they will be tied with Panama on goal differential, goals scored, and head-to-head was a draw. You could argue that Mexico would be ahead on head-to-head away goals after a 1-1 draw in Panama, but it doesn't make sense to use that as a tiebreaker until after both games.
Cyle Larin scored twice, and Hector Herrera scored in the 90th to avoid consecutive 2-0 losses. Canada is in first.
Who were the people who tried to clown me for saying Canada was #3 in concacaf ? Talking all sorts of nonsense like "who cares about gold cup" and "road on central america" Canada the ONLY unbeaten team so far, and sitting at the top of the table. We beat Mexico at home and outplayed them in their own backyard. We've drawn the US away. The question isn't are we #3 The real question is IS CANADA THE BEST TEAM IN CONCACAF. On current form, the answer is YES.
14 World Cup qualifying matches this year alone, along with 5 Gold Cup matches must be a record. Hasn't lost a home match since March 2016 (including the 3 WCQ home matches played in the USA because of Covid). But there's still a long way to go. Not sure if they'll get to Qatar ... but perhaps they'll get to New Zealand.
6/6 this window, as it should be! Panama has certified its best moment in a final round of WCQ ever. No error margin in the next two windows for top 4 with CRC and Jamaica pushing hard… what a photo finish we are about to live, better than the past 2 hex? Hard to best those two endings
I love this...WHAT A FAMOUS RESULT!!! Canada beats Mexico at home 2-1 in Edmonton last night...I still can't believe it nor can I remember ever beating Mexico especially in such a high stakes game!!! It seems the frozen tundra worked in our favor. But Larin scores twice for us while Hector Herrera scored for Mexico but no matter Canada we are 1st in the table...still undefeated in CONCACAF qualifying!!!
The only thing possibly stopping direct qualification could be Panamas very strong form. It could very well come down to the last matchday between the 2 in Panama.
I just want to say that it was very stupid and cocky for the coach to take out Davies with what he must have known was around 10 minutes left to play with stoppage time. It nearly cost us the win. Davies doesn't even need to touch the ball, but when he is on the pitch the opposing team is fearful of attacking, knowing a quick counter and they are finished. With Davies off Mexico attacked relentlessly and scored a goal , and very nearly scored a 2nd. Very stupid move. You don't do that to a team like Mexico.
Without checking every confederation for every World Cup, I'm confident that no team has ever gone undefeated in at least 20 qualifiers, so Canada could be the first team to do that, and I'm going to post that in the forums FIFA and Tournaments and Canada. Thank you for pointing that out.
The USA has drawn 3 times in Azteca and gotten bitchslapped in CR time after time. Lucky for Canada, Honduras, CR and el sal are pretty bad
Few play 20 games in one qualifying period. But if you look at multiple cups, off-hand, England was undefeated for 2014, 2018, 2022 qualifiers, and won their final match of 2010 qualifiers - so are undefeated in 31 qualifiers currently (and 39 of their last 40). Much thanks to the boring UEFA qualifying method where they divide the entire confederation into 10 groups of 5-6 - which means they spend most of the time playing minnows. It doesn't make for great football to watch most of the time. I don't think either USA or Mexico are at the top of their game either; or Jamaica.
FIFA announced that the interconfederational playoffs will be one game in neutral Zurich, Switzerland, and the draw will be next Friday.
Updated 'Points Dropped' table (win at home, draw on the road) after match day 8: Mexico: 0+2+0-2+0+2-1-1 = -0 USA: 0-2+2+0-1+0+0+0 = -1 Canada: -2+0+0+0+0+0+0+0 = -2 Panama: -2+2-2-1+0-1+2+0 = -2 Jamaica: -1-3+0-1-2+2+0-2 = -7 Costa Rica: 0-3-2+0+0-1-1+0 = -7 El Salvador: -2-2-1+0-1-3-2-1 = -12 Honduras: 0+0-3-2-1-3-3-1 = -13 Little movement in match day 8. I believe 2 matches in match day 9 will be more important than the others: Costa Rica hosting Panama, and Jamaica hosting Mexico. Costa Rica and Jamaica cannot afford to drop any more points at home.
I think Tata could survive that... Now, Costa Rica pulls another Aztecazo and he'll need to be airlifted out of the country
Panama has been playing great but I feel they will lose their away games to Costa Rica, the US and Mexico. Costa Rica is a local derby and the Ticos need to win to stay close. As it's at home, I see them winning. I'd wager my house on US and Mexico winning against the Panamanians. The US will have revenge on their mind and Mexico will rebound in the new year. Yes, Canada plays four times in Central America in the new year. I don't see them staying unbeaten, but I feel they'll take at least two wins there. Add in a point at home against the US and three against the Jamaicans at home, and they're at 24 points at least. The top three teams now will be the top three teams at the end.
OTOH, if disaster strikes Canada (e.g. seeing ghosts at Honduras, then screwing up at home against the US), I'd see Panama holding the upper hand when they meet on the last matchday.
Good points, but think of all the WC qualifying ghosts that they've faced: *Vanquished Haiti to reach first final round since 1997 *Earned first point against US since 1980 *First non-loss at Azteca since 1980 *First win against Mexico since 1976 *First win against Costa Rica since 1997 *Went down to Honduras, US, Mexico and Panama and rebounded to win or draw This is a different team and deeper than any Canadian team in history. No David and Davies and they outplayed Mexico in Gold Cup. I think they're taking 4 points in San Pedro Sula and San Salvador. Yes, a final do or die game in Panama would be tough, but I don't think it's going to come to that.
I think that just the fixture is going to be run in Zurich but the neutral playground is still to be defined