well yes, it presents an opportunity for teams to consolidate their plans, coaches to look at players etc etc..... But when the tournament is placed in a country that doesn't give a rat's ass...where there's more people in the field than in the stands...that presents a problem... When all the teams so far have shown ABSOLUTELY nothing.....boring ass soccer matches where its more fun to just turn the tv off and stare at it, that presents a problem... These games are BEYOND yawners...its an embarrasment...
la marea roja dio la primera sorpresa de las manos de Brown, le gano a guatemala del pescaito y la rata garcia (no se vieron en el juego) 2-0 y el martes definen clasificacion vs. HDS cosatrica....si va la gente, hoy se vieron como 5mil en las tribunas rojas(gracias a galavison y la torre de jalisco que fueron contratados por Inter Forever Inc)
Quintanilla has been banned from the ES national team for 4 years after failing to show up for U-20 qualifying. He says he never got word that he was called up and wants to play for his country. I've met the kid and he's as open and honest as they come. I can't belive he would blow off his country. Sadly, we'll never know the truth. Sachin
Ruiz lived up to his nickname yesterday against Panama, inciting a confrontation with a defender and then flopping and rolling to get the guy red carded for breathing on him. It's as if he realized he was back in the land of theater when it came to soccer, and decided to act accordingly. Pathetic display by Guatemala. The Panamanian defenders were whiffing and ankling clearances all day and still Guate could do nothing. Hell, Panama was down to nine men at the end and STILL Guate couldn't score. They didn't even put many shots on the net. The Guate keeper is a liability on crosses...embarrassing...not even NCAA quality. Guate has ability and guts--when it wants to--but neither were on display against Panama. Makes me wonder what the hell happened between the Costa Rica match and yesterday.
Well it looks like Guatemala took their fustrations out on pathetic Nicaragua 5-0 win and a Hat Trick by Ruiz. While a 1-1 draw between Panama & Honduras Nicaragua is already eliminated. 0-11 on the goal differential.
Nicaragua are not eliminated on goal difference. They are eliminated because they can only get at most 3 points from their last game. This would still leave them in 6th place. The 1-1 draw between Panama and Honduras opens things up for El Salvador. Panama, Honduras, and Guatemala are all on four points. Honduras and Guatemala play on the final day. If one defeats the other, only one of them will finish with, at most, ten points. The other will finish with, at most, 7 points. If they draw they both end with, at most, 8 points. El Salvador already has 9 points and can finish no lower than fourth place; which will put them in a playoff with a side from the Caribe for a spot in the 2003 Gold Cup. If El Salvador draws or defeats Guatemala on Thursday, they will finish in the top three and advance to the 2003 Gold Cup. If Costa Rica wins on Thursday, they are through. A draw could be a different story (I haven't looked at it). Costa Rica could still lose two and miss out on the Gold Cup completely. I think this applies to Panama, Honduras, and Guatemala as well.
Preston I knew that. I only made a note about the 0-11 differential. Obviously 0 wins in 4 matches means that they can't advance past the 5th place team. Or at least they can't get up off the ground.
Costa Rica books Gold Cup ticket after another 1:0 victory Costa Rica took over the lead from El Salvador in the battle for the championship of Central America, but sealed a more important prize - a berth in the 2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup - after another 1:0 victory on Thursday in Central Zone qualifying for the Gold Cup, the UNCAF Copa de Naciones. Steven Bryce gave Costa Rica their third victory in four matches, scoring the only goal in a victory against Honduras in the second match at Estadio Rommel Fernandez in Panama, while thanks to a fortunate goal from César Alegría and a penalty from Freddy García, Guatemala knocked off El Salvador 2:0 to end their hopes for a first-ever regional championship. Costa Rica now has 10 points with one match remaining, while El Salvador ends their qualification with nine points from five matches and now has a tense wait to see if that will be enough for the second berth. Guatemala has seven points with one match still to play to claim inside track on the third http://concacaf.com/news/article.page/1224
Nicaragua 1 Panama 0 What a shocking result! This has just destroyed Panama's chances at making the Gold Cup Finals although they still will have a chance this Sunday. Apparently, this is Nicaragua's first win in the UNCAF tournament since 1991. Just amazing.
Well it's all coming down to the final two matches in the UNCAF Copa De Naciones. Guatemala Vs Honduars while Costa Rica faces Panama. It's going to be a good one I bet.
Guatemala defeat Honduras 2:1; capture third berth Guatemala scored an early goal and held on to defeat a scrappy Honduras side 2:1 to capture the third and final Central Zone qualifying berth to the 2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup on the last day of matches at the UNCAF Copa de Naciones at Estadio Rommel Fernández in Panamá. The victory puts Guatemala on 10 points, tying them with Costa Rica (who play the hosts in the afternoon’s second match) and one point ahead of El Salvador. Honduras drop to fourth place pending the result of the nightcap, important because the fourth-placed team enters a play-off with two to-be-determined Caribbean teams for the final spot in this summer’s Confederation Championship for national teams. http://concacaf.com/news/article.page/1228
Costa Rica has won 1:0 over Panama winning the UNCAF tournament while knocking the hosts out of the Gold Cup at the same time. With this result, both Panama and Honduras have 4 points and a -1 goal differential. Next tie-breaker is goals for which Honduras leads by one goal. A real shame for Panama. I really thought they were better especially playing at home. Now Honduras will play the 2 runners-up in the two Caribbean groups. Should be interesting.
Costa Rica 13pts 4W 0L 1T Guatemala 10pts 3W 1L 1T El Salvador 9pts 3W 2L 0T Honduras 4pts 1W 3L 1T Panama 4pts 1W 3L 1T Nicaragua 3pts 1W 4L 0T Something like that
number 8 the only one allowed at the podium did NOT look too happy! now Honduras - by a flip of a coin that beat the overall tie to panama- will battle Haiti and superCUBA in april (no venue decided yet) to see the gold Cup games.