The qualifying campaign for the "inaugural" W Gold Cup (quotation marks *very* loosely applied) has begun this international window alongside other continental action in other confeds. The W Gold Cup qualifying follows the Nations League format, with League A consisting of three groups of three teams - one of which is still TBD based on the CAN/JAM Olympic play-off to occur this window as well. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_CONCACAF_W_Gold_Cup_qualification A handful of matches have already been played - most notable result so far being Haiti 1-0 Costa Rica last night. Today we'll have Mexico vs Puerto Rico and round one of Canada vs Jamaica Six teams come from the qualifiers, joining the two Olympic teams (USA + CAN/JAM) and the top four CONMEBOL guest teams (BRA, COL, ARG, PAR) in the final competiton
Mexico has shades of WCQ flash back up as they give up an own goal to Puerto Rico in the 11', but manage to come back for a 2-1 win. Interesting result from league B that will likely affect the playoff race: Bermuda upsets Dominican Republic 2-0 And in the related OGQ, Canada gets a massive 2-0 away win over Jamaica with a late dagger, taking a lot of the drama out of the return match in Toronto
HUGE result in CONCACAF tonight as Guatemala shocks Panama in Panama with a last-gasp go-ahead goal to win 3-2. Panama won in Guatemala a few days ago 3-0, so they still have the GD advantage, but now the matches against (likely) Jamaica are much more important as Guatemala now has an viable track to the Gold Cup playoffs. If that happens, that would then throw a huge lifeline to the League B group winner that would play Guatemala, as the gap between Guatemala and the best of League B is much smaller than the gap between Guatemala and their league A counterparts.
Forgot to post any updates for MD3 & MD4! I think the big story of this past international window is the fall of several previously-strong teams. TRI got 1pt from two matches against PUR, meaning TRI needs to beat MEX and then have MEX beat PUR to get a look even at the playoffs (they need to make up a GD of 7 behind PUR). JAM, coming off of an amazing World Cup, lost to PAN away and drew GUA at home, but they can still win their group with two wins (and even a win over GUA away would put them into the playoffs assuming they don't lose to PAN an home enough to undo GD). CRC didn't play this window, but two massive wins from HAI over SKN mean CRC have to win both of their remaining matches and make up a GD of 15 to win the group. In league B, SLV has locked up group B with two MDs to spare. Some impressive performances from small teams happened too, as lowly Dominica and Martinique both got 4pts from this past international window; neither will sniff the playoffs, but still a great sign of growth. The switch to a NL format has generally been great for competitiveness so far. Out of 52 matches total, well over half have been decided by a goal or less, with the more lopsided matches generally coming from the lower leagues. That said, poor SKN shouldn't have ever made it to League A, as their three shutout losses account for 35 of the 203 goals scored so far. With those three, there have been 3.90 goals scored per match; without those three, it's only 3.43 goals per match.