According to Guate. radio, Jamaica is dominating El Salvador in their match, but they are tied at halftime 0-0 in the first of the qualifying double header... A tie virtually guarantees US winning the group and going to Finland 2003
http://www.lared.com.gt/ They are just updating the game every now and then during the Communicaciones webcast.
Jamaica equalizes!!!! 1-1 "sobre la hora" as time is about to expire. They seem to specialize in late comebacks.
This result would assure ES of the playoff spot at a minimum. OOps Jamaica just tied. ES is AOOOHHUUUTTTT!!!
1-1 eliminates El Salvador. US can finish no worse than second as long as it doesn't lose by more than 4 goals
excellent--this is the best result for the US, i think. anything other than a blowout loss to the guats puts the US through to the finals. question, though--what happens if guat wins by exactly two, putting Guat and US even on points and goal difference? i presume winning the head-to-head would favor guat but am not sure. in any case, let's hope we don't have to worry about it.
It's pretty amazing how basically every other game in qualifyig that the US hasn't played in has had a result that is favorable to the US. I mean, a tie today couldn't have been any better for Eliinger's boys.
Bitter irony ... from the outset, El Salvador's coach was saying the important thing is not to lose -- three ties later, they're going home. I'm not sure that this is such a good result for the US, though. Now Guatemala has something to play for.
Wrong. If either ES or Jam won, all Guatemala has to do is to beat US, and they will be the 2nd place based on head-to-head.
If Gautemala beats the US, we have a three way tie for first. I believe the winner of the group is then decided by goal difference. Guatemala has a goal difference of -1. Jamaica has a goal difference of -2. The US has a goal difference of +3. This means that Guatemala will have to win by 4 clear goals to win the group. I doubt very much this will happen.
All Guatemala has to do is win by 2, then US goal difference will go down to +1, and their goal difference will go up to +1. Since Guatemala would score most goals among the three, I believe they would be the champ. In other words, US does have some margin of error, but not a lot.
On the other hand, US will have to be beaten by 5 goals or more in order to be overtaken by Jam. That would be extremely unlikely. You may say US has at least the 2nd place secured.