Sumario de jornada 20 de Agosto

FIFA World Cup Qualifying 2010: United States of America 1 - Guatemala 0; Costa Rica win, México snatch comeback victory

Wednesday, August 20, 2008
United States of America 1 - Guatemala 0; Costa Rica win, México snatch comeback victory
Trinidad and Tobago visited Group A underdogs Cuba with the hopes of grabbing the early group lead. Cuba had barely scraped by Antigua and Barbuda, so they had plenty of doubters to prove wrong. The Trinidadians opened the scoring in the first half, and took the 1-0 lead into the break. Trinidad and Tobago scored twice more before their substitute Kaleem Hyland was sent off for a red card five minutes after the third goal. Cuba only had time to pull one goal back, and they dropped their home opener 3-1.

United States of America opened their Group A third-round campaign against Guatemala in Guatemala City. The hosts were most unkind to their visitors, and the rain cast a gloomy feeling over the encounter from the get-go. Guatemala controlled the pace of the game for the scoreless first-half, and they also controlled the Americans' emotions, wreaking havoc with their rough play. At the hour mark, Steve Cherundolo was sent off for his second yellow, and the Americans went a man down. Just three minutes later, Gustavo Cabrera committed the most egregious foul in the history of soccer, and was ejected for a planned head-butt attack on Eddie Lewis. The attack left Lewis with a bloodied head, and he had to be replaced in the match. Cabrera was ejected and the two teams were both down to ten men. The United States of America exacted sweet revenge with a goal twenty minutes from time, and the superb goalkeeping of Tim Howard gave the Americans a well-earned 1-0 road win. The final card tally had the United States of America with six yellows and Guatemala with two yellows and a red.

Jamaica visited Canada and their surprisingly strong team in Toronto. Canada and Jamaica both were looking for a quick start in Group B, the toughest group in CONCACAF's third round. A scoreless first half only added to the tension in Toronto, a city that houses a district named "Little Jamaica." Julian de Guzmán, a Canadian with Jamaican descent, scored the go-ahead goal to put Canada up one. Big Jamaica, however, did not go away quickly, and they struck back within five minutes off of an own goal by Canada's keeper. The game ended in a 1-1 draw, and they both left the field with their first point of Round Three, a point which surely suited the needs of Jamaica more than the hopes of Canada.

Honduras paid Group B favorites México a visit. The home crowd in México City was silenced by a superb Honduran free kick toward the end of the first half. The crowd was still antsy for their Mexican side were still down 1-0 with under twenty minutes to go. Two quick strikes from Pavel Pardo, however, saved the day for México, and Honduras lost Maynor Figueroa to his second yellow in the seventy-seventh minute to make a response more difficult. México held on for the 2-1 win and the Group B lead.

México's coach Sven-Goran Eriksson had this to say after the match. "It was a hard-fought triumph, but we were clearly the superior team." Honduras' coach Reinaldo Rueda thought differently. "We knew that México would try to make use of their home advantage. We started to lose the match when we had good counter-attacks to kill the game off but couldn't score. We were in control of the match even at 1-1 but after their second goal we lacked the mental awareness to overcome the deficit."

In Group C, El Salvador visited Costa Rica. Both defenses held up well during a scoreless first half. In the second half, Costa Rica quickly pushed ahead to a 1-0 lead over their Central American counterparts. The game was physical throughout, and both team drew four yellows each. Costa Rica's goal-scorer Álvaro Saborio was removed due to a second yellow with ten minutes to go in the game, but the Costa Ricans prevailed nonetheless with a difficult 1-0 win.

Suriname went to Port-au-Prince to take on Haiti in the least heralded of the day's six CONCACAF qualifiers, but this match arguably provided the most drama of all. Suriname, the tournament's surprise third-round participant, grabbed a two-goal lead after notching two scores in the first half after the half-hour mark, including a stoppage time goal. As the game entered the ninetieth minute, that scoreline had held, but the Haitians had not given up. A goal in the final minute of regulation led to more pressure on Suriname, and Haiti broke through with a goal in the fifth minute of stoppage time to escape with a 2-2 draw. Both teams sit at one point, two behind Group C leaders Costa Rica.

Goal scorers:
Trinidad and Tobago: Daniel 27, 61; C. Glen 66

Cuba: Márquez 85

United States of America: Bocanegra 69

Canada: de Guzmán 47

Jamaica: Onstad 52 OG (Canada)

México: Pavel 73, 75

Honduras: César de León 35

Costa Rica: Saborio 48

Suriname: Christoph 31, 45+1

Próxima jornada:

Next World Cup Qualifiers

September 5, 2008
Malawi at Djibouti
Ghana at Libya
Sénégal at Algeria

September 6, 2008
Vanuatu at Fiji
New Zealand at New Caledonia
Togo at Zambia
Nigeria at South Africa
Scotland at Macedonia
Namibia at Kenya
Equatorial Guinea at Sierra Leone
Azerbaijan at Wales
Cameroon at Cape Verde
Slovenia at Poland
Northern Ireland at Slovakia
Liberia at Gambia
Rwanda at Mauritania
Tunisia at Burkina Faso
Latvia at Moldova
Iceland at Norway
Belarus at Ukraine
Japan at Bahrain
Denmark at Hungary
Switzerland at Israel
Portugal at Malta
England at Andorra
Ireland at Georgia
Bulgaria at Montenegro
Turkey at Armenia
Italy at Cyprus
Uzbekistan at Qatar
Lithuania at Romania
Greece at Luxembourg
Kazakstan at Croatia
Faroe Islands at Serbia
North Korea at United Arab Emirates
France at Austria
Sweden at Albania
Germany at Liechtenstein
Chad at Sudan
Paraguay at Argentina
Bosnia and Herzegovina at Spain
Bolivia at Ecuador
Guatemala at Trinidad and Tobago
Uruguay at Colombia
México at Jamaica
Honduras at Canada
Haiti at El Salvador
United States of America at Cuba
Suriname at Costa Rica
Venezuela at Perú

September 7, 2008
Botswana at Madagascar
Tanzania at Mauritius
Guinea at Zimbabwe
Gabon at Lesotho
Côte d'Ivoire at Mozambique
Mali at Congo
Egypt at Democratic Republic of the Congo
Angola at Benin
Morocco at Ethiopia
Uganda at Niger
Brazil at Chile

September 9, 2008
Venezuela at Paraguay






Haiti: Gilles 90; Brunel 90+5
Posted by Big MG at 5:14 PM
Labels: CONCACAF, Results