2010 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONCACAF)
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This article documents a current sports-related event. Information may change as the event progresses.

The CONCACAF qualification stage for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa has 35 national teams competing for the three berths given automatically to CONCACAF by FIFA. The fourth place finisher will play a two game playoff with the CONMEBOL fifth place finisher¹ for a possible fourth berth.

Format

There were two preliminary rounds² which reduced 35 entrants first to 24 and then 12. The remaining 12 teams were then placed in three third round groups of four with the top two teams in each group advancing to the final qualification group. The third round began in August 2008 and ends in November 2008. The top 3 teams from the fourth round group of 6 (held from February to October 2009) will qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The 4th place team will compete in a home-and-away playoff against the fifth-place team from CONMEBOL.

Seeding

The draw took place on November 25, 2007 in Durban, South Africa³⁴ and it determined the fixtures for the preliminary rounds. In addition, because second round winners are paired off for the third round, the top 13 seeds have been subdivided as follows:⁵

• Pot A: The top 3 teams, who would be top seeds of each third round group.
• Pot B: The next 3 teams, who would be the seconds seeds of the third round groups.
• Pot C: The next 6 teams, who would receive a bye to the second round, and would not be drawn against a Pot A or Pot B team in that round.
• Pot D: St. Vincent and the Grenadines, who also receive a bye in the first round, but would be paired against one of the top 12 teams in Round 2.

In the 2nd round, the 13 top-ranked CONCACAF teams from the May 2007 FIFA World Ranking will join 11 winners from the 1st Round.

First Round

Main article: 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification - CONCACAF First Round

The 22 teams ranked 14 to 35 competed in the First Round. Teams ranked 14th–24th were randomly drawn against teams ranked 25th–35th. Teams played home and away against their opponents, except three ties: Puerto Rico–Dominican Republic, Grenada–U.S. Virgin Islands and Montserrat–Suriname, which were played over one leg in late March due to several Member Associations failing to meet the new FIFA Stadium standards and being unable to secure a home venue.⁶ The winners advanced to the Second Round.

Team #1	Agg.	Team #2	Home leg	Away leg
Group 1
Dominica	1–2	Barbados	1–1	0–1
Turks and Caicos Islands	2–3	Saint Lucia	2–1	0–2
Bermuda	4–2	Cayman Islands	1–1	3–1
Aruba	0–4	Antigua and Barbuda	0–3	0–1
Group 2
Belize	4–2	Saint Kitts and Nevis	3–11	1–1
Bahamas	(a) 3–3	British Virgin Islands	1–1	2–22
Dominican Republic	0–1	Puerto Rico	N/A	0–1 (aet)3
Group 3
U.S. Virgin Islands	0–10	Grenada	N/A	0–103
Suriname	7–1	Montserrat	N/A	7–14
El Salvador	16–0	Anguilla	12–0	4–05
Nicaragua	0–3	Netherlands Antilles	0–1	0–2

¹ Belize moved their home leg to Guatemala.⁶

² Both legs played in the Bahamas.⁶

³ Played as one leg due to a lack of acceptable grounds for FIFA competition.⁶

⁴ Played as one leg at Trinidad and Tobago because neither side are able to provide a suitable venue according to FIFA's guidelines.⁶

⁵ Played in the United States because Anguilla's stadium is not a suitable venue.⁷

Second Round

Main article: 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification - CONCACAF Second Round

In the Second Round, the 11 first round winners joined the 13 teams which received a bye to the Second Round. Teams ranked 1st–12th were randomly drawn against the unseeded teams (the 11 first round winners plus Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, which was ranked 13th). Teams played home and away against their opponents and the winners advanced to the next round. Matches took place in June 2008.

Team #1	Agg.	Team #2	Home leg	Away leg
Group 1
United States	9–0	Barbados	8–0	1–0
Guatemala	9–1	Saint Lucia	6–0	3–11
Trinidad and Tobago	3–2	Bermuda	1–2	2–0
Antigua and Barbuda	3–8	Cuba	3–4	0–4
Group 2
Belize	0–9	Mexico	0–22	0–7
Jamaica	13–0	Bahamas	7–0	6–03
Honduras	6–2	Puerto Rico	4–0	2–2
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	1–7	Canada	0–34	1–4
Group 3
Grenada	2–5	Costa Rica	2–2	0–3
Suriname	3–1	Guyana	1–0	2–1
Panama	2–3	El Salvador	1–0	1–3
Haiti	1–0	Netherlands Antilles	0–0	1–0

¹ Saint Lucia moved their home leg to the United States.

² Belize moved their home leg to the United States.⁸

³ The Bahamas elected to play their home leg in Jamaica.⁹

⁴ Order of legs reversed subsequent to original draw.¹⁰

Third Round

Main article: 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification - CONCACAF Third Round

The winners from the Second Round will be placed into three groups of four teams, where they will play a double round robin Home and Away schedule. The top two teams from each group move on to the Final Round.

Match days are: ¹¹¹²

1. 20 August 2008
2. 6 September 2008
3. 10 September 2008
4. 11 October 2008
5. 15 October 2008
6. 19 November 2008

Group 1

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  United States 5 4 0 1 12 3 +9 12  Trinidad and Tobago 5 2 2 1 6 6 0 8  Guatemala 5 1 2 2 6 5 +1 5  Cuba 5 1 0 4 5 15 −10 3

Cuba  – 2 – 1 1 – 3 0 – 1 Guatemala  4 – 1 – 0 – 0 0 – 1 Trinidad and Tobago  Nov 19 1 – 1 – 2 – 1 United States  6 – 1 Nov 19 3 – 0 –

On the next matchday (November 19)

• Trinidad and Tobago will qualify for the Fourth Round (and Guatemala will be eliminated) if:
  • they do not lose to Cuba, OR
  • Guatemala do not defeat the United States

• Guatemala will qualify for the Fourth Round (and Trinidad and Tobago will be eliminated) if:
  • they defeat the United States AND Trinidad and Tobago lose to Cuba

Group 2

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Mexico 5 3 1 1 9 5 +4 10  Honduras 5 3 0 2 8 5 +3 9  Jamaica 5 2 1 2 3 6 −3 7  Canada 5 0 2 3 6 10 −4 2

Canada  – 1 – 2 1 – 1 2 – 2 Honduras  3 – 1 – 2 – 0 Nov 19 Jamaica  Nov 19 1 – 0 – 1 – 0 Mexico  2 – 1 2 – 1 3 – 0 –

On the next matchday (November 19)

• Mexico will qualify for the Fourth Round if:
  • they do not lose to Honduras, OR
  • Jamaica do not defeat Canada, OR
  • the combined winning margins of Jamaica and Honduras are fewer than 7 goals (or equals 7 goals and Mexico finish with more goals scored than Jamaica)
• Honduras will qualify for the Fourth Round if:
  • they defeat Mexico, OR
  • Jamaica do not defeat Canada, OR
  • they draw with Mexico AND Jamaica defeat Canada does not win by 6 or more goals (or Jamaica win by 6 goals and finish with fewer goals scored than Honduras)
• Jamaica will qualify for the Fourth Round if:
  • They defeat Canada AND Honduras loses to Mexico, OR
  • They defeat Canada by more than 6 goals AND Honduras draw with Mexico (or Jamaica win by 6 goals and finish with more goals scored than Honduras), OR
  • They defeat Canada AND Honduras defeat Mexico AND the combined winning margins of Jamaica and Honduras are greater than 7 goals (or equals 7 goals and Jamaica finish with more goals scored than Mexico).

Group 3

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Costa Rica 5 5 0 0 17 2 +15 15  El Salvador 5 3 1 1 10 1 +9 10  Haiti 5 0 2 3 3 12 −9 2  Suriname 5 0 1 4 3 18 −15 1

Costa Rica  – 1 – 0 2 – 0 7 – 0 El Salvador  Nov 19 – 5 – 0 3 – 0 Haiti  1 – 3 0 – 0 – 2 – 2 Suriname  1 – 4 0 – 2 Nov 19 –

Fourth Round

Main article: 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification - CONCACAF Fourth Round

The six teams that reach the fourth round will form one double-round-robin, home-and-away group. The top three teams will qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The fourth place team will compete in a home-and-away play-off against the fifth-place team from CONMEBOL.

Qualified Teams:

•  Costa Rica
•  El Salvador
•  United States

Match days are:

1. 11 February 2009
2. 28 March 2009
3. 1 April 2009
4. 6 June 2009
5. 10 June 2009
6. 12 August 2009
7. 5 September 2009
8. 9 September 2009
9. 10 October 2009
10. 14 October 2009

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  United States 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Group 2 winner 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  Costa Rica 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Group 1 runner-up 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Group 2 runner-up 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  El Salvador 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

TBD TBD TBD Costa Rica  –           El Salvador    –         TBD     –       TBD       –     TBD         –   United States            –

Play-off

The 4th place team will then play the 5th place team from the CONMEBOL Qualification in a home and away play-off. The winner of this play-off will qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup finals.

The order that the two matches will be played is yet to be determined.

Goalscorers

As of October 16, 2008. Bold print indicates a player whose team is still active in qualifying.

Rank	Player	Total goals	Goals by round
			R1	R2	R3	R4	PO
1	Ali Gerba	6	—	4	2	X	X
	Rudis Alberto Corrales Rivera	6	6	0
3	Bryan Ruiz	4	—	1	3
	Roberto Linares	4	—	3	1	X	X
	Ronald Cerritos	4	0	4
	Eliseo Quintanilla	4	1	2	1
	Rodolfo Zelaya	4	0	0	4
	Ricky Charles	4	4	X	X	X	X
	Wensley Christoph	4	2	0	2	X	X
	Brian Ching	4	—	2	2
	Clint Dempsey	4	—	2	2

— – Bye
X – Eliminated

3 goals