CONCACAF

This brings us to the Americas - we will work our way from North to South. In CONCACAF, we see the first ever qualifying group featuring teams that have all made an appearance in the World Cup. This is group 2, the most difficult of the CONCACAF groups. There are three groups of 4, with the top two teams in each advancing to the final round, in which the top three teams will advance to the World Cup and the fourth place team will be in a playoff against a South American team.

Group 1 – Cuba, Guatemala, Trinidad & Tobago, and the United States of America
USA are heavy favourites in this group, and I see them having no problem qualifying for the next phase. After that, this group gets interesting. T & T should be the favourites, but they were very nearly eliminated in the last phase by minnows Bermuda. With star striker Kenwyne Jones currently out with a knee injury until October, they could be in tough against the other teams. T & T definitely have the quality, but have not been playing up to their potential. To make matters worse, they are up against Cuba and Guatemala in their first two matches where they are likely to still be without Jones. I think that Cuba have enough talent to make it through as a second place team, sending the Soca Warriors and Guatemala home.

Group 2 – Canada, Honduras, Jamaica, and Mexico
This is a group that should have CONCACAF officials rethinking the way that they set up qualifying groups. This group has three teams ranked higher than every team in Group 3, and three teams ranked higher than three teams in Group 1. That is because three of the top five teams in CONCACAF are all in the same group. This group is a three-way race between these teams: Mexico, Honduras, and Canada. Jamaica are certain to be the also-rans in this group. Mexico are the big favourites to advance and it would be a huge shock if they didn’t. They have brought in former England manager Sven Goran Erikson to lead the team, and as there are no quarter finals or penalties as a part of the group stage, I see Sven’s new team qualifying. This brings the fight for the second spot to Canada and Honduras. Canada need to find some consistency in their game if they are to advance. They played fantastically against Brazil in a friendly and then followed that up with a 2-2 draw against Panama, but prior to the match with Brazil, Canada had slumped to two 2-0 defeats against Estonia and South Africa. Canada need the team that gave Brazil a run for their money to show up for qualifying or it will be another failed qualifying campaign. Honduras have been impressive in their run up to this stage, except for the last match at Puerto Rico, where the Islanders held them to a 2-2 draw. These two teams need to get wins against Jamaica, and as many points as they can from Mexico, and of course from each other. In the end, I am predicting that Canada will progress to the next stage with a slim margin over Honduras, putting Jamaica in fourth.

Group 3 – Costa Rica, El Salvador, Haiti, and Suriname
This group contains the only teams to pull off an upset in the last phase: El Salvador knocked out CONCACAF’s #4 team Panama, while Suriname beat neighbours Guyana. Similar to the USA in Group 1, Costa Rica should advance without too much difficulty. That said, they had their own problems with Grenada in the last phase, but they were able to get things together for the second leg. Costa Rica will win this group. In the battle for the second spot, I don’t think that the Haitians will mount a big challenge here - for me it is down to the underdogs from the last round, El Salvador and Suriname. It could really go either way here, but I am tipping El Salvador to advance to the next stage.

CONCACAF Summary
This places the USA, Cuba, Mexico, Canada, Costa Rica, and El Salvador in the final group. From this group I like Mexico, the USA, and Canada to grab the automatic spots for the World Cup. I think the fight for the fourth spot will be between Cuba and Costa Rica. El Salvador will be outclassed in this group. I think that Cuba might just have enough to sneak into the fourth place to play off against the South American team.