CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying

So the Intercontinental Playoff draw for June 2022 is yet to be made. But drawing CONCACAF shapes at this stage as best outcome for OFC winners (hopefully AWs).

8 teams in final stage CONCACAF WC qualifying. After 3 of 14 games, Panama are in the 4th (playoff) spot. So fitting for AWs to play Curaçao this weekend, who only missed out on making final stage CONCACAF qualifying, losing 2-1 over 2 legs in a playoff series to Panama. 

Mexico top (7 pts), then on GD Canada, USA & Panama (all on 5 pts). Costa Rica (5th) on 2 pts probably loom as the other major contender to watch.

https://us.soccerway.com/international/nc-america/wc-qualifying-concacaf/2022-qatar/2nd-round/r44081/

3 more games for each team over this October window starting from Friday.

Results this morning. Early days (4 of 14 rounds played), with 2 more rounds this window.

USA top. Panama in 4th (playoff spot) on GD from El Salavador. Good result for Canada (3rd) with a 1-1 draw at the Azteca. Mexico (2nd).

United States  2 - 0  Jamaica
Honduras  0 - 0  Costa Rica 
Mexico  1 - 1  Canada
El Salvador  1 - 0  Panama

Results this morning. Early days (5 of 14 rounds played), with 1 more round this window.

Mexico  3 - 0  Honduras
Jamaica  0 - 0  Canada 
Panama  1 - 0  United States
Costa Rica  2 - 1  El Salvador

Mexico go top. Panama (3rd) upset the USA (2nd) at home (they would have loved that). Godoy who plays for Nashville in the MLS with the goal.

Canada slip down to 4th (playoff spot), a point ahead of Costa Rica (5th).

https://us.soccerway.com/international/nc-america/wc-qualifying-concacaf/2022-qatar/2nd-round/r44081/

Today's results. 6 of 14 rounds now played.

United States  2 - 1  Costa Rica 
Canada 4 - 1  Panama  Alphonso Davies playing in an advanced role for the Canucks. Goal and assist for him.
Honduras 0 - 2 Jamaica 
El Salvador 0 - 2   Mexico  ES down to 10 men from 47 mins, Mexico same from 67th min

Mexico (14 pts) stay top. USA (11 pts) stay 2nd after beating Costa Rica.

Canada go 3rd with a good win over Panama (8 pts) who slip to 4th (playoff spot), 2 points behind the Canadians (10 pts).
 
Costa Rica (5th), with 6 pts.
https://us.soccerway.com/international/nc-america/wc-qualifying-concacaf/2022-qatar/2nd-round/r44081/

Today's games, incl latest USA verus Mex clash.

Honduras  - Panama 
Canada  -   Costa Rica 
El Salvador  -   Jamaica 
United States  -   Mexico

Today's results. US (1st, 14 pts) with big win over Mex (2nd, 14 pts), in Cincinnati. Nth American big 3 in the top 3 spots after Canada's (3rd, 13 pts) win in likely a chilly Edmonton.

Panama (4th, 11pts) in the playoff spot. 5 point gap now back to Costa Rica (5th, 6 pts). 7 of 14 rounds played.
https://us.soccerway.com/international/nc-america/wc-qualifying-concacaf/2022-qatar/2nd-round/r44081/

Honduras  2 - 3  Panama
Canada  1 - 0  Costa Rica
El Salvador  1 - 1  Jamaica
United States  2 - 0  Mexico

Today's games.

Jamaica   -   United States 
Costa Rica  -   Honduras 
Panama  -   El Salvador 
Canada  -   Mexico

https://us.soccerway.com/international/nc-america/wc-qualifying-concacaf/2022-qatar/2nd-round/r44081/

Final results.

Jamaica 1 - 1 United States
Costa Rica 2 - 1  Honduras
Panama 2 - 1 El Salvador
Canada  2 - 1  Mexico

8 of 14 rounds played, and now a clear top 4, 4th being playoff spot.
Canada (1st, 16 pts), USA (2nd, 15 pts), Mexico (3rd, 14 pts) & Panama (4th, 14 pts).

Panamanians with a 5 point gap on Costa Rica in 5th (9 pts). Mexico have 4 of their last 6 games at home. Lets home OFC draw CONCACAF, and it's Panama in the playoff spot. I think of all the options out there, seems the kindest outcome.


There certainly is a culture in the Americas, of using home advantage to the maxzimum.

The Canadians took their game against Mexico to chilly Edmonton. A bone freezing -10 Celsius. Ref in long pants, Canuck goalie in a hoodie. The pitch had obviously been cleared of snow. Mex scored at 89 mins, to make the last 5 very exciting. Couple of goaline scrambles late in the Canada goal, incl about half the ball going over at 1one point. Some afters at the final whistle.

So whilst it's great the AWs are playing games (in front of no fans), they are a million miles off replicating the type of matches, potential Intercontinental Playoff opponents are having elsewhere.

https://us.soccerway.com/international/nc-america/wc-qualifying-concacaf/2022-qatar/2nd-round/r44081/

Tomorrow's games. Last one is likely to be of the most interest to Kiwi fans.

27th January 2022
USA vs. El Salvador
Jamaica vs. Mexico
Honduras vs. Canada
Costa Rica (5th) vs. Panama (4th)

https://us.soccerway.com/international/nc-america/wc-qualifying-concacaf/2022-qatar/2nd-round/r44081/

any intercontinental playoff game(s) we get are going to be at neutral venues anyway aren't they?

theprof

any intercontinental playoff game(s) we get are going to be at neutral venues anyway aren't they?

The 2 one off games are being played on 13th & 14th June in Qatar.

coochiee

Tomorrow's games. Last one is likely to be of the most interest to Kiwi fans.

27th January 2022
USA vs. El Salvador
Jamaica vs. Mexico
Honduras vs. Canada
Costa Rica (5th) vs. Panama (4th)

https://us.soccerway.com/international/nc-america/wc-qualifying-concacaf/2022-qatar/2nd-round/r44081/

US leading El Salvador 1 -0 at the 55th minute
10 man Jamaica lead Mexico 1 - 0 too, 
now 1-2 to Mexico....

If Costa Rica hold on for these final 10 minutes it I've end up being the perfect run of results this round for NZ. No upsets for the top 3 creating a further gulf between them and 4th place. As well as Costa Rica inching closer to that 4th place and perhaps sniping it off Panama down the line.

Rock Hopper

If Costa Rica hold on for these final 10 minutes it I've end up being the perfect run of results this round for NZ. No upsets for the top 3 creating a further gulf between them and 4th place. As well as Costa Rica inching closer to that 4th place and perhaps sniping it off Panama down the line.

Yeah looking like it’ll be down to Costa Rica or Panama now for that fourth spot. Mexico getting themselves out of a very tight squeeze in Jamaica def good for the AWS! 
Still a ways to go I guess. 

Rock Hopper

If Costa Rica hold on for these final 10 minutes it I've end up being the perfect run of results this round for NZ. No upsets for the top 3 creating a further gulf between them and 4th place. As well as Costa Rica inching closer to that 4th place and perhaps sniping it off Panama down the line.

Yipe perfect run of results, with one eye on June. Big 3 - Canada, USA & Mexico all won. Mexicans yes left it late in Kingston, against 10 men. Costa Rica beating Panama in San Jose.
https://us.soccerway.com/international/nc-america/wc-qualifying-concacaf/2022-qatar/2nd-round/r44081/

Mexico (3rd) 3 points ahead of Panama in 4th. And both Costa Rica (5th) and Panamanians need to play at the imposing Azteca in the next week.

Talking to a local football nut Mexican. He suggested (like Canadian Juneof86 in another thread) that Costa Rica would be a good opponent for the AWs in June. They are still hanging on to their aging golden generation from Brazil 2014. 36 yr old Bryan Ruiz with the winner against Panama. But watching that game, either team would still be very tough for the AWs. Panama had some very tall athletic timber at the back, and unlucky with a header crashing back off the cross bar in 89th min.

I don’t know how much interest there is, but since the World Cup draw is weeks away and this will wrap up Tuesday, I thought I would update CONCACAF World Cup qualifying. It’s been for more interesting and shocking than I ever would have imagined….

Group A was always going to be a mess. Panama is the best side outside of the host nations and they got basically the hardest draw humanly possible. Suriname is very good side full of seasoned Dutch professionals. Guatemala put a good scare into the US in the Gold Cup semifinals (after eliminating Canada on penalties) and El Salvador is a difficult opponent at home and much better than the other fourth-strongest teams…

So heading into the final match day: 

Suriname 9 (+5)

Panama 9 (+2)

Guatemala 5 

El Salvador 3

Guatemala lost at home on the first match day to ES which looms large as Guaté carry on the noble tradition of an upstart having a great Gold Cup run, raising expectations and falling flat in qualifying. Panama scored a 96th minute goal to draw Suriname otherwise this would be over. Suriname, Curaçao and Jamaica all have squads full of European/British-raised players and they just don’t seem able to adapt to the insanity that is qualifying in this region. However, the core of this Suriname side has been around awhile and I think they get it now. They seem to be CONCACAFing effectively. Panama has not played well, but looked good in grabbing a 2-0 lead Thursday in Guatemala before surrendering it and then pulling out a 3-2 win. Suriname smashed ES 4-0 which looks important now as we look at the goal differential.

Guatemala v Suriname

Panama v ES

Guatemala has nothing to play for, but that’s still a difficult place to play. Panama is usually good at home, ES has noting to play for and Panama don’t usually score a ton of goals, but them making up that 3-goal difference isn’t impossible. The silver lining for both is that if they both win, one of them will at least make the playoffs.

Group B

Curaçao 11 (+10)

Jamaica 10 (+8)

T&T 6 

Bermuda 0

Jamaica got the easiest group possible. No disrespect to Curaçao who are decent and I think are playing even better than usual with Dick Advocaat in charge… This always looked like a two-team race since T&T is quite poor and Bermuda is easily the weakest team left. Thursday Jamaica dropped more points, giving up a late goal in T&T to draw 1-1. The Jamaican FA fired Heimir Hallgrimsson which is totally insane to me and as we watch Jamaica bumble their way through what should have been one of the most straight-forward paths to the World Cup on earth while Hallgrimson resurrected the Rep. of Ireland from the dead. I just shake my head. 

Jamaica hosts Curaçao with the visitors obviously only needing a draw. You’d fancy Jamaica to get the win they need, but they seem completely incapable of getting the job done and their squad full of players with EPL and Championship experience inexplicably seem to have no unity or fighting spirit. The minor crime of this qualifying is that the runner up in this group doesn’t really feel like they deserve to advance to the playoffs, but they almost surely will because the group was so poor.

Group C

I expected this to be a two-team race. Boy was I wrong…

Honduras 8 (+3)

Haiti 8 (+1)

Costa Rica 6 (+2)

Nicaragua 4

Qualifying opened with 10-man Nicaragua scoring a late goal to draw 1-1 with Costa Rica. Nicaragua is getting better and that’s been a tough place to play for a few years (away to Real Esteli has been a tricky early round CONCACAF Champions League fixture at times for some big clubs), but I was stunned the Ticos dropped points there. Then Costa Rica had a 2-0 lead on Haiti after 30 minutes at home only to fall apart and need an injury time equalizer to get a 3-3 draw. 

It’s been baffling ever since. Due to the political unrest Haiti isn’t even playing home matches. They’re playing in Curaçao… despite that Haiti beat Costa Rica 1-0 at “home” on Thursday and Nicaragua stunned Honduras 2-0 at home. Suddenly, not only is Haiti alive… they might be favoured?

Costa Rica v Honduras

Haiti v Nicaragua

Haiti beat Nicaragua away 3-0 which somehow eluded the favourites and now if they can win, they at least get on 11 points which might be enough for one of the two playoff spots if Jamaica loses or one of Panama or Suriname don’t win. HOWEVER… if Costa Rica beat Honduras at home. Which I kind of fancy they will… and if Haiti wins…. Haiti top the group and go to the World Cup. Which is a wonderful, charming story, but probably not great for the region’s reputation as a whole because I don’t see them being remotely competitive. Thought if two of Panama, Jamaica, Honduras or Costa Rica make the playoffs, it’s possible they could win both playoff spots if that's how the bracket falls. 

So TL;DR… there is a very, very possible scenario where Suriname, Curaçao and Haiti get the three automatic qualifying spots in CONCACAF on Thursday. Because chaos and the ridiculous always rules the day in this region.

Good read.

How come Suriname is in this confederation?

Guyana (English speaking), Suriname (Dutch) and French Guiana (Francise) all geographically sit in Sth America, but are in CONCACAF rather than CONMEBOL.

I think the rationale is all 3 have far more in common culturally with the various other Caribbean minnow nations, than larger 10 Spanish /Portuguese speaking countries that make up CONMEBOL.

A country like Guyana is actually not easy to fly into even from nearby countries like Venezuela and Brazil. You often need to fly up to travel hub Panama and then back down again.

I've met many Peruvians who have never even heard of those 3 minnow nations. I was always curious about it when in Lima, as a brother spent 6 years living Guyana & Suriname. He now lives in Papamoa, and once got talkingto Kane W at the Tauranga Airport. Kane playing CPL for Amazon Warriors. He basically asked my bro, why would you want to live longterm in that "sharkhole"?

Of course the AWs came out of Covid hibernation to beat Curaçao in 2021. In the UAE from memory.

AWs are ranked 85th. Curaçao 82nd, Haiti 88th & Suriname 126th.
So we may lose the honour of being the lowest ranked team next year.
Not happy about that!

Curacao would also be the smallest nation ever at a World Cup.

Fairly comfortably so as well.

Buffon II

Curacao would also be the smallest nation ever at a World Cup.

Fairly comfortably so as well.

Yes only about 185K. Tiny
But I see about another 145K people of Curaçaoan origin live in the Netherlands. 
I imagine a fair chunk of their squad are Dutch born.

As coochiee says, culturally the three northern South American countries have closer ties to the Caribbean nations than the rest of their continent. I also believe that when COMEBOL was founded in 1916, Suriname wasn’t an independent nation. By time it won its independence, I’m sure the powers that be in South American weren’t interested in including them in the confederation.

 

The matches on Tuesday all kickoff at the same time. Which, unfortunately, is 30 minutes before the All Whites face Ecuador and Canada meets Venezuela. The matches are all free on YouTube up here, so I may get every device in the house and put a bunch of the second halves of the matches on at once after our friendly ends to see how things play out. 

 

I am pretty certain that Curaçao’s entire roster was born outside of Curaçao. They have the Bacuna brothers in the midfield (Juninho from Huddersfield/Birmingham City/Rangers and Leandro from Villa/Cardiff City) and an experienced backline. They don’t have the same size of diaspora that Jamaica or Suriname have (or Haiti for that matter), but they’ve also been together for longer and have been a cohesive team that isn’t easy to score on, that put in a consistent, professional standard of performance.

 

I think Suriname are a better side (I didn’t realize that they were still ranked so low, because on paper they’re much better than that). A bunch of their backline is in Turkey now, but Dijksteel was with Boro for six years, Denswil played in Serie A and with Club Brugge, Haps was with Feyenoord and then moved to Serie A. They’ve always struggled with their midfield, but their star is Sheraldo Becker who scored 11 goals as a winger the season Union Berlin was fourth in the Bundesliga and is in La Liga now. They have more forwards than they know what to do with, but it’s one of their only local players, Gleofilo Vlijter, who seems to be the only one who scores consistently for them. Every window they seem to be adding new players, so if they qualify who knows who may declare for them. To give you an idea, Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard, Virgil van Dijk, Xavi Simons, Edgar Davids, Patrick Kluivert, Clerance Seedorf, Denzel Dumfries, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, etc., etc. would all be eligible to play for Suriname if they hadn’t played for the Netherlands. There is a massive pool of Suriname-eligible talent in the Netherlands.

Both Suriname and Curaçao (aka the Netherlands Antilles) were quite competitive in the 1960s and 70s in CONCACAF. The Netherlands Antilles were third in CONCACAF twice in the 60s and each country made the final round of six teams in World Cup qualifying in the 70s (one was 74 and one was 78, but I forget which was which)… Four years ago, Curaçao eliminated Guatemala and then went out 2-1 over two legs to Panama. Canada eliminated Suriname and then Haiti to advance to the final stage. So they were all pretty competitive last cycle. I expected Suriname and Curaçao to push for a playoff spot at least, but I never expected both might get automatic qualification.

juneof86

As coochiee says, culturally the three northern South American countries have closer ties to the Caribbean nations than the rest of their continent. I also believe that when COMEBOL was founded in 1916, Suriname wasn’t an independent nation. By time it won its independence, I’m sure the powers that be in South American weren’t interested in including them in the confederation.

 

The matches on Tuesday all kickoff at the same time. Which, unfortunately, is 30 minutes before the All Whites face Ecuador and Canada meets Venezuela. The matches are all free on YouTube up here, so I may get every device in the house and put a bunch of the second halves of the matches on at once after our friendly ends to see how things play out. 

 

I am pretty certain that Curaçao’s entire roster was born outside of Curaçao. They have the Bacuna brothers in the midfield (Juninho from Huddersfield/Birmingham City/Rangers and Leandro from Villa/Cardiff City) and an experienced backline. They don’t have the same size of diaspora that Jamaica or Suriname have (or Haiti for that matter), but they’ve also been together for longer and have been a cohesive team that isn’t easy to score on, that put in a consistent, professional standard of performance.

 

I think Suriname are a better side (I didn’t realize that they were still ranked so low, because on paper they’re much better than that). A bunch of their backline is in Turkey now, but Dijksteel was with Boro for six years, Denswil played in Serie A and with Club Brugge, Haps was with Feyenoord and then moved to Serie A. They’ve always struggled with their midfield, but their star is Sheraldo Becker who scored 11 goals as a winger the season Union Berlin was fourth in the Bundesliga and is in La Liga now. They have more forwards than they know what to do with, but it’s one of their only local players, Gleofilo Vlijter, who seems to be the only one who scores consistently for them. Every window they seem to be adding new players, so if they qualify who knows who may declare for them. To give you an idea, Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard, Virgil van Dijk, Xavi Simons, Edgar Davids, Patrick Kluivert, Clerance Seedorf, Denzel Dumfries, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, etc., etc. would all be eligible to play for Suriname if they hadn’t played for the Netherlands. There is a massive pool of Suriname-eligible talent in the Netherlands.

Both Suriname and Curaçao (aka the Netherlands Antilles) were quite competitive in the 1960s and 70s in CONCACAF. The Netherlands Antilles were third in CONCACAF twice in the 60s and each country made the final round of six teams in World Cup qualifying in the 70s (one was 74 and one was 78, but I forget which was which)… Four years ago, Curaçao eliminated Guatemala and then went out 2-1 over two legs to Panama. Canada eliminated Suriname and then Haiti to advance to the final stage. So they were all pretty competitive last cycle. I expected Suriname and Curaçao to push for a playoff spot at least, but I never expected both might get automatic qualification.

As per the guys on the Sweeper Pod, of Curaçao's squad this window, just Tahith Chong was born in Curaçao. 

Based on that, if they do qualify, they would be probably the least 'homegrown' squad ever at a World Cup. Australia 1974 had mostly European immigrants (7 of their 22 born in Aus); Morocco in 2022 had 12 of 26 and in 2018 they had just 6 of 23 born in Morocco.

Comoros at AFCON in 2023 were similar; just one player was born in Comoros.

carlind

juneof86

As coochiee says, culturally the three northern South American countries have closer ties to the Caribbean nations than the rest of their continent. I also believe that when COMEBOL was founded in 1916, Suriname wasn’t an independent nation. By time it won its independence, I’m sure the powers that be in South American weren’t interested in including them in the confederation.

 

The matches on Tuesday all kickoff at the same time. Which, unfortunately, is 30 minutes before the All Whites face Ecuador and Canada meets Venezuela. The matches are all free on YouTube up here, so I may get every device in the house and put a bunch of the second halves of the matches on at once after our friendly ends to see how things play out. 

 

I am pretty certain that Curaçao’s entire roster was born outside of Curaçao. They have the Bacuna brothers in the midfield (Juninho from Huddersfield/Birmingham City/Rangers and Leandro from Villa/Cardiff City) and an experienced backline. They don’t have the same size of diaspora that Jamaica or Suriname have (or Haiti for that matter), but they’ve also been together for longer and have been a cohesive team that isn’t easy to score on, that put in a consistent, professional standard of performance.

 

I think Suriname are a better side (I didn’t realize that they were still ranked so low, because on paper they’re much better than that). A bunch of their backline is in Turkey now, but Dijksteel was with Boro for six years, Denswil played in Serie A and with Club Brugge, Haps was with Feyenoord and then moved to Serie A. They’ve always struggled with their midfield, but their star is Sheraldo Becker who scored 11 goals as a winger the season Union Berlin was fourth in the Bundesliga and is in La Liga now. They have more forwards than they know what to do with, but it’s one of their only local players, Gleofilo Vlijter, who seems to be the only one who scores consistently for them. Every window they seem to be adding new players, so if they qualify who knows who may declare for them. To give you an idea, Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard, Virgil van Dijk, Xavi Simons, Edgar Davids, Patrick Kluivert, Clerance Seedorf, Denzel Dumfries, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, etc., etc. would all be eligible to play for Suriname if they hadn’t played for the Netherlands. There is a massive pool of Suriname-eligible talent in the Netherlands.

Both Suriname and Curaçao (aka the Netherlands Antilles) were quite competitive in the 1960s and 70s in CONCACAF. The Netherlands Antilles were third in CONCACAF twice in the 60s and each country made the final round of six teams in World Cup qualifying in the 70s (one was 74 and one was 78, but I forget which was which)… Four years ago, Curaçao eliminated Guatemala and then went out 2-1 over two legs to Panama. Canada eliminated Suriname and then Haiti to advance to the final stage. So they were all pretty competitive last cycle. I expected Suriname and Curaçao to push for a playoff spot at least, but I never expected both might get automatic qualification.

As per the guys on the Sweeper Pod, of Curaçao's squad this window, just Tahith Chong was born in Curaçao. 

Based on that, if they do qualify, they would be probably the least 'homegrown' squad ever at a World Cup. Australia 1974 had mostly European immigrants (7 of their 22 born in Aus); Morocco in 2022 had 12 of 26 and in 2018 they had just 6 of 23 born in Morocco.

Comoros at AFCON in 2023 were similar; just one player was born in Comoros.

Slightly off topic - 11 of the 22 1982 All Whites were born outside New Zealand (7 in England, 3 Scotland and 1 in Ireland)

Panama 3 El Salvador 0

Guatemala 3 Suriname 1

Haiti 2 Nicaragua 0

Costa Rica 0 Honduras 0

Jamaica 0 Curaçao 0

And with that Curaçao, Panama and Haiti - yes Haiti - are going to the World Cup. Suriname and Jamaica are off to the playoffs.

Panama and Haiti both scored early and took 2-0 leads into half time. Early in the second half Guatemala just started to shred Suriname apart and went up 3-0. That threw everything on its head. That result meant that Honduras only needed a 0-0 draw to get into the playoffs and a 1-0 Costa Rica win would have gotten them in ahead of Suriname who were absolute bottling it.

Jamaica hit the post twice and hit the bar, but Curaçao created their own chances and despite only needing a draw, played to win the match. Honduras, needing a win to go to the World Cup, played for a draw. They had a few first half chances, but Costa Rica were throwing everything they had at Honduras who seemed content to defend and try to see the 0-0 out.

In the 94th minute a Guatemala own goal changed everything. With that, Suriname was back in the playoffs. Meanwhile Jamaica’s Jon Russell from Barnsley managed to get two yellows in his 20 minutes on the pitch as Jamaica continues to prove to me that they just don’t understand how to play in the region. His first yellow was for an off-the-ball incident he had no reason to get involved in. Despite being down a man, Jamaica won a 95th minute penalty… that VAR overturned.

Both Jamaica-Curaçao and CR-Honduras went well past their expected stoppage time, so Haiti had reached full time but had to wait about five minutes to know if they had done enough. I was so pleased the stadium in Curaçao had a healthy group of Haitians in the stands for the occasion. 

https://x.com/CBSSportsGolazo/status/1990980731934310783?s=20

I am so happy for Panama who really are a different class than everyone else who was left in the field. They didn't have a good qualifying campaign, but with the whole thing lasting three windows over three months, a few key injuries can have an over-sized impact on a team's form. Costa Rica looked like they were at that level, but then their manager left (and sent Paraguay rocketing up the CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying table and into the tournament) and they’ve been poor ever since. They're usually tough at home, but were just poor across the board.

Curaçao would be a far more charming underdog story if most of their team didn’t come up through prestigious Dutch academies. I will still be hoping that they put a good foot forward.

Speaking of nations with players from outside the country, Haiti could have as many as five Canadians in their World Cup squad. Curious which of them make the final roster. They will have a number of American and French-born players as well, but they do have plenty of Haitian born players too. Wonderful to see their keeper Johny Placide get to a World Cup at 37. In 2008, he stood on his head to help knock Mexico out of the Olympic qualifiers and he’s had moments of greatness in the decades since. 

I had no idea Tahith Chong was born in Curaçao. He was at top European clubs at such a young age, I just assumed he was born in the Netherlands.

I have no idea what to expect out of the playoffs. Such an odd assortment of nations. I thought the CONCACAF sides might have tremendous support in Mexico, but I can't see that for Jamaica or Suriname. Honestly, I expect the stadiums will be fairly empty, but I guess we'll see in March.