Four teams battle for remaining World Cup berths
CATHERINE HALL, St James — Four teams and two spots in the FIFA World Cup later this year will be at stake in today’s play-off games in the CONCACAF Men’s Under-20 Championship at the Montego Bay Sports Complex.
Guatemala vs Honduras at 2:00 pm and USA vs El Salvador at 5:00 pm, with the winners joining automatic qualifiers Mexico and Panama, should make for a riveting day of football.
The format that is being used by CONCACAF for the first time sees six teams playing in each group and after five games, the top teams in either group qualify for the finals of the World Cup in New Zealand with the next two teams in each group being reseeded to face each other in a two-game play-off.
The 5:00 pm game between the slow-starting USA and the dogged El Salvador could prove to be the better of the two games, if only for grit and determination, while Honduras will start favourites against Guatemala.
El Salvador and the USA have each won three of their seven previous games, but the USA have won the last two.
The USA have underperformed based on their own high expectations coming into the tournament and coach Tab Ramos said after their 1-0 win over Trinidad and Tobago earlier this week, they came expecting to win the event.
They have had to readjust their sights, however, after just one point from their first two games, but three wins in a row got them back on track for a place in New Zealand.
The Americans will, however, face a disciplined El Salvador team that will be led by Juan Barahona, who scored twice against Cuba on Thursday, and Jose Villavicencio, who has scored three goals so far.
With the exception of their 8-0 thrashing of Aruba, the USA have only scored more than one goal in a game once, against Jamaica, having struggled to create goals.
Romaine Gall can be dangerous, however, if given space, while Bradford Jamieson can be a match winner.
Former two-time champions Honduras have never lost to Guatemala in CONCACAF Under-20 Championships, winning all three games between them and the combination of Bryan Rochez and Albert Elis will be a lot for Guatemala to handle.
Of the six teams playing today, Honduras have allowed the most goals, however, conceding nine, but Guatemala have also scored the least number of goals of any of the teams playing today, just six in five matches.
— Paul Reid