ZURICH, Jan 12: The Dominican Republic, U.S. Virgin Islands, Montserrat and Surinam will not be allowed to host World Cup qualifiers because their stadiums do not meet FIFA's new stadium standards.
FIFA, soccer's governing body, said Friday that those nations' first-round qualifiers will now be one game instead of the home-and-home, total-goals series originally called for in the format for the North and Central American and Caribbean region.
CONCACAF deputy secretary general Ted Howard said the new standards deal with safety, security and quality.
The Dominican Republic will play at Puerto Rico in late March and the U.S. Virgin Islands will play at Grenada. The match between Montserrat and Surinam will be played at Trinidad and Tobago.
Qualifying in the region begins Feb. 3, when Bermuda hosts the Cayman Islands. The United States, seeking its sixth straight World Cup appearance, has a first-round bye and opens qualifying in June against Barbados or Dominica.—AP
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