Jamaica, Trinidad lose at qualifiers
BUENOS AIRES, Sept 11: Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago’s chances of another World Cup appearance were severely dented by comprehensive defeats in CONCACAF qualifiers on Wednesday.
Jamaica, who became the first English-speaking Caribbean nation to qualify for the tournament in 1998, lost 2-0 to a David Suazo-inspired Honduras in San Pedro Sula.
Suazo combined with Carlos Costly to set up the first goal for Ramon Nunez on the hour and won the penalty from which Amado Guevara added the second in the 73rd minute.
Jamaica, under Brazilian Rene Simoes, slumped to the bottom of third stage Group Two with one point after being outplayed by the Central Americans.
Trinidad lost 3-0 to the United States in Chicago, falling 2-0 behind in only 18 minutes to goals from Michael Bradley, son of US coach Bob, and Clint Dempsey. Brian Ching added the third in the 57th minute.Trinidad, under former Colombia coach Francisco Maturana, dropped to third place Group One, behind Guatemala on goal difference.
Both teams have four points from three games. The two top in each group qualify for next year’s final round of qualifiers.
Guatemala boosted their hopes by coming from behind to beat visiting Cuba 4-1.
Roberto Linares gave Cuba a 24th-minute lead but turned villain when he was given a straight red card early in the second half.
Carlos Ruiz scored twice for Guatemala, who have never played at a World Cup, before Mario Rodriguez and Jose Contreras added two more in the last five minutes. The US, Mexico and Costa Rica stayed top of their respective groups with maximum points after all winning again.
Mexico beat Canada 2-1 in Tuxtla Gutierrez in Group Two and Costa Rica beat Haiti 3-1 in Port-au-Prince, helped by two goals from Belgian-based striker Bryan Ruiz.
Alejandro Alpizar added the third for the Group Three leaders.
Sven-Goran Eriksson’s Mexico took nearly an hour to break down Canada before Omar Bravo and Rafael Marquez scored from headers. Ali Gerba replied for Canada, who have one point, with another header.
Results (CONCACAF third-stage World Cup qualifiers):
Group One:
US 3 Trinidad and Tobago 0
Guatemala 4 Cuba 1
Group Two:
Mexico 2 Canada 1
Honduras 2 Jamaica 0
Group Three:
Suriname 0 El Salvador 2 Haiti 1 Costa Rica 3.
—Reuters