Trinidad
Loss Shocks CONCACAF
Published June 15th,2008.
The top teams in the CONCACAF zone started down the road
to the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™
this weekend. And while most contests
went according to the script or
thereabouts, there were a few shocks,
most notably Trinidad and Tobago's 2-1
loss to rank outsiders Bermuda on home
soil.
Of the eight Round 2 first leg matches played on Sunday, T&T's defeat was by far the most surprising. Without injured Sunderland hit-man Kenwyne Jones, new boss Francisco Maturana's Soca Warriors looked out of sorts from the start, and they found themselves a goal down after only eight minutes thanks to the predatory instincts of journeyman striker John Barry Nusum.
After wasting a host of chances, the home side clawed their way back after 22 minutes through all-time top scorer Stern John, but Nusum silenced the Hasely Crawford crowd for good when his second goal, five minutes from the interval, sealed a historic win for the Bermudans.
It's an unbelievable feeling. I'm extremely proud of everyone involved," commented Bermuda boss Keith Tucker, who has described the current generation of Bermudan players as "one of the best in the country's history."
The USA had a far easier time of it in their game in Los Angeles, beating Barbados 8-0 in the rout of the round. Clint Dempsey opened the scoring inside the first minute, and finished with two goals. Brian Ching scored three for the strolling Americans, and Landon Donovan (playing in his 101st international), Michael Bradley and Eddie Johnson all grabbed goals of their own. It was the USA's largest-ever margin of victory, surpassing an 8-1 friendly win in 1993 over the Cayman Islands.
"It's good to get the whole thing underway," said USA coach Bob Bradley. "We started strong and kept it going. I would call that a definite success."
Mexico
struggle
The
Americans'
arch-rivals
Mexico also
won, but had
a far
tougher time
against an
inspired
Belize in
Houston,
Texas.
Arsenal-bound
Carlos Vela
opened the
scoring in
the 65th
minute
before
veteran
substitute
Jared
Borgetti
sealed a
nervy 2-0
win with a
penalty in
stoppage
time. "I
said before
the match,
you can't
underestimate
Belize -
they
defended
well and
gave us a
very tough
game," said
Santos
Laguna
midfielder
Fernando
Arce. "We'll
need to do
better in
the second
leg."
Canada entered the qualifying race with a simple 3-0 win over St. Vincent and the Grenadines on the road. Ali Gerba, who came on as a sub in the seventh minute for the injured Rob Friend, scored twice after Issey Nakajima-Farran opened the scoring.
Elsewhere on Sunday, the Netherlands Antilles kept their hopes of reaching the group stages alive with a creditable 0-0 draw against reigning Caribbean champions Haiti in Port au Prince.
Panama entered the qualifying race with a simple, but hardly emphatic, 1-0 home win over El Salvador, who were so impressive in the first round of qualifying. "I am relaxed and satisfied, since we still have another 90 minutes to play, and we are a very good team at home," said Salvadorean coach Carlos de los Cobos, while Panama boss Alexandre Guimaraes was pleased with the result. "We did what we came to do," said the Brazilian-born Costa Rican.
Jamaica rounded out Sunday's action with a huge win, 7-0 over the Bahamas. Luton Shelton scored twice while Ricardo Gardner, Demar Phillips, Marlon King, Andrew Williams and Omar Daley grabbed a goal apiece.