WCQ First round update

The Bahamas vs Turks
       The Bahamas beat the Turks and Cacaos Island 4-0. The game was an away game for the Bahamas. The Bahamas have a commanding lead and they are hoping for many supporeters at home for their next game. the game will be played July 9th 2011. They will play at the Roscow a. l. Davis Soccer field. The Bahamas should advance here, especially now playing at home.


The Battle of the virgins:
        US Virgin Island beat the British Virgin Islands 2-0. this was the first ever win in World Cup qualifying for this virgin. Neither of the virgins will go far in the next round so this is as good as it gets for them.....The next game will be played in the  British Virgin Islands, Tortola. Sunday July 10th.

Belize vs Monseratt
    This battle has take a bad turn. the Central American Country has been suspended by FIFA because the governement of Belize is interfering to much. Belize has already taken a commanding lead winning the first game 5-2. This game was an away game for Belize. The second round of World Cup Qualifiers start in September....so if the Belize governemnt does not satisfy FIFA then Belize will not make the next round.
......latest update is that Belize will play their "home" game in Honduras July 17th. The reason is that "
in order to avoid the risk that the Belizean authorities do not provide security guarantees" but I did not realize local governments had to provide security for national team games. This is strange however hopefully the Belize governemnt can keep thie noses out of the BFF business.
Dominican Republic vs Anguilla
  The Dominican Republic is one of my favorite nations to watch progress. However after waiting for 6 years no real progress have been made. The Dominican Republic will play today July 8th at home against Anguilla. The second game will again be played in San Cristobal, Dominican republic. This give a huge advantage to the dominican. I think the Dominican Republic will easily win this home/home series and hopegully their fans will support them. The second game will be sunday the July 10th.

St Lucia vs Aruba
   St Lucia names squad for World Cup qualifier. They have a young team. The first game will be today July 8th on Oranjestad, Aruba. The return leg will be tuesday July 12th in Castries, St Lucia. My guess is St Lucia will prevail.

Aruba vs St Lucia will open the CONCACAF World Cup qualification

I can oly assume at this point that the CONCACAF new format is adopted.

• Blatter is relieved that he was re ellected. this is last go around for his money grab.
• Jack Warner is not on speaking terms with General Secretary Chuck Blazer.
• Warner is presently suspended from his FIFA post so Blazer does not want to talk to him, Warner is just to hot.
• Puerto Rico gave evidence of corruption so Warner is not talking to that federation. Puerto Rico is not happy that they were one of the few who missed out of FIFA $ to build soccer in the country. T&T even got $ the last go around and they are a richer country and a more advanced league.
• 1/2 the caribbean nations are keeping quiet so they are not talking to Warner. The other 1/2 are showing support to Warner, probably they are so poor and grobble at Jack feet for $.

Well this link has a great CONCACAF format to look at.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_FIFA_World_Cup_qualification_(CONCACAF).

Aruba will play at St Lucia first June 5th than travel back to Aruba to play at this beautiful stadium.

Aruba soccer building

This first picture is the Aruba technical Center. This was a FIFA goal project. This link has great picture of the facility that shows beds, lockerrooms and http://www.avbaruba.aw/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=55&Itemid=114

Trinidad Stadium, Aruba view from the stands

Trinidad Stadium Field

Aerial view of Trinidad Stadium

Walkway in Trinidad Stadium



CONCAC AF Preliminary draw ....Aruba vs. St. Lucia

St. Lucia national team in Suriname during Caribbean Cup

Aruba is a tiny island off Venezuela. I visited there once. Aruba has beautiful beaches and very clear water. I do not think of soccer when I think of Aruba. For a small island it has about 103,000 people. Aruba is one of the richer Caribbean islands having per capita income of about 23k per year. Yes they have a football league established in 1960. They play in Trinidad Stadium, Aruba. Trinidad Stadium seats about 5,000 spectators. Their coach is Epi Albertus who is Aruban. He just started in 2010. He will compromise his team mostly from the Aruban Division di Honor, the top league in Aruba. This league is well established since 1960. There are 10 clubs in the top league and it has 2 lower leagues for regulation. Aruba seems to have all the right pieces in place to compete in the Caribbean but they have a terrible national team. They played 2 games in 2010 and lost both. 0-3 to Curacao and 0-3 to Venezuela. The national team never played in 2009. They played 4 games in 2008 losing 0-3 to Antigua and Barbuda, 0-1 to Antigua and Barbuda (home game) then they tied Curacao 0-0, lost 1-3 to Grenada. I had to go back to 2000 to find a win. The win was against the then hapless Puerto Rico.

St Lucia has about 174,000 in populations. The per capita is about $10k per year for its residents. This is a poor island but has a newer stadium called George Odlum Stadium in Vieux Fort, St Lucia. The Stadium fits about 7,000 spectators. St Lucia had no money to maintain the stadium built by the Chinese government in 2000. It recently received $ to fix this newer fixture. Their coach is a St Lucia native Terrence Caroo. Saint Lucia last World Cup Qualifying they won their first round against Turks and the Caicos Islands. (3-2 aggregate). Then they lost 9-1 on aggregate in the second round to a strong Guatemala team. St Lucia has recently played in the 2010 Caribbean Cub and were stuck in a most difficult group. St Lucia had to travel to Surname in South America. There they only lost 0-1 to the host. Then they lost 1-2 to Guyana a neighboring South American Country. Then they tied Curacao 2-2. Both of the St Lucia proved to be a competative team here in South America. The team will mostly come from the newer top pro league in St Lucia. The top league will be called the Premier Division. The Premier division will have 8 clubs. There is relegation to a 8 club First Division. The First division also has regulation to the second Division. 2011 will be the first time for this (3 tier )setup.

I believe St Lucia has the expereince of playing in the Caribbean Cup against 3 strong teams. This experience will propell them past Aruba to reach Round 1.