World Cup 2010 Qualifying Report: CONCACAF

Costa Rica are the new leaders in the CONCACAF section after a stunning 3-1 win over the USA last week and a narrow 3-2 victory over Trinidad & Tobago on Saturday.

Rodrigo Kenton's side burst out of the blocks on Wednesday with a couple of quick goals that left Tim Howard and his defence reeling. The US team were 2-0 down after just 12 minutes thanks to goals by Alvaro Saborio and Celso Borges and they still hadn't fully recovered when half time came around.

Things got worse for the Americans half way through the second period when substitute Pablo Herrera easily made it 3-0 to the Ticos and though Landon Donovan scored from an injury time penalty, there was no doubt as to who the better side was.



"We were under pressure from the start and we didn't control the game," US coach Bob Bradley said. "In the first goal our reactions were a little bit slow and Saborio scores a very good goal. We knew we were going to feel the pressure and we did. I just don't think we were good enough".

Luckily for the US, a chance to bounce back came in the form of a home tie against Honduras two days ago but even that started badly when the Central Americans took the lead after five minutes. Carlos Costly's long-range effort silenced the Soldier Field crowd early on but Mario Beata handled the ball in his own area shortly after to allow Landon Donovan the chance to equalise from the penalty spot.

Into the second half and with the Americans battling hard it was Stade Rennais' Carlos Bocanegra who bravely headed in the winning goal through a mass of flying feet after 67 minutes. It means the USA are now second in the hexagonal behind Costa Rica while Mexico fell to their third defeat in four games against El Salvador.

New coach Javier Aguirre was back in charge of El Tri following the sacking of Sven Goran Eriksson earlier in the year, but the outcome remained the same as El Salvador ran out 2-1 winners. Even the return of Cuauhtémoc Blanco from retirement wasn't enough to earn the Mexicans a point although he did score from the penalty spot in the second half to get at least one goal on the scoreboard.

This month's results leave the qualifying table showing a sharp divide between the top two and the remaining four, and it's here that the really interesting battle will surely develop. Further to that, this Wednesday sees two key fixtures - one between Honduras and El Salvador at San Pedro Sula and the other between Mexico and Trinidad & Tobago at the Azteca. A win will be vital for all four teams as they attempt to close the gap on Costa Rica and the United States at the half-way point.

Flat stat chat

few weeks ago while reading my copy of the Bangkok Post (don't ask - long story), I happened upon a feature written by a moonlighting ESPN pundit who painted a none-too-rosy picture of this year's Premier League season.

While he acknowledged there had been undoubted high points such as the title race running to the 37th week, he wondered whether this season had been as good as a lot of people may think.

His ponderings were built on largely statistical foundations. For a start, he suggested (with the final week's matches yet to be played) that the highest scoring team in the league, Liverpool, weren't as prolific as Man United the season before. With Liverpool about to end their campaign against Tottenham, they'd scored only 74 points compared to United's 80 last season. Shock horror - a whole six goals short, yet even that was reduced to three thanks to the generosity of Harry Redknapp's defence on May 24th.

Not much of a claim to be made there, then. Luckily he had some better arguments up his sleeve when he said that the leading goalscorer this year, Nicolas Anelka, had bagged far less than Cristiano Ronaldo did last season. Fair point - Anelka scored 19 this season, well short of Ronaldo's 31 in the 2007/08 campaign. A shortage of goals then? Well yes, but it's not as bad as you might think. Overall, the total number of goals scored by all Premier League teams was down by about three goals per team in the end. Over the whole season, that doesn't amount to very much at all.

Then there was a claim that the average attendance at a Premier League match in 2008/09 was around 35,600 compared to around 42,500 in the Bundesliga. Quite a considerable difference, but (a) hasn't that always been the case in the recent past, and (b) it's still far higher than the equivalent figures for Serie A (25,300) and La Liga (28,500). What was more interesting was the point he made about Newcastle and Middlesbrough taking their big crowds down to the Championship and the effect that might have on the Premier League, but we'll leave that for another time...

So I guess you can see where I'm heading on this. Put succinctly, you can suggest a great many things with statistics - heaven knows we have often enough - but the skill is in using the right statistics effectively and in the right context. The ESPN chappy in question obviously fell a bit short where that's concerned, but the bigger issue is perhaps that he wrote off the Premier League rather too dismissively.

The Premier League isn't perfect. This season didn't provide the last-day excitement that the Bundesliga or Ligue 1 did, nor did it provide the winners of the Champions League or UEFA Cup. It didn't always provide a multitude of goals on a match-by-match basis, and it wasn't watched by the highest number of ticket-buying members of the public either.

It did, however, give us some fantastic goals, some brilliant results by teams playing beyond their means, and some wonderful individual performances that demanded the attention of television audiences worldwide... in other words, a lot of things that can't be quantified using mere statistics - and for that, we're all very grateful indeed.

International Weekend TV Preview Special: 6 - 7 June

(All times - UK)

Saturday 6th June

09:00 North Korea v Iran, World Cup Qualifier, British Eurosport
Iran have much work to do. Lying fourth out of five teams in Asia Group 2 and four points behind their opponents, a defeat would pretty much spell the end of their chances. That said, Iran have won the three previous World Cup qualifiers between these two sides, so a congratulatory phone call to Pak Doo Ik might have to wait a little longer yet.

16:00 Azerbaijan v Wales, World Cup Qualifier, BBC2 Wales/Interactive
Even if Wales win today (and it's likely, let's face it), they'll still have a mountain to climb what with better teams in the group having games in hand and all. Still, one mustn't pass up the chance to see Berti Vogts in the Azerbaijan dugout looking utterly hacked off again, and that can only be a good thing.

16:00 Kazakhstan v England, World Cup Qualifier, Setanta Sports 1
Your challenge for this match is to see how many England supporters you can spot wearing fake Borat moustaches. It'll be arguably more entertaining than this potentially one-sided affair.

17:00 Qatar v Australia, World Cup Qualifier, British Eurosport 2
The Aussies have a two point lead over Japan at the top of Asia Group 1 and quite frankly if they don't qualify for next year's World Cup, they should be banned from international football until hell freezes over. Away win.

18:30 Bulgaria v Republic of Ireland, World Cup Qualifier, Setanta Sports 1
The Bulgars are well adrift in the race for a qualifying spot in Europe Group 8, in fact if Ireland (currently 2nd) win, they'll be a further three points ahead of their opponents. That, we think you'll agree, is quite a staggering statistic.

19:50 Italy v Northern Ireland, International, BBC3 / BBC2 Northern Ireland
So let's get this straight: the Republic of Ireland are playing Bulgaria tonight and will go top of thier group if they win. Italy, however, are already at the top of the group but tonight play *Northern* Ireland prior to their *own* game against Bulgaria on Wednesday. Yes, that's right. That is right, isn't it?

20:00 Uruguay v Brazil, World Cup Qualifier, Sky Sports 1
In the competition no-one seems to want to win, these are two of the least inconsistent teams. Brazil, despite being second in the group, really need to start winning more games rather than drawing while Uruguay could do with more wins *full stop*. Let's hope for an appropriate all-guns-blazing attitude from both of them in this one.

22:00 Argentina v Colombia, World Cup Qualifier, Sky Sports 1
Argentina, meanwhile, have slipped from their lofty perch down to fourth - below Chile, even. Time for Maradona's merry band of men to show their authority over a Colombia side that have scored just six goals in their twelve games thus far.

00:00 (Sunday) Paraguay v Chile, World Cup Qualifier, Sky Sports 1
This could turn out to be the Game of the Weekend as 1st Place plays 3rd. Paraguay are still reeling from a 1-1 draw against Ecuador and a defeat to Uruguay last time out while Chile are undefeated in their last three. A failure to win on Paraguay's part could mean a change at the top of the table and a monumental cat-among-the-pigeons situation ensuing ahead of next Wednesday's qualifiers.

Sunday 7th June

21:30 Peru v Ecuador, World Cup Qualifier, Sky Sports 1
End your weekend with a large anti-climax courtesy of this bottom-end-of-the-table drivelfest.

The Friday List of Little or No Consequence #116

Life goes on...
11 Countries That Continue To Play League Football During The UK Summer

1. Brazil
2. China
3. Finland
4. Iceland
5. Ireland
6. Japan
7. Norway
8. Russia
9. South Korea
10. Sweden
11. USA