Cayman Islands-172nd (28th North America)
Dominican Republic-132nd (18th North America)
El Salvador-78th (7th North America)
Suriname-110th (12th North America)
Schedule
September 2, 2011
- Cayman Islands at Suriname
- Dominican Republic at El Salvador
- El Salvador at Cayman Islands
- Suriname at Dominican Republic
- El Salvador at Dominican Republic
- Suriname at Cayman Islands
- Cayman Islands at El Salvador
- Dominican Republic at Suriname
- El Salvador at Suriname
- Cayman Islands at Dominican Republic
- Suriname at El Salvador
- Dominican Republic at Cayman Islands
Cayman Islands
- 2011 to date: 0-0-0
- 2010 WC Qualifying/Finals: 0-1-1
- vs. Group opponents: 1-1-0
Dominican Republic
- 2011 to date: 4-0-0
- 2010 WC Qualifying/Finals: 0-1-0
- vs. Group opponents: 0-1-0
El Salvador
- 2011 to date: 6-4-4
- 2010 WC Qualifying/Finals: 8-9-3
- vs. Group opponents: 6-1-0
Suriname
- 2011 to date: 0-0-0
- 2010 WC Qualifying/Finals: 3-4-2
- vs. Group opponents: 2-6-0
Cayman Islands
The smallest nation in this group, Cayman Islands have played just two international games in the past year, defeating Anguilla and losing to Puerto Rico. Cayman Islands suffer from the same problems that plague many of the Caribbean and Latin American countries: lack of sufficient funds to support a national team and subsequently very few games played. We saw an example of this on Friday when Bahamas withdrew due to the costs required of fielding a team for 6 games in 3 months. By far the lowest ranked team in the group, Cayman Islands will just be trying not to get blown out of the water against teams like El Salvador and Suriname. Best shot at picking up points will be against Dominican Republic, the only team in the group Cayman Islands have a victory against, although you have to go back to 2002 to when that happened.
Dominican Republic
Severely overrated right now as a result of a pair of Round 1 victories over Anguilla, Dominican Republic is another side that should find themselves in over their head in this group although not to the degree Cayman Islands is. They are 4-0-0 in 2011 but with a pair of victories over Anguilla and Curacao, that isn't going to impress anyone outside of the Dominican. To boot, they have a brutal schedule in this group, drawing both their games against El Salvador and Suriname in September and October. They probably need to win at least 2 of those matches if they want to advance and I can't see that happening. One point to make regarding FIFA ranking: It isn't the greatest predictor of future results. I use it because it's convenient and people like to see it but if you're trying to predict the future with it, it will fail you. It's entirely results-based and its weighted based on how recent the result was, who a team played and at what level of competition was it. Why is this relevant? Well Dominican Republic was 172nd in the world, underwhelmingly beat the 197th ranked team in the world and all of a sudden jumped 40 spots to 132nd directly ahead of Dominica and Puerto Rico, teams who both beat the Dominican last go around.
El Salvador
The powerhouse of the group and surprise, surprise, they play far more games then all of their opponents (14 so far in 2011, more then triple the combined 2011 matches of the rest of the group combined). It wasn't long ago that El Salvador was in the same boat as teams like Dominican Republic, they entered 2010 qualifying ranked 20th in North America, but they scratched and clawed their way through 4 rounds of qualifying resulting in a 5th place finish, one place shy of an inter-confederational playoff. Now, they're ranked 7th in the continent and have the expectation of returning to the final round, and hopefully in the eyes of Salvadoran supporters qualifying for the finals. El Salvador will have been looking forward to this group now for a while. The biggest threat is from Suriname, a team El Salvador has owned in history with 6 wins in 7 matches. Last time they met was in Round 3 of 2010 qualifying, with El Salvador emerging with 2-0 and 3-0 victories. Scary part for their opponents? El Salvador is a much better team now than they were then....
Suriname
Along with Guyana, one of two CONCACAF members not geographically located in North America, Central America or the Caribbean. The nation from the northern coast of South America is the 2nd seed in this group and is the only likely challenger to El Salvador's dominance over this group. One result Suriname can hang their hat on in the past year is a 3-3 draw with Cuba last November. That effort will be required in all games if they wish to advance to Round 3. Because of how the schedule plays out, Suriname's games against El Salvador will both fall in November, and be the last 2 games for both teams in the group. Look for that home-and-home series to decide the entire group, as both teams could very well be 4-0-0 heading in to November.
September Games:
Game 1
Cayman Islands at Suriname
September 2, 2011
Time: 5:00 pm EDT
Location: Andre Kamperveen Stadion, Paramaribo, Suriname
Game 2
Dominican Republic at El Salvador
September 2, 2011
Time: 9:30 pm EDT
Location: Estadio Cuscatlan, San Salvador, El Salvador
Game 3
El Salvador at Cayman Islands
September 6, 2011
Time: TBA
Location: Truman Bodden Stadium, George Town, Cayman Islands
Game 4
Suriname at Dominican Republic
September 6, 2011
Time: TBA
Location: Estadio Panamericano, San Cristobal, Dominican Republic
No real marquee matches because of how the schedule falls. Only game with upset potential would probably be on the 6th when Suriname travels to the Dominican Republic. That is a must-win game for the Dominicans and they won't have a better shot at it then against Suriname at home.
Cayman Islands home game against El Salvador four days removed from playing Suriname could be a bloodbath.
Post-September Standing Predictions:
El Salvador-6 pts
Suriname-6 pts
Cayman Islands-0 pts
Dominican Republic-0 pts
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