September Review: North America-Group 6

Standings



Game Results

Game 1-Haiti def. U.S. Virgin Islands 6-0 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti on September 2, 2011

• Haiti Goals-James Marcelin (18'), Jean-Eudes Maurice (27'), Listner Pierre-Louis (44'), Jean Monuma (61'), Jean Marc Alexandre (65', 78')

Game 2-Antigua/Barbuda def. Curacao 5-2 in St. John's, Antigua/Barbuda on September 2, 2011

• Antigua/Barbuda Goals-Marc Joseph (42'), Quinton Griffith (45+2'), Tamarley Thomas (54'), Peter Byers (75', 80')
• Curacao Goals-Rihairo Meulens (9'), Rocky Siberie (74')

Game 3-Antigua/Barbuda def. U.S. Virgin Islands 8-1 in Frederiksted, U.S. Virgin Islands on September 6, 2011

• Antigua/Barbuda Goals-Ranjae Christian (18'), Peter Byers (38', 51', 57'), Justin Cochrane (47'), George Dublin (54'), Randolph Burton (68', 74')
• U.S. Virgin Islands Goals-Jaime Browne (49')

Game 4-Haiti def. Curacao 4-2 in Willemstad, Curacao on September 6, 2011

• Haiti Goals-Kevin Lafrance (37'), James Marcelin (58'), Donald Guerrier (61')
• Curacao Goals-Orin De Waard (12'), Angelo Zimmerman (43', OG 75')

A little perspective here. In 4 games, these teams scored 28 goals. In 2010 qualifying, there were 24 different groups across all continents and rounds that featured 4-team groups playing double round-robins. In the entire duration of the group, 10 of those groups scored 28 or fewer goals.

So. Group 6 of CONCACAF Qualifying. Offensive juggernaut, or just a few really bad teams? Obviously the answer has to lie somewhere in the middle (or in my humble opinion towards the latter). I'm forgoing individual game recaps because what's the point? I can't tell you anything that the 4 blowouts (Haiti/Curacao wasn't very close) and 7 goals per game average doesn't. Haiti And Antigua/Barbuda = good-ish, and Curacao and U.S. Virgin Islands are just really bad. Like, really, really bad...

Thoughts

Antigua/Barbuda-Very positive sign that they're averaging 6.5 goals for a game, despite weaker competition. More telling perhaps is the 1.5 goals allowed per game against the same weak competition. This group is going to come down to the Antigua/Haiti series. Goal-scoring helps, even against a strong team like Haiti but Antigua needs to be mindful that Haiti is just as much of a threat offensively as they are. In a group so far dictated by offence, defence is going to be the likely factor in determining who advances. Advantage so far in that category: Haiti.

Haiti-Was a little concerned about them coming in but they appear in fine shape. Scoreline of the Curacao game looks closer then it was, Haiti recovered nicely from a bit of a stumble out of the gate. Like Antigua, Haiti has 2 more games in October to prepare for their meeting in November. Important not to let down but also for Haiti to score a few more goals. Should they split the series in November goal differential is the first tiebreak, currently held by Antigua/Barbuda by 2 goals.

Curacao/U.S. Virgin Islands-Well...At least they're trying...In seriousness though, neither team really stood a shot in this group and are getting blown out as a result. It's cases like this where I miss the old CONCACAF qualifying format. Round 2 used to be a 2 game home-and-home series which gave less room for error but spared some serious embarassment for teams like U.S. Virgin Islands. I'm a proponent of weak teams playing strong ones to gain experience but there's a limit to that. U.S. Virgin Islands is on pace for 6 losses and 42 goals against this round. Not fun.

Going Forward

If either Haiti or Antigua lose a game in October, some thing is seriously wrong. Wrong as in asteroids are targeting the Earth and life as we know it is about to perish. Hit the snooze button on this group until November.

Post-September Standing Predictions Revisited:

Prediction:

Antigua/Barbuda-6 pts
Haiti-6 pts
Curacao-0 pts
U.S. Virgin Islands-0 pts

Actual:

Antigua/Barbuda-6 pts
Haiti-6 pts
Curacao-0 pts
U.S. Virgin Islands-0 pts

I feel guilty taking credit for this. Seems too much like taking candy from a baby. Not that I know what that feels like...