October 2011 Review: North America-Group 6

Standings



Game Results

Game 5-Haiti def. U.S. Virgin Islands 7-0 in Frederiksted, U.S. Virgin Islands on October 7, 2011

• Haiti Goals-Jean-Eudes Maurice (5', 66', 82'), Kim Jaggy (11'), Kervens Belfort (57', 74'), Reginal Goreux (64')

Bad to worse for U.S. Virgin Islands who dropped this game 7-0 after falling 6-0 to Haiti in September. No solace to be taken from this game for USVI, other then holding Haiti to 2 goals in the first half. Sounds sad but small victories like that are meaningful for a team as overpowered as this one is.

Game 6-Antigua/Barbuda def. Curacao 1-0 in Willemstad, Curacao on October 7, 2011

• Antigua/Barbuda Goals-Tamarley Thomas (73')

The first real scare of the tournament for the contenders in this group as Curacao pushed Antigua/Barbuda well in to the second half before Antigua was able to get on the scoreboard. Antigua controlled the pace of the game but had difficulty breaking through the Curacao lines and did well to avoid a draw in this game.

Game 7-Curacao tied Haiti 2-2 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti on October 11, 2011

• Curacao Goals-Rocky Siberie (7'), Sendley Bito (14')
• Haiti Goals-Jean-Eudes Maurice (25'), Kervens Belfort (60')

What was a scare for Antigua/Barbuda became a nightmare for Haiti. Needing to win to keep pace with Antigua, Haiti found themselves down 2-0 in the blink of an eye at home to an all of a sudden dangerous Curacao team. With advancement out of the picture, Curacao was willing to play a more aggressive offensive style, which gave them the shocking 2-0 cushion early on. Haiti was able to compose themselves and draw back even at 2-2 but that's as far as they could get, settling for a draw and giving Curacao their first point of qualifying.

Game 8-Antigua/Barbuda def. U.S. Virgin Islands 10-0 in St. John's, Antigua/Barbuda on October 11, 2011

• Antigua/Barbuda Goals-Tamarley Thomas (7', 41', 78'), Peter Byers (24', 31', 40'), Randolph Burton (55', 65'), Jamie Thomas (86'), Kieran Murtagh (90+2')

It gets painful to watch a team struggle in the manner that USVI is. There isn't much they can do either, they don't have the personnel to match up with teams like Antigua/Barbuda and Haiti. And unfortunately, with goal differential being a tiebreaker, neither of those teams can afford to let up against USVI, meaning you get results like this one.

Thoughts

Antigua/Barbuda-There are entire groups in qualifying with less goals scored the Antigua has to its credit. Remaining question is can they continue their offensive burst against a quality opponent such as Haiti. No disrespect to Curacao or USVI but they don't represent nearly the same challenge that Haiti will. Yes, Antigua has performed better then Haiti against those same opponents, but head-to-head is all that will matter in November.

Curacao-I think getting eliminated ticked this team off because they were an entirely different animal against Haiti. While they can't advance, they've done what a lot of teams struggle to do which is constantly improve throughout qualifying. For many teams, that is all you can ask and Curacao has done exactly that. If they can continue that trend, they could pose a bigger threat next qualifying campaign.

Haiti-I was waiting to see if either Haiti or Antigua would falter before meeting in November and Haiti did on their last game of October. While they were able to salvage something with the draw, they're in a real bad position now as they prepare to take on Antigua. Lose either of their 2 November games and they're out. Antigua can take a loss and still advance, a big advantage as these teams prepare to face off.

U.S. Virgin Islands-2 more games. 2 more games and they can end the agony of this round. Curacao should be a more fair fight for them although they'll still face an uphill climb just to get a point.

Going Forward

Curacao and USVI will play a pair of games to finish up their qualifying campaign. Both were eliminated October 7th. Haiti and Antigua will play a pair of games with the group on the line an Antigua/Barbuda holding a 2 point margin. Haiti will need to take 4 points minimum from those 2 games in order to advance.

Post-October Standing Predictions Revisited:

Prediction:

Antigua/Barbuda-12 pts
Haiti-12 pts
x-Curacao-0 pts
x-U.S. Virgin Islands-0 pts

Actual:

Antigua/Barbuda-12 pts
Haiti-10 pts
x-Curacao-1 pts
x-U.S. Virgin Islands-0 pts

We'll see in November whether or not that draw with Curacao will come back to burn Haiti.