October 2011 Preview: North America-Group 5

Group Primer here.
September Recap here.

Standings



World Ranking/Change from Previous Rank

Belize-134th (Up 14), 18th N. America (Up 4)
Grenada-120th (Down 2), 16th N. America (Even)
Guatemala-109th (Up 4), 13th N. America (Even)
St.Vincent/Grenadines-158th (Even), 26th N. America (Down 1)

Schedule

September 2, 2011

• Belize 3-0 Grenada
• St.Vincent/Grenadines 0-4 Guatemala

September 6, 2011

• Guatemala 2-1 Belize

September 18, 2011

• Grenada 1-2 St.Vincent/Grenadines

October 7, 2011

• Grenada at Belize
• Guatemala at St.Vincent/Grenadines

October 11, 2011

• Belize at Guatemala

October 15, 2011

• St.Vincent/Grenadines at Grenada
  

November 11, 2011

• Grenada at Guatemala
• St.Vincent/Grenadines at Belize
  

November 15, 2011

• Guatemala at Grenada
• Belize at St.Vincent/Grenadines

October Games:

Game 5
Guatemala at St.Vincent/Grenadines
October 7, 2011
Time: 3:00 pm EDT
Location: Arnos Vale Stadium, Kingstown, St.Vincent/Grenadines

Game 6
Grenada at Belize
October 7, 2011
Time: 5:30 pm EDT
Location: FFB Field, Belmopan, Belize

Game 7
Belize at Guatemala
October 11, 2011
Time: 10:00 pm EDT
Location: Estadio Nacional Mateo Flores, Guatemala City, Guatemala

Game 8
St.Vincent/Grenadines at Grenada
October 15, 2011
Time: 3:00 pm EDT
Location: Grenada National Stadium, St. George's, Grenada

Group 5 has been the toughest to anticipate in terms of results and it remains to be seen what if anything will be cleared up after October. St.Vincent faces a must win game off the bat against Guatemala who thrashed St.Vincent in September. Grenada has Belize to open and after 2 losses in September they need to turn around their qualifying campaign immediately. Both Grenada and St.Vincent lost games against these opponents in September but have showed enough promise in recent past to not be counted out just yet. Belize travels to Guatemala on the 11th and the winner of that game could very well find themselves in 1st place heading in to the homestretch. Grenada and St.Vincent will meet on the 15th in a probable elimination game for one or both teams.

Post-October Standing Predictions:

Guatemala-12 pts
Belize-6 pts
x-St.Vincent/Grenadines-4 pts
x-Grenada-1 pts

I think Guatemala is going to run away with the group this month but I could be very wrong. Fairly evenly matched teams across the group means anyone can (theoretically in Grenada's case so far) win at any time.