November 2011 Preview: North America-Group 4

Standings



World Ranking/Change from Previous Rank

Canada-83rd (Up 4), 9th N. America (Down 1)
Puerto Rico-137th (Up 8), 20th N. America (Even)
Saint Kitts & Nevis-109th (Up 14), 16th N. America (Up 1)
Saint Lucia-179th (Up 6), 30th N. America (Even)

Schedule

September 2, 2011

• Saint Lucia 1-4 Canada
• Puerto Rico 0-0 Saint Kitts and Nevis

September 6, 2011

• Saint Kitts and Nevis 4-2 Saint Lucia
• Canada 3-0 Puerto Rico

October 7, 2011

• Canada 7-0 Saint Lucia
• Saint Kitts and Nevis 1-1 Puerto Rico

October 11, 2011

• Puerto Rico 0-0 Canada
• Saint Lucia 1-1 Saint Kitts and Nevis

November 11, 2011

• Canada at Saint Kitts and Nevis
• Puerto Rico at Saint Lucia

November 14, 2011

• Saint Lucia at Puerto Rico

November 15, 2011

• Saint Kitts and Nevis at Canada

November Games:

Game 9
Canada at Saint Kitts/Nevis
November 11, 2011
Time: 7:00 pm EST
Location: Warner Park, Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis

Game 10
Puerto Rico at Saint Lucia
November 11, 2011
Time: 7:00 pm EST
Location: Estadio Juan Ramon Loubriel, Bayamon, Puerto Rico*

Game 11
Saint Lucia at Puerto Rico
November 14, 2011
Time: 7:00 pm EST
Location: Mayaguez Athletics Stadium, Mayaguez, Puerto Rico

Game 12
Saint Kitts/Nevis at Canada
November 15, 2011
Time: 7:00 pm EST
Location: BMO Field, Toronto, Canada

*-Game being played in Puerto Rico despite it being Saint Lucia's home leg. Like in other groups, this is presumably being done to save on costs since both teams are already eliminated. Still searching for an official release from FIFA, CONCACAF or any of the participating federations for an explanation.

Saint Kitts and Nevis is the only team with a chance to topple Canada for the group. In order to do so, they must beat Canada (an arduous task in itself), not once, but twice in a matter of 4 days. Impossible? Close to it. Canada enters this series a heavy favourite over the island nation of Saint Kitts. They possess a faster, stronger and more experienced team and should walk over Saint Kitts with little trouble.

Final Standing Predictions:

a-Canada-16 pts
x-Puerto Rico-9 pts
x-Saint Kitts and Nevis-6 pts
x-Saint Lucia-1 pts

Been a lot of draws in this group so it wouldn't shock me to see some even scorelines in any of the remaining games, but I'm predicting a pair of wins for both Canada and Puerto Rico.