Haiti Score Two 90th Minute Equalizers in CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying
Round Three of CONCACAF World Cup 2010 Qualification began last night and of all the six games involved, Haiti vs Suriname easily looked the least appetizing. Except it wasn’t.
The video below is horrible quality (and appears to have been edited by Ed Wood) but still worth watching. Here’s what happens: Haiti (in blue) are at home, Suriname (in green) are visiting. Suriname score in the 36th and then 46th minutes and look to have the game won.
But jump ahead to the 3:00 mark and brace yourself for something amazing…
Fratz Gilles scores for Haiti in what FIFA stats say is the 90th minute of the game, and then Brunel Fucien has the chance to equalize from the spot. His pen is saved but he scores the rebound. Incredible comeback, especially in front of the home crowd. Love the clearly Haitian commentator too. He’s in football heaven when Haiti are awarded a penalty and possibly has multiple orgasms when they equalize. This is why the World Cup rules all, even in the qualifying rounds.
The rest of CONCACAF qualifying is after the jump….
With (concentrate now) the 12 remaining teams in three groups of four and the top two from each going through the final round of six. No shame in having to read that sentence twice before it makes sense. I just this second wrote it and still had to read it twice.
Anyway…
Group 1
Cuba 1-3 Trinidad & Tobago
Daniel Keon got two and Cornell Glen got the other for T&T in Havana, before Jeniel Marquez scored an 85th minute consolation for Cuba. Would be great to see T&T back at a World Cup after the positive impression they made in 2006 (their draw against Sweden was one of the best 0-0 games I’ve ever seen)
Guatemala 0-1 USA
No Altidore, no Adu and Michael Bradley playing his thousandth game of the summer, but USA won a World Cup qualifier in Guatemala for the first time ever. The game was almost a brawl with plenty of rough play and - shock! - Carlos Ruiz causing trouble by kicking US keeper Tim Howard in the face. Carlos Bocanegra got the winner from a DaMarcus Beasly corner when the entire Guatemalan defence forgot about the invention of marking.
Next up: USA goes to Cuba. Should be… interesting.
Group 2
Canada 1-1 Jamaica
Julian de Guzman gave Canada the lead at BMO Field in the 47th minute, but Jamaica equalized when Andrew Williams bent a corner straight in in the 57th. Good away draw for Jamaica, massive disappointment for Canada in front of 20,000+ fans. But at least the Canadian defenders didn’t have to mark Usain Bolt.
Mexico 2-1 Honduras
Sven-Goran Eriksson’s latest World Cup campaign got off to a horrible horrible start when Julio Cesar De Leon’s sweet free kick gave Honduras a surprise lead. Mexico couldn’t afford to drop points in this qualifying group of death (or at least group of danger).
Luckily the bespectacled Swede had an ace up his sleeve and brought Cuauhtémoc Blanco on for the last 20 minutes to change the game. Blanco didn’t score, but he lifted Mexico and Pavel Pardo levelled things with a sweet 74th minute strike before scoring the winner in the 76th. Sven breathes a sigh of relief.
Group 3
Haiti 2-2 Suriname
You saw this above. It’s unlikely either team will get past Round Three, but Haiti fans will remember this game for a while to come.
Costa Rica 1-0 El Salvador
Since Group 3 looks the easiest of the groups, these two teams are exected to coast through as the top two. But someone still has to finish first and second, and so far it’s advantage Ticos thanks to Alvaro Saborio’s 48th minute winner.
Next CONCACAF Matchday is September 6th.
It might also surprise you to hear that UEFA World Cup Qualifying got underway last nights, but only slightly. Kazakhstan and Andorra met in Europe Group Six (same group as Croatia, England and Ukraine) with Kazakhstan beating tiny Andorra 3-0. Very nice.
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Comments
By Marco Pantanella | August 21st, 2008 at 8:03 am 
Where do you find these clips Daryl… 
Posted from 
France
By John | August 21st, 2008 at 9:18 am I hope someone makes a video compilation of all the fouls in the USA-Guatemala game. There were some beauts, esp. that vicious elbow to the face of eddie lewis which rightfully earned a red card. Injuries aside, the fouls were more fun to watch than the game.
Posted from 
United States
By Brooks Peck | August 21st, 2008 at 9:37 am If Ed Wood edited those highlights there would’ve been more angora and random shots of Bela Lugosi.
By Rodney | August 21st, 2008 at 12:15 pm This game was decided by the referee…..
By Rodney | August 21st, 2008 at 12:15 pm meaning the haiti- suriname game
its a shame !
By Brian | August 21st, 2008 at 2:40 pm John, Eddie Lewis wasn’t elbowed in the face. Lewis and the Guatemalan were both going for the ball, and in doing so, both their heads collided, with Lewis getting the worst part of the injury.
By Matt | August 21st, 2008 at 3:17 pm Can someone tell me why Suriname doesn’t let their Pro’s in the Dutch league play for their national side? Can you imagine some of the players they would have had down the years (assuming they would have chosen Suriname)?
Rijkaard, Gullit, Edgar Davids, Clarence Seedorf, JF Hasselbaink, Ryan Babel, etc etc
Would spice up CONCACAF anyway.
By Jean-Michel | August 23rd, 2008 at 7:14 am lol@ the Haitian commentator. Sounded like he dropped the microphone a few times in his celebration. From what I understand, Suriname is an independent country but the passport is recognized in Holland and those born in Suriname can become citizens of Holland just like those born in the ABC islands of the Caribbean. Some of the players you mention above were actually born in Holland but of Suriname descent. Others were born there but went on to live in Holland so I’m not sure what the deal is there. My only thought would be it was the players who chose to represent Holland as it was the more recognized footballing nation of the two countries.
Posted from United States
By Surinam | August 26th, 2008 at 3:34 pm .
Posted from 
Netherlands
By Surinam | August 26th, 2008 at 3:55 pm Matt and Jean Michel,
We can’t use our professionals in the Netherlands because Suriname is not allowing dubble citizenship.If you have a Dutch passport,you can’t play for Suriname anymore.And ofcourse,that’s stupid and our president from Suriname is a fool.But finaly he makes the decision to intruduce something like a “sportpassport”.That means that Suriname will be able to call our professionals from the Dutch to play for Suriname in the future.But for now,it’s to late and we have to do it with our local amatures and i don’t expect that Suriname will make it against Costa Rica and El Salvador,so we have to wait for years until we have the same standard like the USA and Mexico.But you can be sure of that,Suriname will join the big ones and than nobody shall take us easely anymore.
Posted from Netherlands
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