CONCACAF Craziness in the Olympic Qualifiers Group Stage

Mexico-Haiti highlights, final Group stage qualifier

Before the CONCACAF Olympic qualifiers, if you’d asked most people which teams would end up in the finals, I think nearly everyone would have said, “The US and Mexico.” They were expected to be the two strongest teams in the competition.

That matchup was what the TV and advertising folks were hoping for, because the US-Mexico rivalry is fierce. And Mexican fans are passionate. And fierce rivalry + passion = good TV ratings.

Alas, it’s not to be. The US is moving on to the semi-finals, but Mexico is going home. They finished third of four in their qualifying group despite insane play in the last game, where they scored five goals. Amazingly, Canada finished ahead of them. Yes, on goal differential.

The US got off to a poor start against Cuba in Group A, drawing the opening game 1-1 in a match they were expected to win easily. And then Mexico got its own shock, drawing to Canada. Yes, Canada.

Hmm. This wasn’t part of the plan.

Immediately after the game, five members of the Cuban team defected. As we said previously, this left only thirteen team members to play in the remaining two games, and one of those was suspended. And then, still before the second game, two more players and a coach defected. This meant that if Cuba played its final two games, they would be playing with ten players in the first and eleven in the second. Bad news for Cuba, but also bad news for the US, who were the only team in the group to play Cuba when they were at full-strength. This meant that even if Cuba were to play on, Panama and Honduras were looking at a pretty easy three points.

Honduras beat Panama in game one, then beat a ten-man Cuba in game two. The US managed to take Panama in game two, 1-0 on a Freddy Adu PK. This meant that, going into the last game, Honduras led the group with six points, the US had four, Cuba one and Panama zero. The US would go through if Panama managed to beat Cuba in the final game.

They did, but it wasn’t necessary. The US beat Honduras on a 95th minute PK by Eddie Gaven and finished top of the group with seven points. (And the game had a lovely female streaker for added entertainment value.) Honduras finished second with six and also advanced.

Meanwhile, in Group B, things also were not going quite as expected. After the Canada draw, Mexico then lost to Guatemala. And Canada lost to Haiti. Since Guatamala had already beaten Haiti, this meant that going into the final game, Guatamala had already qualified for the semifinals with six points. Haiti sat second with three. And Canada and Mexico sat tied at the bottom with one point apiece.

And here’s where things got crazy. Canada played Guatamala first. With qualifying assured, Guatamala tried out several of their substitutes. They started out okay, but in the end Canada romped, 5-0. Guatamala still finished first and will play Honduras in the semifinals on Thursday.

The Canadian win meant that Mexico would have to score big to advance. They were helped out when a Haitian player took down Mexico’s Edgar Andrade to keep him from scoring. Red card, ten men. Even so, Haiti held on, and at the half they were down by only one goal, 0-1. It wouldn’t last, though. Haiti eventually got another red, and Mexico won 5-1.

So close, such a great effort, but not quite enough. The scoreline wasn’t enough to match Canada’s goal differential, and Canada advances. They’ll play the US on Thursday night.