Friday, March 29

Mexico before the threat of Costa Rica and the USA against the leader Canada in the Concacaf pre-world

Mexico will receive the thriving Costa Rica and the United States will visit the leader Canada on Sunday in the most outstanding duels of the tenth day of the Concacaf qualifiers for the Qatar-2022 World Cup.

With five games remaining to close the octagonal, Canada, with 19 points, the United States (18) and Mexico (17) occupy the three direct access places to Qatar-2022.

Panama maintains fourth position with 14 points, which has a playoff against a team from Oceania, and behind the great threat to the group of classifieds is Costa Rica (12).

After a hesitant start, the Costa Rican team has resurfaced with two consecutive victories, the last one on Thursday against Panama with a solitary goal by Bryan Ruiz.

The veteran midfielder, as well as goalkeeper Keylor Navas and the rest of Costa Rica’s golden generation, refuse for now to give up their third consecutive World Cup.

On Sunday they will have a great opportunity to get closer to the tickets in the match against Mexico, which will play with the stands of the imposing Azteca stadium practically empty due to the FIFA sanction for the homophobic cries of their fans.

Argentinian Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino’s charges got a big scare on Thursday in Jamaica when they were down 1-0 in the second half.

In the final stretch, Mexico knew how to recover with goals from Henry Martín and Alexis Vega and break a dangerous streak of two straight losses.

The surprising Canada, which is fighting to play its second World Cup after Mexico-1986, will put its lead in the octagonal game against the United States at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton (Ontario).

On Thursday, Canada resolved its first match without star player Alphonso Davies (Bayern Munich), who is out this window due to myocarditis, with a clear 2-0 victory in Honduras.

The United States, on the other hand, won 1-0 but did not convince against El Salvador and it had to be full-back Antonee Robinson (Fulham) who scored the solitary winning goal.

Coach Gregg Berhalter has yet to find the right attacking partners for his man, Christian Pulisic.

The striker, who is going through a difficult campaign at Chelsea, barely appeared in the game against El Salvador and was soon relieved by Berhalter thinking about the duel in Canada.

The coach did not give a minute to the young Mexican-American striker Ricardo Pepi (Augsburg), the team’s top scorer with three goals and three assists in six games, who could return against Canada.

For its part, Panama will try to forget its stumble against Costa Rica by receiving Jamaica on Sunday, another team with great urgency in the octagonal.

The ‘Reggae Boyz’ occupy sixth place, with 7 points, and they can no longer afford any more defeats on their field if they want to continue dreaming of returning to a World Cup 24 years after France-1998.

The last clash on Sunday will be starred by the last two classified of the group. Honduras, with 3 points, will host El Salvador in San Pedro Sula, which has 6 units, trying to cling to the mathematical possibilities of a miraculous comeback.

Not even the arrival of a new coach, the Colombian Hernán ‘Bolillo’ Gómez, has managed to reactivate Honduras, which has yet to win in this octagonal game, while El Salvador’s only victory dates back to October 7 against Panama.

Program of the tenth day of the octagonal Concacaf towards Qatar-2022:

Sunday

Canada – United States (15:05 local – 18:05 GMT)

Mexico – Costa Rica (17H00 local – 21H00 GMT)

Panama – Jamaica (18:05 local – 23:05 GMT)

Honduras – El Salvador (18:05 local – 00:05 GMT on Monday)

Classification:

– Pts J G E P GF GC DIF

1. Canada 19 9 5 4 0 15 5 10

2. United States 18 9 5 3 1 13 5 8

3. Mexico 17 9 5 2 2 13 8 5

4. Panama 14 9 4 2 3 11 10 1

5. Costa Rica 12 9 3 3 3 7 7 0

6. Jamaica 7 9 1 4 4 7 12 -5

7. El Salvador 6 9 1 3 5 4 11 -7

8. Honduras 3 9 0 3 6 5 17 -12

gbv/ma



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