St. Kitts and Nevis defeated Puerto Rico 1-0 during a 2022 World Cup Qualifying Game. By. CONCACAF
St. Kitts and Nevis, Haiti and Curacao will represent the Caribbean in the second round of 2022 World Cup qualifying games after finishing on top of their groups in the first round for the CONCACAF region.
St. Kitts and Nevis will play El Salvador, Haiti will play Canada and Curacao will play Panama in the second round of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying. The teams will play each other on Saturday, June 12 and Tuesday, June 15. The winner will be determined by an aggregate score over the two games.
The winners of these two legged series will join the United States, Mexico, Jamaica, Honduras, and Costa Rica in the third round of World Cup qualifying which is set to begin in September. These teams did not have to play in the first round of qualifying because they are the top 5 team in the region.
After a round robin that will see all teams in the third round play each other twice the top 3 teams will qualify for the World Cup with the fourth place team playing in an intercontinental playoff for an additional spot in the tournament.
Tuesday’s Results
Haiti defeated Nicaragua 1-0 in the first decisive contest for the group winners on the final day of the first round.
Just as rain started to fall on the playing surface, Haiti’s Derrick Etienne, a member of Major League Soccer Columbus Crew, finished off a counter attack that gave Haiti the only goal of the game in the 63rd minute.
Not only did the playing condition work against Nicaragua’s comeback efforts as the downpour did not let up but instead increased the difficulty for both team offenses, Nicaragua’s Kevin Serapio was shown a second yellow card in the 83rd minute that left the team with just 10 players on the pitch for the remainder of the game.
Haiti needed a tie heading into the match to advance. In the earlier group matches, Haiti beat Belize 2-0 and Turks and Caicos 10-0, while Nicaragua beat Turks and Caicos 7-0 and Belize 3-0.
Haiti’s opponent in the second round, Canada, beat Suriname 4-0.
Needing a win to advance, Suriname forced the issue early and nearly took the lead in the 12th minute when Suriname's Becker hit the crossbar with a shot from just outside the 18-yard box.
Canada had the next chance in the game but Warner Hahn had a double save after Jonathan David got behind the Suriname defense. He then saved the subsequent rebound attempt by the Canadians.
David later played Alphonso Davies, who plays for Bayern Munich, behind the Suriname defense and the latter found the back of the net through Hahn’s legs.
The next two Canadian goals were the reverse of the initial connection. David scored in the 59th minute and the 73rd minute from assists from Davies.
David converted a penalty kick to complete his hat-trick in the 78th minute.
In Group C, Curacao did exactly what they had to do, holding Guatemala to a 0-0 draw to advance.
Curacao beat St. Vincent and the Grenadines 5-0, Cuba 2-1 and the British Virgin Islands 8-0, while Guatemala won their matches 1-0 against Cuba, 3-0 against the British Virgin Islands and 10-0 against St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
This group was decided by the tie breaker of goals scored because both teams had an equal amount of points and a goal difference of +14. The next tie breaker is goals scored, which Curacao’s slight 15-14 edge over Guatemala afforded the team the edge to advance to play Panama in the second round.
Panama only needed a draw to advance against the Dominican Republic and won 3-0.
Panama wasted no time getting on the scoreboard as Aníbal Godoy, who plays for MLS club Nashville FC, put them ahead in the 8th minute. Édgar Bárcenas scored Panama’s second in the 67th minute and Cecilio Waterman scored the nations third goal in the 86th minute.
El Salvador won Group A after beating Antigua and Barbuda 3-0.
Eriq Zavaleta, who plays for MLS Club Toronto FC scored in the 41st minute for El Salvador after a designed corner kick play was executed to perfection and he headed home a cross from Joshua Perez that gave El Salvador the lead.
David Rugamas scored El Salvador’s second goal by finishing off a breakaway for the victors. The third goal was scored by Walmer Martinez with a shifty turn and finish in the 85th minute.
St. Kitts and Nevis won Group F despite losing their final match against Trinidad and Tobago 2-0. The goals came from Duane Muckette in the 36th minute and Khaleem Hyland in the 74th minute in that game.
St. Kitts and Nevis defeated Puerto Rico 1-0, the Bahamas 4-0, and Guyana 3-0 to win the group in three games. Trinidad and Tobago defeated Guyana 3-0 but back-to-back ties with Puerto Rico and the Bahamas left them an insurmountable 4 points behind St. Kitts and Nevis before the final match.
