Expect the unexpected: Turks and Caicos, Netherlands Antilles, Belize, and Dominica

The Netherlands Antilles took on favored yet perpetually-underachieving Nicaragua on the road in Diriamba. In what would end up being the theme in four of the six CONCACAF qualifiers, the unexpected wound up happening. After a long training trip to Brasil, Nicaragua figured to have a good chance to win. The Netherlands Antilles had other plans, though, and took an early goal to a 1-0 road win. They have a chance to knock out the mainlanders in the return match in Willemstad.

"I'm not writing off Belize, but I am confident we should beat them." -forward Atiba Harris of St. Kitts and Nevis

Belize refused to be disrespected in such a way, and pulled off an upset of the higher-ranked islanders. WIth a 3-1 lead at the half, Belize clamped down on defense and won by the same score. With a game in Basseterre to come, Belize have a good chance to win the two-legged tie and a date with México.

Barbados boss Eyre Sealy is already looking past his first opponents and on to the next test: a date with the mighty USA. "We should really beat Dominica, and then why shouldn't we be able to get a result against the States."

Dominica pulled off a surprise tie against favored and overconfident Barbados. Dominica had an early one-goal lead only to see the game tied at 1 at the half and at its conclusion. Barbados now have some work to do in Bridgeport before facing the mighty United States of America.

In the first game to go to form, Antigua and Barbuda poured in three first-half goals against Aruba in Oranjestad, including an own goal from the home side. The Antiguans take a 3-0 aggregate lead back home to St. John's.

Turks and Caicos Islands were playing their first ever match on home soil. To say that they were not expected to win would be an understatement. Their opponent was St. Lucia. What an opening match it was for the home side. They garnered a 2-0 lead with goals in both halves and looked like incredibly good bets to make the second round until St. Lucia pulled back a goal late in second half stoppage time. "Overall I feel we were much better than they were, but they took the two chances they had and we were wasteful, and you can't afford to do that in football at any level," said Terrence Caroo, coach of St. Lucia. With the aggregate score now standing at 2-1, the return match in St. Lucia will be full of intrigue.

In the final match of the day, El Salvador did what it was supposed to do, a rather strange occurence on this day. In fact, the Salvadorians pummeled poor Anguilla with a 12-0 demolition and are all but assured a berth in the second round against Panamá, an interesting matchup to say the least.

All six of these ties will resume and finish on March 26.

Goal scorers:
Netherlands Antilles: Jongsma 15

Belize: McCauley 6, 41; Roches 21

St. Kitts and Nevis: G. Williams 13

Dominica: Pacquette 20

Barbados: R. Williams 42

Antigua and Barbuda: Dublin 22; Gregory 27; Sierra 40 OG (Aruba)

Turks and Caicos Islands: Lowery 33; Clinton 72

St. Lucia: Nyhime 90+2

El Salvador: Hasani Martín 5, 17; Corrales Rivera 30, 32, 55, 65, 68; Cerritos 46, 77, 85; E. Quintanilla 70; Umaña 80

North Korea, Bahrain, Uzbekistan win 1-0; United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia win 2-0

Jordan hosted the North Koreans today but were unable to secure even one point as the North Koreans moved into a tie atop the group standings with rivals South Korea. On a pitch devoid of grass, the North Koreans had trouble making headway toward the Jordanian goal, but neither side could net a goal in the opening half until it was almost over. A strike in the forty-fourth minute was all the visitors needed to gain three points and a one-goal shutout.

Oman played host to Bahrain in Muscat. Unfortunately, they played their role too graciously and watch as 2006's fifth-place Asian squad took all of the points on the road. The match started off with a Bahraini goal in the fourteenth minute but was thereafter devoid of scoring. It did, however, feature six yellow cards, including four to the victors.

In Beirut today, the home fans went away from the stadium dissatisfied. Their Lebanon squad failed to produce a goal or a shutout, and paid the consequences with a 1-0 loss. “Lebanon are a well organised and strong team as they proved by progressing to the third round of the qualifying campaign. However, we will win the game as long as we perform properly." These words spoken by the Uzbeki coach, Rauf Ilileyev, were backed up by a goal to end the first half. The defense held in the second period, and Uzbekistan exacted revenge for the replayed match of the 2006 cycle.

The United Arab Emirates wanted to show that their demolition of Vietnam in Round One proved that they are a strong team. Kuwait would have to agree after the 2-0 win by the home side in Abu Dhabi. The scoring was balanced for the United Arab Emirates, with one coming early in the first half, the other early in the second half. They now sit alone atop their group with three points.

Saudi Arabia began its campaign against the surprise team of qualifying so far, Singapore. Reigning Asian player of the year Al Qahtani began the scoring for the Saudis with a first half goal. The match was put out of reach with ten minutes to go with a second mark and Saudi Arabia completed a two-goal shutout. The match was not the cleanest one on record, with seven yellows in total handed out, including a whopping five to Singapore.

Goal scorers:
North Korea: Hong Y.J. 44

Bahrain: Hubail 14

Uzbekistan: Ahmedov 44

United Arab Emirates: Al Shehhi 14; Khalel 53

Saudi Arabia: Al Qahtani 38; Al Hawsawi 81

Australia, Japan, South Korea dominate; China and Iran struggle

In the first match of phase three in Asian qualifying, top seed Australia took on Qatar at home. The Australians immediately put their 2007 Asian Cup dissapointment behind them and proceeded to maul the Qataris. With three first-half goals and a few more close calls, the Austalians were able to coast through the second half and complete the three-goal shutout victory. "We played a fantastic first half. We created chances, we scored great goals, we never gave them one chance," said Australian coach Pim Verbeek.

Japan hosted Thailand and Asia's leading scorer Chaikamdee in their opening match. Snow also welcomed the visiting Thais to Saitama. A free kick within the first half hour gave Japan their first lead, but Thailand struck back to produce a halftime tie and a chorus of boos for the home side. Japan secured a 2-1 before Thailand's Narongchai Vachiraban was sent off for his second yellow. With the man advantage, the Japanese pushed in two more goals (including on in stoppage time) and won by a score of 4-1. Japanese coach Takeshi Okada spoke after the match. "These games are never easy but we may have underestimated them a bit. Scoring three goals from set pieces is nice but it's worrying we only scored one from open play."

Turkmenistan coach Rakhim Kurbanmamedov: "In terms of expertise and experience, I think South Korea are the strongest in Asia."

South Korea and Turkmenistan were next on the docket. On a chilly night, the South Koreans made seemingly little headway toward achieving a good result until a ball struck the Turkmeni net just before the half. Rattled, Turkmenistan fell apart in the second half and hope for better results in their future after suffering a 4-0 defeat. Korea Republic coach Huh Jong-Moo enjoyed the effort, saying, "I'm happy with the performance tonight. Turkmenistan didn't play that badly. It's just that our team was better."

In the most surprising of the early qualifiers, Iran hosted underdogs Syria. As expected, Iran shutout the Syrians. The only problem was that they were unable to score themselves. A scoreless draw was the final result, and the Iranians have many questions to answer before a March trip to Kuwait. Neither side had a coach heading into the match, which may help to explain the poor offensive perfomances.

"Obviously, we wanted to open with a win and we were gutted afterwards. But we have to pick ourselves up and look to the future. We want a place at the finals, and every member of the team will give his all for the cause," explained Iranian captain Ali Karimi.

Asian Cup 2007 champions Iraq welcomed China to their home away from home, Dubai. Iraq did a wonderful job early in the second half after a scoreless first half. The Iraqis put away a penalty kick for a 1-0 lead, but it did not take long for disaster to strike. Nashat Akram was sent off in the seventy-first minute for his second yellow, allowing China a chance to steal the points. With the best player of the Asian Cup Younis Mahmoud out early with an injury, Iraq surely did not need to be going a man down. China was able to knock home an equalizer, but Iraq did manage to salvage its first point. Both sides drew a massive number of yellow cards, with five apiece.

Goal scorers:
Australia: Kennedy 10; Cahill 17; Bresciano 33

Japan: Endo 20; Okubo 53; Nakazawa 66; Maki 90+1

Thailand: Winothai 21

South Korea: Kwak 43; Seol K.H. 57, 83; Park J.S. 70

China: Zheng Z. 75

Iraq: Hawar 50 PK

February/March qualification fixtures

Before the first day of madness kicks of for FIFA World Cup qualifying in 2008, I would like to condense the schedule of the next two months into one list. All times are local.

February 6, 2008
Qatar at Australia 7:30 PM Melbourne
Thailand at Japan 7:20 PM Saitama
Turkmenistan at South Korea 8 PM Seoul
Syria at Iran 3 PM Tehrān
China at Iraq 4: 30 PM Dubai, United Arab Emirates
North Korea at Jordan 5 PM Ammān
Bahrain at Oman 6:30 PM Muscat
Uzbekistan at Lebanon 6 PM Beirut
Kuwait at United Arab Emirates 7:15 PM Abu Dhabi
Singapore at Saudi Arabia 8:15 PM Riyadh
St. Kitts and Nevis at Belize 3 PM Guatemala City, Guatemala
Netherlands Antilles at Nicaragua 3 PM Diriamba
Barbados at Dominica 7 PM Roseau
Antigua and Barbuda at Aruba 8 PM Oranjestad
St. Lucia at Turks and Caicos Islands 7:45 PM Provedenciales
Anguilla at El Salvador 7:30 PM San Salvador

March 26, 2008
Australia at China 2 PM Kunming
South Korea at North Korea 3 PM Shanghai, China
Saudi Arabia at Uzbekistan 4 PM Tashkent
United Arab Emirates at Syria 2:30 PM Damascus
Lebanon at Singapore 7:30 PM Singapore
Jordan at Turkmenistan 5 PM Ashgabat
Oman at Thailand 7 PM Bangkok
Japan at Bahrain 5:20 PM Al Manāmah
Iraq at Qatar 6:30 PM Doha
Iran at Kuwait 7:45 PM Kuwait City
U.S. Virgin Islands at Grenada 3 PM St. George's
Turks and Caicos Islands at St. Lucia 3 PM Vieux Fort
Aruba at Antigua and Barbuda 4:15 PM St. John's
Dominica at Barbados 4 PM Bridgetown
Suriname vs. Montserrat 6 PM Tunapuna, Trinidad and Tobago
Belize at St. Kitts and Nevis 7 PM Basseterre
British Virgin Islands at Bahamas 7 PM Nassau
Dominican Republic at Puerto Rico 8 PM Bayamón
Nicaragua at Netherlands Antilles 8 PM Willemstad
El Salvador at Anguilla 8 PM Washington D.C., United States of America

March 30, 2008
British Virgin Islands at Bahamas 3 PM Nassau
Bermuda at Cayman Islands 7 PM Georgetown

Let's hope these two months are full of excellent soccer.

Cayman Islands 1 - Bermuda 1

"It would be a mistake for Bermuda to underestimate us. Our aim is to come back with all the points and build excitement ahead of the second leg and get people talking.” –Carl Brown, coach of the Cayman Islands

In the opening match of CONCACAF qualifying and the first 2010 qualifier of the year, favorites Bermuda hosted underdogs Cayman Islands in Hamilton. Bermuda certainly missed the services of its best striker, Khano Smith, who had yet to recover from his groin injury. Still, Bermuda was able to dominate the entire pitch for the first eighty-five minutes of the match. Scoring chances were plenty, but only one goal was netted. With a tie series going into their home leg still a possibility, the Caymans found a way to net an equalizer and turn the March 30 affair into an exciting prospect.

The aggregate score is tied at 1-1. The winner of the two-legged tie will face Trinidad and Tobago.

Goal scorers:
Bermuda: Burgess 18

Cayman Islands: Grant Velásquez 86