Ladies and gentlemen, hello and welcome all of you, who are readers of this fine internet magazine.

We are back in business after a couple of weeks with this column, which covers the lesser known leagues of Latin-American football.

As you may know, the race for world cup berth will continue in five continents.

Central-America is not an exception of course.

The region along with Africa, is probably the most rapidly growing territory of football. 15-20 years ago, there was only 1 team, Mexico. While others maybe one or two times made it to the world cup finals, but rarely left a footprint (Honduras in 1982).

Times has changed, new nations have appeared on the scene and showed there are other nations who are able to play quality football.

Nowadays the world cup qualifiers are nowhere near a walkover for even the traditional powerhouses.

But enough talking, and let's see the qualification groups one by one!

There are three qualification groups with twelve countries. Every country had to play at least one knock out round to book its place here. One round already played from group stage. The first two placed teams will get into the hexagonal, which will decide the fate of world cup tickets.

Here we have Group A

In the 1st round, US managed to win for the 1st time on Guatemalan soil (excl. Friendlies). Guatemala surprisingly dominated almost the whole game but couldn't grab even a point, thanks to mainly the referee who favoured the North-Americans heavily.

Meanwhile TnT executed Cuba in Havanna in a surprisingly one sided match. TnT had even problems in knock out stage when they hardly passed Bermuda.

The key match is definitely the TnT – Guatemala pairing here. Guatemala badly needs a point at least, but they have never done it so far in Port of Spain. Both teams will have full squads, or at least no major absences.

US will visit Cuba for the first time since 1961. We are sure the stadium will be hot, but in the end, Yankees will take the necessary 3 pts .

And we arrived to the death-group of the region

All 4 selections are considered to have pretty good chances for the finals, but thanks to Lady Luck, only two of them can get into the Hexagonal!

The group contains Canada and Honduras, two nations, who improved the most during recent years.

Honduras lost to Mexico in Estadio Azteca, one of the legendary stadiums of the world. They didn't go down easily. Mexico turned the game with two late goals from Pardo. Honduras showed very good football and would have deserved a draw.

The other emerging football nation, Canada suffered a surprising setback in 1st round, lost 2 valuable points vs always hard Jamaica on home soil.

No doubt, 2nd round will decide a lot … or nothing. Canada will host Honduras in an intriguing encounter.

Honduras has a very good team, Suazo is a well known name, but behind him, there is Guevara the fine playmaker, de León, famous from his free kicks, and big goals, and in addition there are many quality home based players, like Núnez, Emil and Saul Martínez.

Canada will rely on its Latin-duo, de Rosario and de Guzmán, these two can give troubles to anybody if they have a good day. Behind them, Canada now has various european-based players.

Three points is necessary here for the hosts, any other result will possibly mean the end of their world cup hopes.

Mexico will have easier task in Estadio Azteca. The team lost only three times there since 1981, all other games are won by them! Amazing stats! Azteca is a hell for every visitors, and we don't think Jamaica will handle the pressure on them. With six pts , Mexico could sit on its laurels, and watch the others from a relatively safe distance, though the hardest away from home encounters would ahead of them.

And we arrived to the last goup.

After the first round, Costa Rica sits on top, which is not a surprise, judging by the expectations. Watching by the play, well yes it is.

Costa Rica suffered in last two years, even when they played at home. They had a one year period without a single win, which is a negative record. As the „golden generation” is getting older, or retired from international football (Wanchope, Fonseca, Rónald Gómez etc.), they are still struggling to find the required replacements. They have coach problems too.

The team had problems already in knock out round with underdog Grenada, and had to come back from two goals behind.

In 1st round they could hardly beat underestimated El Salvador, who missed a penalty thorugh their big star, Quintanilla. In 2nd round, they will play again at home vs Suriname. Three points is a must here.

The presence of Suriname in the group stage alone is a huge surprise, though one can say they had easy draw in knock out stage, but still they beat a higher ranked nation, winning both of their matches.

In 1st round, there were no excuse. The team caused one of the biggest surprises of 1st round, managing to battle a draw in front of a packed stadium in Haiti.

The team defended well for 90 minutes, used the counterattack weapon, and took two goals advantage. However in stoppage time, they collapsed, and allowed two goals.

We have El Salvador, as 3rd member here. The team caused a mini surprise, knocking out much higher rated Panama during the knock out stage with a fantastic late come back at home. The team hasn't made it to the finals since 1982. Honestly saying, in last three editions, they didn't even get into the hexagonal.

The supporters now at least have something to cheer for. With the lead of Quintanilla, the team is performing certainly on a higher level than in previous years. De los Cobos made a really good team from mostly youngsters, leaving out the old names except Cerritos.

The group's 4th member, Haiti plays an organised football which is not usual among Caribbean nations. The defence performed well last year in Gold Cup but they lack the firepower in front.

In the 2nd round they will visit El Salvador in Estadio Cuscatlan. El Salvadoran supporters will support their team, making a hot atmosphere.

Alone the hinchas' support won't be enough. El Salvador has serious problems for this game, its attack is totally decapitated. Three of its best attacking players will miss the game (Quintanilla, Martin, Corrales). These three scored 90% of the team's goals in last 1,5 years, now dear readers, you can imagine how important missings they are.

Well, that's it from us for this week. We hope, we could enlighten the situation int he CONCACAF region, and for you, some teams stepped out from the shade, where they were. Interesting 5 days are ahead us, let's enjoy colourful Caribbean football!